On Saturday 27th February 2010 and 1 week later than originally planned, my team and I embarked on our Ingane Yami ocean swim, and I can honestly say “this was one of the toughest ocean swims I have ever experienced”.

I was accompanied by the two current Guinness world record holders for swimming 25 hours non-stop, one a lawyer, and the other a swimming coach.

Already knowing that the sea conditions were on orange alert and against official advice we decided to go ahead. We set off from Playa San Juan, 5 swimmers and 2 support members in kayaks, the team was only 10 minutes into the swim when we noticed that the conditions along the horizon looked less than friendly, in fact they looked decidedly hostile. After a few moments of consultation we all decided to continue and proceeded to make good pace.

However, halfway to our destination things started to get complicated with strong winds and currents halting our progress, that decision to carry on was now looking like a bad judgment call.

After a distance of 6km and 1 hour and 24 minutes into the swim a sudden storm hit us at Mar Azul, waves 4m tall suddenly came crashing around us and the currents became very fierce and difficult to swim against, we were only 1km from our destination but we decided each of us had to swim for safety. We saw a small exit point with steps leading out of the sea to the safety of land, swimming against the current in a panicked and frightened state, it took us 20 minutes to cover a distance of 100m, the waves were hitting the rocks back and forth with such incredible force and we somehow had to try and get out of the water without getting thrown against the rocks.
By now the two kayaks accompanying us could not be seen, they too were frantically searching for a landing area 50m from where we were, both had lost their oars and were desperately trying to reach the safety of land.
It was only due to our fitness levels and experience that we all arrived safely and nobody was injured.

We will definitely try and do this swim again in calmer waters. In total I raised €300.
Thanks to all the following donators for contributing to Ingane Yami, much appreciated:
JJ + VJ, MARTYN ANDREWS, BOB WAYMAN, SALLY–ANNE GUERRERA, DENNIS MARKHAM, MARGARET HAMER, JOHN SELLEY, PETER CLARKE, DOUGLAS JOHNSTONE, MIKE BRAVERY, COLIN AHERN, BERNIE ROBINSON, STEPHEN SWALLOW, EW GOODING, JOHN ALSOP, NICK VALE, MALCOLM JENNINGS, CHRIS+TONY WEEKS

Ryszard Majewski

Judith, from Jazzy´s Salon at Pearly Grey Ocean Club has sponsored Ryszard Majewski to prepare him for the next 7 months when he takes part in the World Masters Swimming Champs in Sweden in July, competing in the 400+800m freestyle and the 3km lake race.

Judith says;
“Having come from a competitive athletic and martial arts back ground I understand the differing demands that sports place on the body. I intend to work with Ryszard to keep him bio-mechanically sound and keep any tight or strained muscles in check, before they cause any major issues. Our sessions together will consist of Kinetic Chain work, stretching, muscle activation and trigger point therapy, as well as massage. I’m looking forward to working as part of the team to help him reach his world championship goals!”

Judith holds a BSc in Sports Coaching and Biomechanics, Diploma in Sports Therapy and Kinetic Chain L2, also a L2 Judo Coach. Prior to coming to Tenerife she ran Origins Wellness Clinic in Scotland where she worked with the National Jnr Judo Squad, the Scottish TKD squad and players from Motherwell Rugby & Football Clubs.

To find out more about the various health & fitness programs Judith can offer please visit Jazzy’s Salon or Origins Tenerife.

Ingani Yami project
Hopefully by now you have all heard of this worthwhile cause we are all supporting. Our staff, owners/guests/friends/family have already contributed to this project. Every week PG staff and owners are doing activities and events to raise funds. We will of course keep you updated on James and Dougie’s Kilimanjaro walk commencing on the 5 December. Please donate online to Ingane Yami or alternatively when you are on the resort we have collection boxes in the public zones.

Pool toilets
Recently we have placed non slip tiling for your safety.

Children’s pool
Currently we are also placing non slip tiles around the pool and the corridor coming into the children’s play area. This is to help prevent any accidents.

Restaurant
Owners and guests have been continually praising us regarding the new look of the restaurant and its facilities. We now have WiFi, a toilet with access for the disabled, baby changing facilities and practical furniture and ample space, you have to see it to believe it.
There are always special offers on meals and theme evenings offering cuisine from all over of the world.
For those of you who are here during Christmas and New Year, don’t forget to book your lunch and dinners to avoid disappointment.

Rent a Car
If you rent a car for your holiday and usually use a different company, then please contact Serge at PG RentaCar, he has some great offers you will find difficult to beat.
In addition we will soon have an active online reservation system to book your car rental.

JAZZY´S
Don’t forget to pamper yourself in the beauty salon, now under new management. Kim and her team can now offer great massages, hair and beauty treatments.
We have also re-located the internet facilities to a purpose built room next to the beauty salon.

Apartments
As we have smoking and non smoking rooms allocated like a normal hotel, we have placed a sign in your apartment for those who smoke. We kindly request you to please smoke on the terrace as when non smokers check in after you, they experience an uncomfortable environment.
We are also currently busy replacing floor tiling in certain apartments.

