Brief respite from the voyage preparations

The week started with a press conference in the Port Authority building

followed by a cocktail lunch involving octopus, paella, tortilla and other delicious Spanish delicacies, all washed down with excellent Canarian wine. Looked like they were pleased to have us here. Tuesday and Wednesday were taken up with yet more jobs aboard, e.g. washing lines free of Saharan dust, fitting lee cloths, checking life jackets etc.

This morning, Thursday, Skipper too busy to join the group outing to view Spain's highest mountain peak, El Teide, over 12,000 ft high. While he laboured to ensure everything is seaworthy and ship-shape aboard the good ship Follyfin, the rest of the crew boarded an organised coach trip. Once above the clouds we were rewarded with wonderful views of this dormant volcano.

and its recent lava flows (the dark areas on the right of the photo below)

Apparently there has been recent seismic activity detected, so an eruption is expected in the near future. The 'caldera' or crater formed by this volcano and its 200 smaller volcanoes in the vicinity is vast, extending to an area over 16000 hectares, all of which is National Park.

Tomorrow, Friday, is the final day on land and we will be collecting our fresh produce from the market - fruit, vegetables and meat. The challenge will be stowing it all. In the evening all the Odyssey sailors will be entertained to cocktails again at the Royal Yacht Club of Tenerife.

And then it's the off on Saturday at 11:00, so this may well be the last blog post from me on the European side of the Atlantic. So it's au revoir for now.