New to the Island

Hi Tombro,
   I hear you loud and clear, but for slightly different locational reasons
I am an ex South African, now British citizen and have lived in UK for just under a year. As lovely as it is here, I have made very few friends, and have secured no work at all (carpenter/painter/maintenance tech on hotels etc)so am selling my cabincruiser ( liveaboard , my tools, drums car etc and am really hoping to come out to the Canary Isles and make a living .
  I am single and have lived all over the world, certainly sailed around most of the planet and lived on countless islands. I love a very simplistic lifestyle, and am not looking for a lot of money. The outdoor lifestyle, cycling, photography, drumming etc to me is far more important than chasing the mighty dollar
I wonder if you have the same thoughts in mind?
I see you run a bar, surely you would be meeting lots of folks that way? I am not a spring chicken, I'm in my 50's, dont smoke, may have a beer or glass or red per night. ( Unless I meet a lovely lass !!) I would be very keen to hear about how you started in the Canary Isles, and how you feel about it now that you have actually settled there.
Yours faithfully,
Gavin Reid aka Whitehawk1

Hi Gavin, unfortunately it is still not easy to make friends here, but in my situation I have family and friends coming to see me every so often. The thing about island living its very hard to trust people. Everybody is working an angle to extract information or money out of you. The thing is that the everyday tourist does not see this and when they decide to make the big move over here they tend to be ripped off left right and centre.
But if you like sun, sea and the odd glass of wine then it probably is the right place for you. If I was armed with the information I have now when I first arrived I would probably be having a better time over here. Having the language is very important. The canarios speak a very strange dialect so it is very hard to understand even if you have good Spanish.
I will be happy to answer any more questions if like
Tom

Hi Tom
Thanks for that. Yes I can imagine there are plenty of those out there to rip you off. How awful.
  I have been looking at some images of the various islands and would be more inclined to look at staying on the more northerly ones. It looks like it is very touristy ( well yeah of course , but there must be real people and down to earth lifestyles in the less touristy places.
   Sadly I dont speak Spanish, but do pick up stuff very quickly, I do speak a form of Dutch, and did get by when I was last in Spain Malaga and the surrounds. I wonder if the unemployment is as bad down there as the mainland of Spain?
   Best regards,
Gavin Reid

tot agree with you :
''The canarios speak a very strange dialect so it is very hard to understand even if you have good Spanish.''

I just google the language of the canaries and found this

“The language of the Canaries is Spanish (Castilian), but the accent and dialect of Canarian people is more like the Spanish spoken in the Caribbean and South American countries which differs from the Spanish on mainland Spain.”

Greetings,
I was thinking of moving to Tenerife as I have cousins that live there. One is a dentist. I want to move abroad. Presently in USA (Florida). Prefer Spain or South of France.
Hope you meet friends soon, and best wishes.