Tenerife (Part One)

25th October - 28th November 2001

Our Route from Wales to the Canary Islands
On arrival in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, we were greeted by our friends Tom and Ann-Marie from 'Emma'.   Unfortunately they left to join the ARC in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria before the other members of the 'Madeira Mob' arrived here.   Next to arrive were Marc and Beatrice on 'Coconut'.   Their timing was impeccable, they arrived on 2nd November, Phil's birthday, which led to a double celebration.   

We hired a car for two days with Marc and Beatrice and had great fun exploring the island.   One the first day we visited La Laguna, the old capital of the island, famous for its courtyard gardens and the north-east corner of the island, which is very green and scenic.   After a disappointing lunch of cremated fish in Benijo on the coast, we had a walk on the cliffs.    After about an hour, the path became very vertiginous across loose shale and after a few dizzy spells, we decided to cut the walk short before any kind of cliff plunge horror took place!   When we returned to Santa Cruz, we found that Synergie another 'Mob' member had arrived, leading to another celebration.

Courtyard Garden, La Laguna

Next day we drove to Puerto de La Cruz on the north coast and followed the coast road.   At lunch in San Marco in a cafe above the beach, Phil insisted on eating a huge banana split as we were surrounded by a banana plantation.  He then slept it off through the rest of the island tour!  We drove up to Mount Teide across the surreal lava fields.   The lava varies in colour and in some cases is vivid green or red, looking like a setting for a science fiction film.   For those of us who were awake, it was fascinating!

On the way back to Santa Cruz, we made the most of the car to stop at a hypermarket and stock up on heavy items.   When we got back to the marina, the last members of the 'mob', 'Windharp', had arrived.   Of course another celebration was needed!

Walking in Benijo with Marc and Beatrice

Taganana in the north east of Tenerife

After the excitement of all the arrivals, we all got down to our job lists.    Our fridge was delivered and commissioned, resulting in a fridge commissioning party with our friends.  It was such a shock to the system after four years without a fridge to be able to offer people cold drinks and to shop for more than one day at a time.  

Coconut's radar was delivered and installed by the mob members and others.  Naturally a radar party was needed. 

Then came the leaving parties, Coconut's first, an Indonesian meal organised by Synergie, with dishes prepared by everyone with instructions from Birgit.    Windharp's leaving party coincided with Thanksgiving, which naturally had to be celebrated as well.  

Christine models the new fridge!

 

Indonesian party on Synergie 

(Daan, Brad, Phil, Beatrice, Susanna, Marc and Birgit)

Thanksgiving on Windharp (Brad, Susanna and Phil)

In Tenerife a lot heartache went into the decision about our cat Sophie's future aboard.   She just didn't seem able to adjust to life at sea and refused food and water when we were underway.   Until Tenerife this hadn't been too much of a problem, as most trips have been short but we finally decided we couldn't risk taking her across the Atlantic and maybe having to watch her die slowly.   

We were probably soft in the head, especially bearing in mind the cost and hassle of getting her back to the UK but we finally decided it would be for the best.  She flew to Gatwick a week before us on the 14th December.  

We were certainly going to miss her.......

 
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