Santa Cruz de Tenerife - November 1, 2013

This morning, All Saints’ Day, we docked in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.  Santa Cruz is the capital of the island of Tenerife, the largest and most populous of the seven Canary Islands.  The island has a population of 800,00 of whom 300,000 live in the city where we docked.   As with Lanzarote which we visited yesterday, Tenerife is volcanic in origin.  It was formed around 3 million years ago by the fusion of three islands during an eruption of Mount Teide.  Teide  is the highest point in Spain with a summit at 12,198 feet.  From its base on the ocean floor to the summit it is 24,600 feet tall making it the third highest volcano in the world after Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa in Hawaii. Tenerife is known as “The Island of the Eternal Spring” because of its warm climate year round.  The combination of the trade winds and the cold sea currents allow people to enjoy the warm sunshine of the coast and experience snow within a few miles on the mountaintop.

Today we took a tour to Mt. Teide.  The drive was a study in contrasts.  After leaving the port area we passed through Santa Cruz which is a modern city perched on the edge of the ocean with many high-rise buildings.  We took a divided highway up to the area of the airport (one of two on the island), and then began our drive on a twisting road up along the spine of Tenerife.  We passed through forests of Canarian pines and eucalyptus trees.  We were always climbing.  Along the way we had glimpses of the ocean on one side and a lush valley and forests on the other. It didn’t take long before we were above the tops of the clouds so when we could see past the forest what we viewed was a sea of puffy white.  About 45 minutes into our drive we exited the forest and came to a completely different terrain, more reminiscent of what we saw in Lanzarote.  Ahead of us was our destination Mt. Teide, which looks like a classic  conical volcano.  We stopped at a little restaurant for some coffee and hot chocolate and the view from the terrace of the place.  The hot beverages were wonderful because it was very cold up there!

Mt. Teide

After a short break we continued on our way.  As we drove along we could see an observatory up on some of the mountaintops.  In the mid 19^th century a British doctor came to Tenerife and brought with him a telescope.  He wrote a lot about the wonderful sky-gazing from this place and eventually an observatory was built.  Unfortunately as time passed on and construction continued there was too much ambient light for good observations.  A new observatory was built on a nearby island, Las Palmas, and it’s now one of the 4 major ones in the world to study the sun.  Nonetheless, the one here on Tenerife was the first to receive the message back on July 20, 1969, that “The Eagle has landed.”

The landscape became desolate with fields of basalt, obsidian and different kinds of lava.  In some places there was no vegetation at all and in others little plants had managed to find a little soil to cling to.  It is a holiday so there was an incredible amount of traffic.  Near the base of Mt. Teide (not really since the base is thousands of feet below the island) there is a cable car station.  Buses, cars and a multitude of people were lined up and the wait would have taken more time than we had.  We drove past to a wonderful view point with some impressive rock formations and a vast volcanic valley below.  I’ll post some photos but they really don’t give an idea of the scale.  Al took some great pictures of the plants and flowers springing out of the rock and ash.

Rock formations

More rocks - notice the brilliantly Carolina blue skies!

This one gives some idea of the scale of the rocks.  Look at the people climbing along the trail.

Some of the little flowers growing among the rocks

Another hardy bush that found a little soil

So after a little stop we were on our way back to Santa Cruz.  Our guide Isidro was not only a font of geological knowledge, but also history.  For those like ourselves who enjoy learning naval history we received a real education.  Apparently in 1797 the British attempted a conquest of the Canaries and their target was Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Admiral Nelson was charged with the objective of  taking the islands from Spain.  Due to adverse weather and strong resistance from the Spanish, he failed.  During the battle Nelson lost his right arm.  The battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the only loss Nelson had in his career in command.  The Spanish commander Gutierrez loaned two schooners to the defeated British and allowed them to leave with their arms and war honors.  This conclusion led to an exchange of letters between Nelson and Gutierrez.  In one of them Nelson offered to send the Spaniard some good English cheese and the letter is on display at a museum in Spain.  War has changed, hasn’t it?

When we got back to the ship we decided to stay on board. We had noticed on our way back that everything ( and I mean everything) was closed.  Everybody on the island was waiting to get on the cable car for Mt. Teide!  So we spent the rest of the afternoon playing Scrabble (it was a tie 1-1) and relaxing.  We have two sea days coming up.  Hooray! We need a rest.