Our very generous boss and resort developer, James, invited the Administration and Accounts departments to a luxurious breakfast at the Bahía del Duque hotel on Thursday, 9th October 2008.

Well folks, I have finally got round to writing a diary. A lot has happened since my last entry. We have had new recruits, Donna and Kevin moved on, something about a credit crunch? But all is good down here at thee best resort in the entire world, the sun is still shining, the owners are having a ball. Heather is still as mad as a hatter, Tracy is still grafting her little socks off. The restaurant has introduced a fabulous new menu, happy hour is still called happy hour, although it starts at 5pm and finishes at 6.30pm! Our BBQ nights are still officially pink shirt night for the fellas, although Jeff has announced that if you do not own a pink shirt you can wear a LOUD as possible shirt (Just like Mucka’s!!). All the reps still love life to the full. We have a new rep that goes by the name of Simon Cartwright; the owners absolutely love this guy. The ladies want to Mother him, the fellas want to watch footie with him. He is going to be a massive hit with everybody.

Sandy, (Gemma’s Mum) has put together a cultural trip for PG guests only. We have had some fantastic feedback from our guests. The trip takes in Vilaflor, the highest village in Spain. Then it’s on to a wine farm, where Diego the owner gives you a personalized tour around the vineyard, it is amazing to see how they grow and cultivate and finally press the grape. And then no tour would be complete without a bit of wine tasting! You can sample four or five different bottles, the wine is amazing, fantastic tannins, a very vibrant bouquet with hints of …….. erm…you get the message!!! And to finish the day Sandy takes you to an authentic Tapas restaurant. A trip not to be missed.

I have been on my travels also. A couple of weeks ago, I checked out the all new plaza España in our gorgeous capital, Santa Cruz. They have spent millions redeveloping the city centre. Where there was once a big square, it is now a huge man-made sea water lake.

When the tide comes in the lake rises and it falls at low tide. Santa Cruz has a real capital city feel to it, it is very cosmopolitan. Lovely restaurants, fantastic shopping, a state of the art tram service that whisks you about from place to place. Make sure you check it out next time you visit.

Ana Maria and I also took in the delights of a Romeria in the beautiful town of Vilaflor. A Romeria is basically a traditional farmer’s festival. These are marvelous occasions where all the locals get dressed up in traditional Canarian dress. One of my highlights was seeing the majestic Oxon drawn carts parading through the streets.

The atmosphere at these occasions is helped on by all the free beer, Sangria and food given out to all the revelers by the locals. To round the evening off we headed to the main church square for some live music and some very bad dancing on my part!! Tenerife has so much to offer, with all its cultural delights and traditions, I love it.

So folks, that’s it for now, this is my second day trying to get this diary finished, slow at typing, you see. Please leave a message, even if it’s only your name! Only four people responded to my last diary.

All is well here at Pearly Grey, come and see us all soon, your home away from home!
One love
Dougie

Once again, a scam company has contacted one of our owners. As always, please protect yourself from these companies. No company that wants you to pay money up front for them to sell your week should be trusted - do not give them your credit card or bank account numbers.

Also, please let us know if any new company contacts you, so we can warn other owners, and remember, Pearly Grey will not EVER give your information to a third party unless requested by you in writing. Any information that these companies may have regarding your ownership or personal details were obtained by illegal means.

These are the scam companies that have contacted owners recently:

Secure Leisure
Starting Point Marketing
FH Publishing
ETOO
Dunstar Leisure and Travel
Bonus

On Sunday, 5th October 2008, Adrian, our restaurant manager, took his crew out to Harley´s Superbowl for some fun and games.

Sammy, Pamela, Leslie, Paul and Rick outside Harley´s Superbowl on 5th October 2008.

Adrian, Leslie, Rick, Jayne, Lynne, and Paul at the bowling alley.

Leslie gets Pamela riled up for her go at the pins.

Pamela, not sure what to do with the ball.

The whole restaurant staff.

Rick, Jayne, and Sammy at rest.

Sandy keeps getting compliments for her Sunday Cultural Excursions, which take Pearly Grey guests up to the highest town in all of Spain, Vilaflor, then to a Vineyard for wine tasting, followed by lunch at a picturesque restaurant in the mountains.

Recent comments from our guests:

Mrs. Parish - Sandy´s tour on Sunday was brilliant, very much enjoyed.

Mrs. Taylor - Cultural trip run by Sandy was superb - pleased to see such a staff initiative being supported and encouraged.

Here are some photos from last weekend´s excursion (28/09/2008).

The cost for airport transfers will go up from 15th October, as it does every year. The new prices are as follows:

1-2 pax: 28€
3-4 pax: 30€
5 pax: 35€
6 pax: 38€
7 pax: 43€
8 pax: 50€
9 pax: 58€
10 pax: 65€
11-13 pax: 75€
14-16 pax: 80€
17-20 pax: 90€
21-25 pax: 120€
26-30 pax: 135€

Antoinette Poxon - kitchen

Toni has only been working with us for about seven months, but she has already made a big impression! She officially works in the kitchen, but she is more than willing and able to work as a waitress or bartender when needed. Nothing is too much to ask, and as Fernando (also from the kitchen) says: “She is fantastic and plastic!”

