- 2024 Fall Voyage
The wind was still up as we approached the entrance to Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The crew did an excellent job sailing us into the harbor, then striking sail in the lee of the breakwater. Soon, we were secured at our berth in the marina and, after taking care of some details on board, we dined on Amelon's excellent chicken tikka masala and enjoyed our first evening on Tenerife.
Yesterday morning, we kicked off the day with the marine science final exam. Everyone did pretty well. Next, we had a score to settle - between the port (Jules, Hyland, Reed and George) and the starboard (Teddy, Amelon, Avery and Holden) sides of the boat. In recent days, during a few competitions, they had split and so a winner needed to be decided. The fall trip's annual scavenger hunt started off with a pin chase on board, to determine what group would have a head start. Starboard was off and running early, after narrowly winning the pin chase (a competition testing knowledge of the lines on board), and didn't look back. Although both groups did well on the scavenger hunt, starboard pulled out the victory. Either way, everyone enjoyed exploring the lovely city of Santa Cruz and having an excuse to talk to its inhabitants, which really was the point. The rest of the afternoon, we went out to explore the north side of the island. The jagged peaks were beckoning. We drove up to the top of a ridge for amazing views, and encountered some unexpected tropicalesque vegetation. We stopped on the windward side of the island on the way back, in a town called Bajamar.
This morning, our final full day, we had a busy day planned so launched right into field day. Not the one with potato sack races, but the one where we clean Geronimo down below and on-deck. The crew buckled down and did a great job. From here, we went out to explore more of the island. This time we headed south and drove up to Tiede National Park, passing through pine forest that spilled out into a large caldera with amazing views of the peak of Teide and surrounding islands. Descending down to the southeast coast, we found ourselves in playa de Medano for a final afternoon of playing in the surf. Back in Santa Cruz, we enjoyed a dinner out on the town, gelato and our closing activities on board. It is getting late, and everyone is moving in the direction of sleep - and enjoying our last night together as a crew. Plan is to depart the boat at 1000 tomorrow morning for the airport.