A day up a volcano

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Today was a port day on the island of Tenerife. I worked here during two winter seasons and frighteningly realised that the last time I was here was 20 years ago!

Anyway, as usual woke up early but Alex was pleased I did this time as we had an amazing view of the island as we sailed alongside into the port of Santa Cruz.

(Jeez, I am drinking a coffee from the breakfast buffet as I type, man this is strong stuff, if this doesn’t propel me round the jogging track nothing will).

Anyway, back to Tenerife.

We had decided to rent a car and drive up Mount Teide, the volcano on the other side of the island. I had a couple of emails to do so Alex went off to grab us a croissant for the room and some rolls and eggs and ham to make a picnic on our trip out.

Wile he was out I noticed a massive cricket on the balcony which must have come aboard in Barcelona, I was concerned for his welfare so we tried to catch him with a view to take him ashore and release him to his new life in Tenerife but he flew off to a higher deck, we just hoped he managed to get off later, although maybe he was planning to come all the way to Florida and apply for immigration status.

Disembarked the ship and managed, after a while to locate the car rental office. Picked up the car, a nice white Opel Mokka, 6-speed nice little number.

The onboard GPS was a bit random so decided to use the phone, but then somehow the onboard Spanish GPS lady piped up and then we couldn’t shut her up! So I drove out of Santa Cruz, during rush hour with the posh English GPS woman on Alex’s phone, the sultry Spanish GPS lady in the car and bossy Alex all telling me where to go!!! Stressful, much!

Leisurely followed the long winding road up through the beautiful pine forests towards the Teide Parque Nacional. Actually, scratch that, I drove like the clappers, like a scene out of a James Bond movie, taking corners on two wheels and missing most of the mirador stops until we reached the parque!

My issue was, I was so paranoid about missing the ship and we had forgot to check befe we left what time departure was, I was determined to get up there and back as quickly as possible otherwise I envisioned us renting a chopper to airlift us back onto the ship as the next port of call was San Juan de Puerto Rico next Wednesday!!

I did calm down a bit and we drove as far as we could but decided not to risk the cable car to the rim as it was so busy.

We stopped in a parking area and Alex went off to walk (and he needed a wee!) on the lava field and take photos of what was a really stunning lunar-like landscape. I had been up here before but didn’t remember it being so amazing.

As a geology graduate, Alex was blown away by it all so I was glad I had made the effort.

We enjoyed out picnic in the beautiful location with blue skies,above the clouds and crisp fresh air.

We decided to take the alternative route back down, vis the North of the island and Puerto de la Cruz. The island really has two distinct halves, the south is dryer with sandy beaches and typical Spanish type landscape, while the north is lush, green and tropical with banana plants, wild parrots and beautiful flowers everywhere.

Made it back to the ship in good time and lazed on the balcony watching the crew float the lifeboats in a drill and then hoist them back in place before sailing off into the Atlantic.

Had a couple of drinks in Shakers bar and in the H20 bar, watched. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers concert on the big screen and said hi to the older couple from Burnley who now thankfully had their beverage package sorted out and looked like they were taking full advantage of it! In fact I am pretty sure they hadn’t moved far off that deck since we departed Barcelona!

We had reservations in the speciality French restaurant, Le Bistro so we headed there and enjoyed a relaxed ambience in a lovely venue. I enjoyed a seafood medley to start, shrimp and scallops with a delicious sauce and a puff pastry crust, followed by more scallops with a cauliflower puree (there will be a lot of scallops and shrimps on this trip as you can’t get scallops anywhere in Mojacar and the shrimps just don’t cut it, no not even the Garrucha ones)

Declined dessert but had a small carafe of coffee and wandered back to the cabin to find a towel animal frog! Oh and yet another time change notice, by tomorrow we would be two hours behind Spain.

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