Social networking
As you are aware, Pearly Grey are a community with a strong focus on families, our open approach means we always want to be in contact, providing our owners with updates & news about the resort. A great way to do this is using social networking, if you are not already following us online then please become a fan of Pearly Grey on Facebook and Ingani Yami on Facebook

On behalf of the STAFF and MANAGEMENT we would like to THANK YOU for your support this year & we wish you and your families a happy Festive Season and a Prosperous New Year. We look forward seeing you in the near future.

Ryszard Majewski
General Manager

RDO’s Enforcement team in Spain confirmed that five companies have been recently closed down by the Spanish authorities on the Costa del Sol, on suspicion of fraudulent activities related to timeshare.

The companies closed include First Legal Services, a class action company operating from Estepona, and Multisur, a resale company operating from Fuengirola, where five people were arrested. This company had been approaching timeshare owners with an offer from a potential buyer, demanding up-front payment to carry out the supposed sale, which never materialised.

Also raided were Iberia Market & Trade, a resale company operating from Mijas, and two of its associated companies: Pasaporte Ltd and Vicmar Cabopino.

For more information on related stories please visit the RDO Website

It´s summer and the resort is absolutely buzzing with guests - the pool area is packed with sun lovers and daytime and evening entertainment is a huge success with great acts on. Tracey and Jeff are doing a fantastic job.

Happenings

Martin Littlewood, a guest from the UK Police Federation marketing program, and I went on a 80km road bike race from Valle San Lorenzo(south of Tenerife) to Candelaria (close to Santa Cruz) with 3 local cycling clubs. He is in the white shirt.

Refurbishment
50 days into our new look, we are getting an enthusiastic response from owners and guests about the very open and spacious plan, the new a la carte menu, and the budget friendly pub menu, served from 18h00-21h00. The restaurant has some fantastic meal packages available, ask reception on arrival. Professional photos will be on our website shortly for those of you who haven´t seen it firsthand.

Staff News
Linda and Francoise are both out of hospital and recovering well. Elizabeth has decided to name her baby ELLIOT, due in early November.

Resort News
Pool times for summer will be from 08h30-21h00. After that time pool is closed. No swimming will be allowed before 08h30 as we treat the pool with chemicals.

Jazzy, Kim’s hair, beauty, and nail salon has taken off well. It opened in July, and features massage services offered by a certified masseuse and physical therapist.

We are pleased to announce that from September we will sell Forever Living products at the pool and at the hair salon.

Yes, Pearly Grey now has WIFI access for all owners and guests. Coverage areas are: reception/bar/restaurant/restaurant terrace/upper pool area. Access is free with a password on check in.

Don’t forget the Monday golfing trips with Dougie!

Watch out for Sandie´s new cultural tour on Sundays starting in September.

Do not forget to fill in your RCI scorecards, helps the resort to achieve that GOLD CROWN STATUS.

Serge from the rent a car has great specials.

Dear Owners,

Refurbishments
This weekend marks the beginning of the very exciting refurbishment projects in our reception, restaurant, and bar areas. You should have received an email from us in early April with images of what the final product will look like, if you haven´t, please have a look here. The new amenities will feature disabled-accessible toilets, WIFI access, baby changing facilities, and an exciting new menu in the restaurant.

Photo Contest

In with the new, out with the old? Not here at Pearly Grey! As much as we love to move forward with the times, we also know it is important to remember our past. For this reason, we are asking our owners to send in old photos that they might have of the resort, staff, and guests. This is a contest – one owner, out of those who have sent in pictures, will win a free week at the resort! Send your photos to elizabeth@pearlygrey.com before June 30th to take part.

Other works
Last week we began the re-tiling of apartment floors, which will continue throughout the year in the apartments where it is needed.

The outdoor Jacuzzi has been repaired and is fully functioning, and it seems that Mother Nature has decided that summer is here!

Promotions
We have some fantastic deals on car hire for the months of May and June, with a Seat Ibiza at 100€ for a week and a Seat Cordoba at 120€ for a week (two week rentals get an additional discount!)

Our new Ambassador Program has been launched, please email promotions@pearlygrey.com for more information.

For your Leisure
Sandie´s Sunday Cultural Tours have had huge success – she takes PG guests to see the REAL Tenerife. Make sure to reserve your seats on your next visit!

DJ Jazzy Jeff has taken over our evening entertainment – you probably know him just as Jeff, one of our reps. He has received tons of great reviews from guests so far, and I´m sure he´ll just keep getting better.

Staff News
Most of you are already aware that Ana-María from our gym (Dougie´s wife) is having a baby in June. Elizabeth, in our Admin department (the American who has probably phoned you at least once!), has announced that she is having a baby in November.

Jackie, in our contracts department, is getting married in July, and Gemma, our head receptionists and resident Ray-of-Sunshine, is now engaged!

They say that good news comes in threes – anyone want to guess who will get married next and who will have PG baby #3?

