Day 99 of 102

Tenerife presents a very dramatic backdrop from some distance away. The island is far more developed than when I first visited in 1981.

There was a time when I would look forward very much to a holiday in Tenerife, a Spanish island where it is rarely cold, even in the depths of winter. The volcanic landscape is dramatic and exciting. Despite its now being very developed for tourism and all that goes with it, Tenerife remains a fabulous place to escape the bleak winters of elsewhere in Europe/North America, except that most North Americans have their own southern states to which to escape their even harsher winters, as well as the Caribbean.

For my last call before Southampton, I chose to try yet another whale watching cruise. Previous such trips have always proved frustratingly disappointing. Third time lucky? It certainly was. We journeyed by coach to the now very developed resort of Playa de las Americas in the usually sunnier south of the island. Three coach-loads would then be escorted onto at least one large catamaran, very low down in the water.

On this fine occasion, whales and dolphins swam very close to the vessel. Nevertheless, my photographic attempts were abysmal, but I should manage a few stills from the video, which, again, was not brilliant. Never mind! The five hour excursion was by way of a decent finale to several such travels between the U.K. and Australia over two routes.

There was time in the afternoon to retrace some of my steps of November 1989, when I visited Tenerife by sea for the first time on Cunard’s QE2. Because I took a wrong turning along a road which I don’t think existed in 1989, I didn’t get quite as far as previously. Nevertheless, thee were some good pictures to be had.

The back on board time was 17.30 hrs. However, a medical emergency delayed our departure, which eventually was around 20.00 hrs. I took a few more pictures from various locations on board.

The evening ended with dinner in La Piaza, a fire emergency in the Princess Grill, a comedy show that was quite funny, and a few minutes in the Queens Room listening to the combined forces of the Royal Court Theatre Orchestra and the Queens Room Orchestra. Jo had joined me for the latter part of the evening, including dinner. There seemed to be a realisation that such days were now extremely numbered.

Many thanks for reading, David 09.31 20=3/23, the day I read the noon day announcement from the Bridge.