Hasta Luego Las Islas Canarias!

Thursday, March 31, 2011

                               

This is our last day on the Canary Islands and we still haven’t found any canaries… good thing we aren’t visiting the Virgin Islands…  

We woke at 6:30 and saw the lights of the city of Arrecife on the island of Lanzarote. It was still dark…sunrise wasn’t until 8:00 am.  So much for daylight savings time!  The pilot boat arrived and our harbor pilot climbed into the Prinsendam through the portal on deck 4.  Each harbor provides a pilot to direct the movement of the ship through the waters from outside the harbor to the tied-up position on the dock or anchorage in the harbor.  

Lanzarote is one of the more Eastern of the Canary Islands and is only 75 miles from the African coast.  The island of Lanzarote has a lunar-like landscape with over 300 volcanoes.  The landscape is desolate yet hauntingly beautiful. The lava rich soil is perfect for growing vegetables and grapes although it is very arid at this time of year.   We are visiting at the end of the “wet” season but it still isn’t very green.  The crops that we saw were in poor condition, unless one would consider cactus to be a crop – then it would be a bumper crop.  The fields all had lava rock walls around them and in lines within them to block the wind and preserve what little moisture comes from the occasional rains. Today we felt the effects of the Sahara desert with its hot winds and desert dust. 

    

Our tour took us along the coast North from Arrecife. The homes, clustered in small villages, were white-washed, none over two-story, with green shutters and tiled roofs.   They were a striking contrast to the black lava soil.

   

We climbed gradually up to higher elevations while the road wound through volcanic geologic features.  We stopped at several viewpoints to see the cones, craters and lava flows.  We would have had a great view of the fishing village on the Isla Graciosa from Mirador del Rio were it not for the haze.  The overlook location was a nicely constructed structure built into the mountain several thousand feet above the coastal views.  The building was designed by Cesar Manrique and was entirely made of sweeping curved walls, ceilings and roofs. all finished in smooth white plaster.

     

The primary destination of the tour was the volcanic grotto at Jameos del Agua. The grotto was formed by a lava flow which reached the Atlantic Ocean, crusted over and flowed out, leaving a hollow “lava tub”.  When the roof of the tube caved in it created a grotto.  This grotto has been developed into a very nice complex including a pond, a small swimming pool, an auditorium, a volcanology museum, a gift shop and a snack bar.  We could see albino blind crabs which have inhabited the cave’s pool since prehistoric times.  We enjoyed the design of these Cesar Manrique buildings which, like the Mirador del Rio was built exclusively with curved walls and ceilings. 

  

We spent the afternoon on the ship falling right in line with the pace of this island – slow, dead slow, and stop!  We could get used to this.  They are giving us an hour back tonight as Morocco doesn’t observe Daylight Savings’ Time.  We should be well rested. 

By the way, there aren’t any canaries on the Virgin Islands either---look it up.