Dear Owners,

The information below was sent to us from OTE. If you are able to assist them in any way please follow their instructions below.
You can also forward the relevant documents to Elizabeth at Pearly Grey, elizabeth@pearlygrey.com.

Towards the end of January, the Spanish police raided the offices of Global Vacations Limited, a marketing company selling Club Class Concierge holiday club membership, arresting sixteen people on suspicion of fraud.
Victims of this alleged fraud will have been approached by resale company ETOO telling them that a buyer had been found for their points or week. They would have been told that the transaction would have to be concluded in person in Malaga. Once there the owners were met by Global Vacations Limited representatives who try to sell them Club Class Concierge membership. This may well have been alongside a cash-back offer through Cash Back Europe Plc.
To assist the authorities in Spain with their investigations, evidence is now required from timeshare owners and the purpose of this email is to call on OTE members to inform their staff, post messages on their websites or their newsletters to encourage as many victims as possible come forward. A case can only be built up if sufficient evidence is provided!

In this instance, rather than forwarding complaints to OTE’s enforcement team in Spain, we have been informed that evidence should be sent to the complainant’s local European Consumer Centre, details of which can be found on the ECC website http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/redress_cons/docs/ecc_network_centers.pdf

Photocopies of all documents, a brief statement providing details about their case and photocopies of proof of payments made should be provided.

UK based consumers should send their complaints to:

European Consumer Centre
1 Sylvan Court, Sylvan Way
Southfields Business Park
Basildon
Essex SS15 6TH
Tel: 08456 04 05 03, Fax: 08456 08 96 00, email: ecc@tsi.org.uk

OTE is issuing a press release on Monday to coincide with a similar release issued by the UK’s Office of Fair Trading. We also understand that BBC Watchdog is planning to report the raids in its programme on Monday at 19h30.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Paul Gardner Bougaard
Chief Executive

Sue McNicol
Head of Operations, OTE UK – Timeshare Council
Direct dial: 020 8398 6192

Dear Owners,
First of all, on behalf of all STAFF and management at Pearly Grey, I would like to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2009.

2008 has been a fantastic year for Pearly Grey.

Thank you to all the owners that have repeatedly sent family and friends to enjoy a memorable visit to our resort. Our active Ambassador program has proved to be very successful. We have created an Ambassador Program fan club on Facebook where you, as owners and new owners, can become a fan member. Become a fan of Pearly Grey on Facebook, it’s easy, free and an excellent way of social networking with our owners.

Pearly Grey Staff, 1998
We also have a photo album on Facebook with older photos from the resort, including owners and staff. If you have any photos from the past, we would appreciate it you would scan and forward them to elizabeth@pearlygrey.com or on your next visit we can scan them for you.

For any of you that have not been on Sandie´s cultural Sunday tour, I strongly recommend it. It´s lots of fun and it also give you an opportunity to explore the island.

We welcome Alain as a new member of our reception team. He is from Belgium, but has lived on the island for 12 years.

Look out for special promotions for 2009 that we will have shortly on the web.

Don’t forget that Razzmatazz Restaurant is available to cater for any special event; no celebration is too small or too big. Whether it’s a birthday party, anniversary or wedding, contact us for all your arrangements.

You will notice we have a new section, the Pearly Grey Hall of Fame, on our webpage. This is for owners that have been members for at least 20 years. If you would like to be featured, please contact us.

We have installed a remote operated gate and fencing at the entrance of the resort, along the children’s play park.

As we are very health and safety conscious, we have placed flower pots along the restaurant terrace to prevent guests from entering this area from the pool with wet feet.

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.

Entertainment News:

Tuesday Evenings we are now featuring an In-House Show with Heather, starring the most theatrical of our PG guests. Heather also has a new Summer Program with lots of great activities for the youngsters in the evenings, in addition to Tracey´s daytime offerings.

Resort Improvements:

A new handrail has been placed at the front entrance to facilitate access.

No more evening glare in the restaurant! The restaurant doors have been tinted for your comfort.

We have replaced the palm trees in our front courtyard.

Staff Changes:
Pauline, our Office Manager and Button Up Officer, is leaving us at the end of this month.

Isabelle, from our accounts office, is moving back to mainland Spain, also at the end of this month.

Wendy, in referrals, is on sick leave.

Gina, who started training in early June, will be taking Isabelle´s place.

Paola has joined our reception team.

We have a new Guest Liason Officer, Sandie, who will greet you with Mimosas on your Friday arrival and who will be your guide on our newly offered Sunday Excursions.

Owners´Meetings:
The Monday Owners´ Meetings will not be held during the summer months, however, owners are encouraged to arrange a private meeting with our General Manager, Ricardo.

Don´t forget:
Our AGM meeting this year will be held in Leeds on Saturday, October 11th.

Ambassador Program:
Give your friends and family a chance to see what you´ve been raving about! Send them to Pearly Grey for a free week - as a bonus, you can come with them and you will also receive a referral fee of £100!
Subject to availability. Contact us for more details.