We leave Gran Canaria for Tenerife

We arrived in Tenerife last Saturday and it is the second of seven of the Canary Islands we have visited for the maintenance, inspection, and repair phase required every year for maritime vessels. It was a 4-5 hour sail, not rough, and as we neared the port at  Santa Cruz we were delighted to see a pod of pilot whales off to the port side. The Canaries are a part of Spain.  Each island is different in terrain and in architecture, each beautiful in its own way. We have been here one short week for we set sail for Congo on Saturday.  The past 6 weeks have flown by.

The last view of the shipyard at Las Palmas

Attaching the mooring lines to the tug

The  wake of the ship turning out of the port area

                                      Relaxing in a hammock on deck 7 during the sail

Another view of deck 7

                                    First look at Santa Cruz in Tenerife

Teodora Mylonas plays the trumpet  every year when the Africa Mercy arrives and departs Tenerife. This is his 22nd year!

                                                    A wall of flowers

                                           A beautiful gazebo

                                            Sights around the city of Santa Cruz

                                            Mount Teide

                                                Bananas anyone?

Old wooden implements

                                                  Beautiful doors

                                                      Old wine press

                                             The view from the walk at a monastary

Peacocks and chickens wandered through the restaurant at dinnertime

                                       The sun is setting, turning everything golden

Holland for a week

Van Gogh's "Sunflowers"

                                         Along the canal in Amsterdam

                                                    Flowers are everywhere

                                          Martha's garden

                                            More of Martha's garden

                                           Along the canal

                                               Barns are attached to houses

                                         Formal gardens

                                           How clogs were made

                      
 Of the 20 original windmills here, 18 of the 19 left standing are private homes. Can you imagine?

                                              Rotterdam via the water-bus

People come and go, spending anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months to 2 years to their lifetime serving as volunteers and I have found that one of the most amazing things in serving with Mercy Ships are the friendships I have made  with people from all over the world.  A friend from Holland, Martha, invited me to visit and plans were quickly made then a friend from Manitoba, Fran, joined us and we spent time with another friend, Jolande, as well. What a fun filled week we had! We started in Amsterdam and I was delighted to visit Van Gogh's museum.  We traveled on one of the many canals and saw the home of Anne Frank.  We stayed in Haarlem and walked the streets to see "hidden" gardens  behind large wooden doors that when you opened you entered a paradise not visible from the streets  We stayed near Maram in Martha's home and traveled the back roads to see the beautiful countryside where the barns are attached to the houses and sheep and cattle graze in the pastures.  We visited the home of Menno Simons and learned about his life and beliefs.  We had tea and coffee every day at roadside establishments and sat in the sun and talked endlessly about everything. We visited museums and saw formal gardens and how early life was lived. We visited Rotterdam to stay with Jolande and saw the windmills at Kinderdijk and traveled by water bus, hopping on and off at various places of interest.  Everywhere there is water, in the many canals and behind the dikes that keep the land from flooding. Everywhere there are flowers.  Holland is beautiful!

Gran Canaria

It is hard to believe we have been here in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria for 2 weeks already.  I have shared driving a rental car with another crew member to do some sightseeing on my days off and that has been quite an adventure.  The car is a stick shift (thank you for all those years on the farm) and many here do not drive a stick shift or on the right side of the road so I got elected to drive by default.  One can drive around the island in an entire day and see beaches, sand dunes, and mountains as well as many delightful villages.  The mountainous roads are one lane with unbelievable switchbacks that never allow you to get out of 1st gear.  You honk the horn when you go around a bend to let anyone coming the other way know to wait.  At the worst, you have to back up to a space wide enough for 2 cars to pass.  At the best, you try to not be annoyed at the local drivers who come flying around the bend (in the middle of the road.) Ah, the excitement!  It is absolutely beautiful here.

                                           There are sand dunes at the south end of the island

                                          One of many quaint villages with beautiful villas

yes, this is indeed the road 

 View from the road on the northwest side of the island

 Flowers abound

 Got any lunch to share?

A cactus garden

 look closely, there are multiple caves

 The outside of the cathedral in  the "old town"

 The inside of the same cathedral

 A second story flower garden 

 We were above the clouds!

 "The mountains are calling and I must go" said John Muir

The water is so blue. . .

Goodbye Guinea

This is our third day to sail north from Guinea toward the Canary Islands. It was quite an emotional departure.  The tugboats escorted us a long way out of the harbor and the dockworkers stood and waved goodbye to us for a long time.I will miss Guinea.
The sea has been calm.  Lying in bed at night is a bit like being rocked in a cradle! Since the hospital is closed I am now working in the galley, preparing food for the meals to be served for 300 of us still on board the ship.  Mostly I am chopping, cutting and slicing anything you can possibly imagine would need to be made into smaller pieces.  It is quite strenuous to be on your feet for hours at a time but we have great fun listening to music and singing.  During the sail we are privileged to work every other day so on our days off we can sit on the bow and watch for dolphins and whales or read.  I love the sea. It is fun to track our progress up the coast of Africa on a marine tracking app that shows where we are.  At the moment we are parallel to Cape Verde and we have passed Dakar.  I am in a part of the world I never dreamed I would see. Once we arrive in the Canaries we will work our regular schedule in the galley of 2 days on, 2 days off then every other weekend of 3 days on or off.  I am hoping to get some sightseeing in of the wonders of the Canaries.  We spend 3 weeks in Grand Canaria and then move to Tenerife. There are 7 islands there and we will see 2 of them for certain. Life is oh so good!

                                                      The engine room

                                                     More of the Engine room

                                           Preparing to sail; loading the gangway

                                           A last view of the dock

                                           The tugboat escort out of the harbor

                                          First sunset of the sail at sea

                                              Guinea streets

                                              Fire drill

                                            Saying goodbye to our day workers