We Stayed on the Ship (Except Briefly) in Tenerife

I did take the shuttle bus to downtown Tenerife, but we both canceled our shore excursions.

Tenerife is a very popular port of call for cruise ships. We were hardly alone. I spotted a docked Princess ship that holds 4,000 passengers. Also Norwegian Star, Celebrity Ascent, and National Geographic Endurance. I took a couple pictures of the plaza closest to the dock during a 15-minute visit before catching the last shuttle back to the Viking Sky. First is a steel sculpture of a dragon tree, then a war memorial, and a flower bed next to a big wading fountain:

The Atlantic is still amazingly calm for us. I took this video after we left the port;

There was a 4:30 and 6:30 lecture, since 4:30 was the “all aboard” time today. I missed the 6:30 one, but caught the 4:30 lecture by naturalist George Sranko about “Morroco’s Rich Ecosystems and Vibrant Cultural Sagas.” We arrive in Agadir, Morroco tomorrow evening, spending overnight in the port. That’s followed by two other Morrocan ports — Cassablanca and Tangier. Over 100 guests are boarding buses in Agadir and doing an “overland” excursions with two nights in hotel(s). They will rejoin us in Tangier before we leave for Lisbon. Here are some nice slides from George’s presentation. The Argan trees are harvested by goats, who eat the fruit and poop out the nut, which is then processed for Argan oil.

Sand from the Sahara can travel all the way to Italy in the north and to the Canary Islands to the west. It also creates Haboobs within Morocco.

There was an abundance of wildlife which George featured in his talk:

That’s all for tonight — bedtime!