New Years Eve in Funchal

So this ship is not due to dock today, but sit out in the bay near Funchal and use the tenders to get ashore.  Trouble is, the weather is crummy, and they can't get the tenders ashore to start off with.  Visibility was poor, it was miserable, foggy drizzle over on the island and swell caused all sorts of problems.

Low clouds over Funchal in the morning.

As the day progressed, several announcements kept us up to date with progress.  To start off with, they could only use the larger tenders, on the port side, but eventually the smaller ones came into play, and then one of them got damaged due to the rise and fall of the swell. 

We sat in Scott's bar, making use of Peter's mi-fi (a really neat gizmo which has made using the internet much simpler for us this trip), and waited our turn. As we waited, I could hear the other passengers complain.  I sort of feel sorry for the crew, they have to listen to these complaints all the time. 

We finally got our tender after lunch, and after 30 minutes, we were on dry land again.  We know the main streets of Funchal reasonably well, and immediately aimed for the centre, where we knew the Christmas stalls were set up.

The stalls set up to make a speciality bread that's obviously very popular

And soup

Christmas costumes for the girls around the stalls. 

Moving on past the stalls, we eventually got to the Ritz, a wonderful little street cafe which serves the most delicious cakes and icecreams.  Unfortunately they'd run out of vanilla, which meant we settled for drinks on this occasion.  

Right across from the Ritz is a wonderful little park, which is pleasant at anytime, but especially so this time of year because they fill it up with wonderful little story book houses

The little park is set up like Santa's grotto

It's a wonderful place for kids to explore.

Eventually it was time to go back on board ship to prepare for the evening's festivities.  It's a formal night, and Peter is all dressed up in black tie.  He always looks good.  Looking out from the rear deck, Funchal looks quite gorgeous. 

The ligts from Funchal in the evening were quite wonderful.  

So now we're sat in the Palm Gardens all dressed up and ready for the main events.  11pm is the "Horn Chorus" - I think that's when all the ships let loose and make a racket.  And then of course at midnight we are due to see a firework spectacular spread right across the island.  Time for another cocktail I think.  

Santa Cruz, Tenerife

"Who are you, and what have you done with my wife?" said Peter, as once again, I suggested that we make an easy morning of it in Santa Cruz. 

We'd already had a late start, the day was creeping on, and we had to be back on ship by 12ish so that we could have lunch and get ready for Peter's classes.  It was another beautifully sunny day, and it didn't seem worth chasing around the city in the short time we had.  Last time we came to Tenerife, we found the opera house a little way down from the port, so we decided to go visit it again.

So we got off the ship and turned left, following Commercial Avenue for about 30 minutes.  On the way, we came across the exercise area that we'd found before, complete with the laughs we'd had the first time around as we tried out the difference pieces of equipment.

We weren't disappointed when we got to the Opera House either, it's an amazing piece of architecture, and not something we could get bored of looking at.

We enjoyed a cold drink in the restaurant there before taking a short wander in the surrounding area.

Then back along Commercial Avenue to the commemorative lake near the port, and several photographs trying to get the images of the reflections.

For the shopping lovers, there is a lovely craft fair near the lake.  There were a few items I would have really loved to take home with us, but I resisted temptation.

Back on board, we ate lunch and set up the conference room ready for Peter's classes.  The ship set sail at 2pm,  the sun high in the sky.   I'm not sure how people stayed out on the back deck, it was burning hot out there. 

The sea decided to gift us with a bit of a swell again this afternoon, so the ride out to our next stop, Madeira, isn't as smooth as we'd hoped. We'll get to Funchal in the morning, the ship will anchor out in the bay, because their won't be any space in the dock, and we'll get tenders into the city. The high point of the day will be at night as Madeira is known for its New Year firework display. Bring it on.

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria

It's a lovely sunny day, the ship is parked in dock on one of the lovely Canary Islands until nearly midnight, and me and himself don't have any tours to escort or classes to run.  We can do whatever we like.

Usually, when we find ourselves in this position, we are off as sooning as we dock, looking for the the interesting places, visiting cathedrals and monuments and trying to see as much as possible in the time we've got.  But today we decided to have a lazy day.   An exceptionally lazy day.  We didn't rush to breakfast, we didn't hurry off the ship and we didn't dash across town.  We just ambled 

We spent most of the morning on the beach, just a 15 minute amble to get to, on the other side of the peninsular from where the ship was docked.  The bay there is sheltered by a line of rocks which act as breakers against the waves of the sea, especially when the tide is out.   I went for a dip - delighted to see a shoal of large silver fish in the crystal clear water.  I wish we'd brought the goggles and snorkels now.  Wonderful.

A lovely couple of hours on th.e beach

Sand Sculptures the beach at Les Cantares

We enjoyed an Italian lunch, and then took a leisurely amble along the promenade noticing that the tide had come in now, and that the waves had risen above the natural breaker, turning the calm bay into something a little more adventurous.

Just like Scarborough, but with sun!  

We were looking for ice cream, and found a really good ice cream parlour at the end of the beach.  And I mean REALLY good.  We're going to remember that for our next visit.

Ambling on a little further, we found some lovely natural coves, full of foam and crashing waves.

We were beginning to flag by now and headed back through the city to the ship, stopping on the way to buy a necklace.  The chain part was made by twisting and lacing thick cotton in a way to make an attractive almost lace like collar using different colour threads.  I'd watched the men making them sitting by their stalls.   Very clever.  With a stone added, it is a lovely and unique little momento of our beach day.

The last thing to mention about today was Ross Robert's cabaret in Scott's Bar at the end of the day.  He has a wicked sense of humour and gave a brilliant show.  My favourite line had to be when one of the waiters happened to walk across the stage area behind Ross at the beginning of the act.  "It's OK," said Ross, "I've got his cabin number, I'll go walk through it one night when he's performing!" I nearly fell of he chair laughing.  The waiter looked suitably embarrassed. 

So that was our visit to Grand Canaria. Tomorrow we're in Santa Cruz, Tenerife. It'll only be a half day and we have no tours, but we like Tenerife. Class eh?