She is barely tall enough to reach the “plancha,” but her fry-up is number 1, and she looks great in her chef´s hat (and it makes her look taller).

Ricardo, our General Manager, pictured with Toni (I was forced to take this photo vertically, because he is really tall and she is really short. I tried to get him to squat and her to stand on a chair, but they liked the picture this way!)

It seems like we´ve been waiting forever for Siam Park, in the south of Tenerife, to open. It finally has!

Walk through the magnificent gateway into a world of thrilling water rides, spectacular scenery, and the greatest adventure of your life! Take a break this summer and dive into Europe’s greatest water kingdom! Siam Park Tenerife is as dynamic as it is thrilling, exotic as it is adventurous, set in lush surroundings and a complement to the ancient kingdom of Thailand.

Access for the disabled. The Park is accessible to those in wheel chairs, as are toilets and refreshment areas.

Text taken from the website: www.siamparktenerife.com

Staff

We are pleased to announce the promotion of Jayne Barford to Assistant Restaurant Manager.

Simon Cartwright has joined our sales team.

Resort news

We have persuaded the local town council to place three recycling bins in front of our resort, opposite the exterior of the restaurant. For the environment, we encourage you to make use of it.

The plants and flower beds located at the pool area and the big palm trees at the square have had an irrigation system installed.

Black Cove Dive Company has joined us - they are English speaking with years of experience.

In the next few weeks we will erect a fence and gate adjacent to the kids´ public play park, from the entrance down to the square where the road ends. Photos to follow….

For all you fitness fans, we have had two brand new pieces of gym equipment installed; one treadmill and a cross trainer.

Owner Referral Ambassador Program
Over the past three years, many Pearly Grey owners have greatly benefited from our very successful Ambassador Program. As an owner, you can recommend your family, friends and work colleagues to come and spend a week with us here at Pearly Grey and not only will your guests experience a fantastic holiday at our resort; you will receive incentives from us for every successful booking! Some of our owners have sent over so many people that they have had their maintenance fees covered for many years! We have also released numerous special friends and family weeks, exclusively for owners.

At Pearly Grey, we truly believe that we have the best owners in the world. However, we realize that we have to attract more like-minded people to our Resort, in order to keep building the unique, friendly, home-from-home atmosphere that our guests experience here, stay after stay.

Contact Wendy at referrals@pearlygrey.com for bookings.

Restaurant news
Do not forget… if it’s your birthday and you are physically staying at the resort and you can prove it to us, we will offer you a free 3 course meal on our A la Carte evenings.

We are changing our lunch and dinner menus to suit your needs. Monday evenings have been popular, offering you either a Mexican or a typical Canarian food selection, alternating weeks.

Keep an eye out for the Christmas and New Year´s menus that will be published on the PG blog soon. The theme for New Years party will be Chinese. So all of you partygoers start digging out for those party outfits. There will be great prizes for the best dressed.

The Razzmatazz Restaurant is available for parties and events, with a complete list of options to suit your needs. Contact Adrian at restaurant@pearlygrey.com to make your booking.

Other news
Don’t forget to attend the Monday owners meeting with Ryszard Majewski (Ricardo) our General Manager. He would like to see you again.

The topic of the beach at Callao Salvaje is often mentioned. To give you some insight to it; in March this year there was an official government article published in the local newspaper informing who will finance, the budget and administer the project. Now, by Spanish law, this project has to start 365 days before or after the public announcement. So my recommendation to you all is that once we see some bulldozers, etc, actually working on the beach, that’s when we can all get excited. Until such time it is a project that is necessary and will boost the community of Callao Salvaje. We have seen some amazing plans of this project at the local town hall, which will consists of a sand beach, a walkway to Playa Paraiso, lots of vegetation, a bar/restaurant, a jetty and plenty of parking.

John Beckley, brother of James, the resort developer, has become the proud father of Vicente Enrique recently. If you would like to congratulate him, his email is john@sortedsites.com. Vicente Enrique is shown above with this big sister, Gabriella.

Become a fan of Pearly Grey on Facebook
As many of you may already be aware, online community network sites such as flickr, youtube and facebook are fast becoming the preferred media for people to keep in touch, share photos & videos with family and friends and also find those friends who for one reason or another you have lost contact with. Facebook is growing at a phenomenal rate as more and more people are being invited to view and join by existing members. Pearly Grey Ocean Club now has its own facebook page where we are helping our owners & guests to keep in touch and share their holiday experiences at Pearly Grey, from here existing facebook members can sign in and become a fan of the Pearly Grey facebook page or new members can sign up and register and instantly become a Pearly Grey fan. Please click here to view our face book page. Once you are a member it is entirely up to you which photos you want to share with the Pearly Grey community, you don’t have to share any at all, you can just view those photos uploaded by other community members. You can even chat online with other fans of the community, either by accepting an invite ‘to become a friend’ or by asking other members to ‘become your friend’. We have designed our facebook page to directly link with our recently redesigned Pearly Grey blogsite, so that all the popular news and information articles that we post on the blogsite will appear on the facebook page, all in all we are offering our owners and guests a fully integrated online community which we hope you will be happy to participate in. We look forward to seeing you online.

Heather offers us a preview what can be expected for Halloween season at Pearly Grey this year.