Britannia Cruise 2017

Sunday September 10th 2017

 Britannia continued overnight towards Gran Canaria, sailing around the north coast of the island, shortly afterwards making her approach to the port in La Palmas on the north east tip of the island, tieing up at about 8.00am. By the time we had woken up, we were tied up in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the capital of the second most populous and third largest island of the Canaries. Gran Canaria means 'Great Island of Dogs' and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife the autonomous community of the Canary Islands.

The original inhabitants were the Guanches, a native race who for many years resisted Spanish attempts to capture the Islands. In 1401, a French expedition under Gadifer de la Salle and Jean de Bathancourt salied from La Rochlle, and gained a foothold on some of the islands. Bethancourt eventually drove out de la Salle, and his descendants sold their rights to Spain. The city of Las Palmas was founded in 1478. Columbus and his companions heard Mass here before setting out for the New World in 1492. Las Palmas was used as a supply post for Spanish expeditions to America, and towards the end of the 16th Century,sucessfully repulsed attacks by Francis Drake and a Dutch fleet. Gran Canaria is almost circular in shape, and is 34 miles long by 29 miles broad. It is a contrast of coastal valleys covered with banana plantations to awesome mountain peaks, Los Pechos, the highest, being 6,400ft.

It was quite a walk from the gangway to the port entrance so Mum stayed on board ship. There was a Columbian Tall Ship docked close to us, welcoming visitors, and flying an enormous Columbia flag. Outside the port, it was very tourist-centric. The open top double decker hop on hop off bus was doing great business. You could pay €100 to be driven in your own taxi to most parts of the islands. Or go in a Tuk Tuk motorised scooter or horse drawn carriage. The wharf area just across from the docks has been gentrified, like they've done in Liverpool. There is a big British legacy. One of the old port warehouses was owned by the Elder & Miller import/export business started in 1820, at the height of the cochineal boom. It is now a historical museum. Next door is the Science and Technology Museum, known as Museo Elder.

Also in port was a German ship, Mein Schiff 6. It was their changeover day, with people arriving and leaving by bus most of the day, en-route to the airport. They had their muster drill, late at night, just before our departure. There was the usual Sail away party as we left at 9.30pm. Mum asked, "Are they singing Guide me O thou Great Jehovah?". I had to reply "No that's ABBA Dancing Queen, but you were close". We had to reverse out of our berth and then swing around without hitting the container ship behind us. I could imagine the pilot saying "right hand down a bit" to the bridge officers, or whatever the nautical equivalent is. As it was dark, we could see the red hot glowing embers that the funnels were discharging. Very pretty but not environmentally or financially sensible I would have thought. Once out of the harbour, and clearing the island, Britannia set a north west course to Lanzarote.

Monday September 11th 2017

 In the early hours of the morning, Britannia made her approach towards Lanzarote, the eastern most island of the Canaries, arriving in Arrecife, the capital, at about 8.30am, apparently. We weren't awake at that time. The Lanzarote Tourism Board describes the place as "Lanzarote, an island forged by burning fire, has evolved a unique and never-before-seen landscape which is both lunar and cosmic". I don't know about that, but it is the 4th largest of the islands in the archipelago, and is the 3rd most populous. The most famous sight are the Montanas del Fuego, or Fire Mountains, situated in the Timanfaya National Park. The area around the Fire Mountains, the Islote de Hilario, is one of the hottest parts of the island. The ground temperature is 140 degrees C at a depth of only 4 inches, and 2 feet down it is over 460 degrees C.

There are legends surrounding the island's name. Some say it was named after Lancelotto, the Genoese sailor who discovered the island in 1312. Others say that after conquering the native inhabitants, Jean de Bethancourt, a Norman Knight, celebrated by throwing his broken lance into the air with a shout of 'lanza rota', meaning broken spear.

The 15 minute walk into town was quite pleasant, via the newly built marina, but there was a free shuttle bus for Select Price customers (£8 return otherwise) which I took. We were dropped off in a car park, where a petit train was waiting to transport you round town for a fee. I set off on foot to where I knew there was a big supermarket to buy some wine. The walk also took me into the non tourist part of town, which was a maze of little streets at all sort of angles. Bought two bottles of Casal Mendes Rose wine, one of our Portuguese favourites, and set off to the main shopping street Leon Y Castillo. That led to the Avenida La Marina, and the walk out to the 16th century Castillo San Gabriel Museum sitting out on the Islote de los Ingleses. The ancient access way was via the Puento de las Bolas, the drawbridge entrance. I wandered back to the shuttle pick up point via the Charco de San Gines marina / restaurant area.

Lanzarote appears to be much flatter and windier than the other Canary Islands. Took Mum to the front or pointy end of ship, as she calls it, and sat in the sun, sheltered from the wind. We were on time to leave on time at 4.30pm, until the Captain announced that a guest was having to be medically discharged on the ship doctor's recommendation, and we had to wait for the ambulance to arrive to take them to the local hospital before departure. It was a casual evening dress code night in the restaurant. Once Britannia had cleared the island of Gran Canaria, she altered course to the north-east and set a course across the Atlantic.