Flipper Uno review: the wooden boat out of Los Gigantes

The client sheet for this atlas lists no website for Flipper Uno, so the first job of this review is to say plainly what exists. The company does have a site, flipperuno.com, published in six languages, with prices, timetables and cancellation terms. The trading entity is Agua Azul Tenerife S.L., based at Calle Poblado Marinero, local 25, in Los Gigantes, Santiago del Teide. It is trading, it takes bookings, and it runs three boats.

What it is not is a wildlife-research operation. There is no marine biologist on the crew list, no code-of-conduct or quality-charter membership on the website, and no published statistics. It is a boat trip with lunch and a swim that also finds whales — which, on this stretch of coast, it very likely will.

The boat is the story

Flipper Uno was built by hand. Four carpenter brothers in a workshop at Alcalá made half the hull, the rest was finished at the shipyard at Playa de San Juan, and the whole thing took 18 months in African and Brazilian hardwood. The dolphin on the bow is carved by hand. The company says it was the first boat of that size built by hand on Tenerife. It was launched in July 1996 and carried its first passengers on 24 December 1996.

That is an unusually specific and checkable history for an operator of this size, and it is the reason to choose it over a modern catamaran in Costa Adeje. On a private charter the boat takes up to 91 passengers.

The other two vessels are smaller and quicker. Masca Express runs two-hour trips hourly from 10:30 to 15:30. Los Rápidos is a twelve-seat boat sailing at 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00 — book ahead, because twelve seats go.

What a trip costs and includes

The three-hour Flipper Uno trip is €40 for adults, €25 for children from 2 to 11, and free for infants. It includes paella with chicken, vegetables and fruit, and red wine, beer, soft drinks and water throughout. The two-hour version is €33 and €23 with drinks but no lunch. Masca Express is €28 and €18. Los Rápidos is a flat €28 a seat. Prices are checked regularly.

Every departure leaves the marina at Los Gigantes, runs out to look for pilot whales or dolphins, then turns under the cliffs — close to 600 meters at their highest — and anchors in one of the bays at Masca, Barranco Seco or Juan López for a swim. You can go down the ladder or off the zip line. Bookings must be presented at the office by the wharf entrance at least half an hour before departure, and the company says it checks the ages of children aged 2 to 12 on board.

The guarantee is the weak point

Sighting guarantee

Flipper Uno advertises guaranteed sightings but publishes no remedy at all if the sea is empty — the weakest clause of the operators we review.

What is claimed

'Sightings of cetaceans guaranteed (depending on sea conditions)' and, on the tour page, 'We guarantee one of the two (depending on the sea state)' (flipperuno.com)

What you get if not

Nothing is stated. No re-ride, no refund, no percentage, no window. Ask before you pay

Cancellation

'You can cancel your booking as long as it is made at least 24 hours in advance and we will refund 100% of the amount paid.' Inside 24 hours you lose the full fare

Weather

If the company cancels for weather it moves you to a new date, and refunds if you cannot attend

Nobody can promise a wild animal. A guarantee without a stated remedy is a slogan, not a term.

This is worth being direct about. Three of the operators in this section — Terra Azul, VMT Madeira and Rota dos Cetáceos — state exactly what you get if nothing surfaces. One, Espaço Talassa, offers nothing and says so. Flipper Uno advertises a guarantee and then defines no remedy anywhere on its site. If that matters to you, ask the office before you pay, and get the answer in writing.

In practice the odds here are good, and not because of the operator. Spain's environment ministry records short-finned pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins as holding resident populations year-round in the Teno-Rasca protected marine strip, which is the water directly off Los Gigantes. Up to 22 cetacean species have been recorded there.

The legal distance, and the flag

Canary rules are stricter than the ones quoted on many booking pages. Decreto 178/2000 sets the minimum approach at 60 meters, not 50, caps speed at 4 knots within 500 meters, bars a third boat from closing to 100 meters, forbids swimming or diving within 500 meters of cetaceans, and limits any vessel to 30 minutes within 100 meters.

Article 15 requires licensed vessels to fly the yellow "Barco Azul" flag. Look for it before you board — on a coast with as many operators as this one, it is the fastest check a visitor can make.

How it compares

Freebird at Puerto Colón is the larger, newer, better-equipped alternative, with hotel transfers, sunbeds and quality-charter membership — and a starting fare of €30 for two hours. Flipper Uno is cheaper for what is included, sails from a quieter harbor with a shorter run to the animals, and has a boat with a story. Neither will get closer than 60 meters, because neither is allowed to.

For the wider picture, including Los Cristianos, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura, see our Canary Islands page.

Our call

Our call

The 3-hour Flipper Uno trip

It is the only one of the three boats that includes lunch, and the wooden hull and the swing into the water at anchor are the reason to choose this operator over a modern catamaran in Costa Adeje. Los Gigantes is also the shortest run to the pilot whales on the island.

Skip it if Los Rápidos if you want space — twelve seats and no shade for two hours off an open coast.

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