A Volcanic Island

(Editor's note : India has finally managed to send a USB stick back with her reports, so we have five blogs coming out in quick succession, although I still haven't worked out how to add more than one photo - working on it. The Regina Maris has just left Panama en route for Cuba, about 10 or so days at sea ...).

I woke up to very loud Spanish music. It was still dark and that made me confused. Why had they put that music on? Fine, if they want to be woken up at the sight of the first lighthouse, but let me sleep please.

Then I heard something about first land being visible. Well, as I was already awake, I might just as well get up and have a look. To starboard loomed the dark cliffs of Tenerife, and a bit further along Santa Cruz twinkled in golden light. On our port side another island was visible in the distance. Everyone had to get up and have breakfast. Not much later it started to rain, around the same time as the sun decided  to rise above the waves. Whilst the vegetation and little square houses on the cliffs slowly became visible, el Teide remained hidden behind the clouds.

Sadly the promise of swimming didn’t follow through, so after breakfast we slowly motored towards Santa Cruz de Tenerife. It was bigger than I had expected, with taller houses and not as pretty, but it was warm. Warm enough for shorts and no sleeves, and after freezing on the North Sea that’s most welcome. Looking at Santa Cruz, you’d think it was a miniature Sydney, with the exposition centre’s architecture being a lot like the opera house.

We got one of the best berths in the harbour, and after half an hour to kiss the land it was cleaning time. The whole ship, from top to bottom. As a reward we got our phones and freedom from three till ten. First destination: McDonalds, for WiFi. Next up was the supermarket, for food. Some of us found the library, which is an impressive modern building with WiFi good enough for Skype and YouTube. Then someone had the brilliant idea of going to a beach, which was supposedly only 40mins walk from the library. Not. When we finally got there we just ate pizza and took the bus back. Not much later, at 00.00, the first birthday had arrived. Mine.

They sang, just like the following morning. And one more time after that. I stood there in my pyjamas, unwrapping my present in front of everyone. Just slightly awkward. The first half of the day was spent playing uno uevo por una manzana in the rain, the second at school. My friends/roommates made the day with a song to Lana del Rey’s “High by the Beach”, which was hilarious.

In the meantime the Gulden Leeuw had arrived, carrying the students of Class Afloat, a Canadian version which does a longer, nine month expedition. The following day Classroom Under Sail arrived, a bunch of Germans on the Thor Heyerdahl. Everyone was going from ship to ship, talking a bit and asking for tours.

One must admit, the Regina Maris is simply the nicest ship with the best project name. And perhaps the most freedom, our cosy salon a sharp contrast with their bare walls. Oh, the Alex, a square-rigged green ship under sails of the same colour arrived too. I think university students learn to sail on her or something of that kind.

As we’d arrived ten days ahead of schedule due to such favourable winds, the chance existed of going to either La Gomera or Gran Canaria. Sadly, the wind wasn’t practical. Life is different when one depends on the wind. So we spent our days half at school, the other half doing sports or studying in the silence of the library. Slightly chaotic, but doable. Especially when it’s compensated by watching Pirates of the Caribbean 2 on the main sail from the dock, accompanied by a bbq. I mean seriously, who has ever done that? Class Afloat’s gangway watch didn’t really mind, I believe. They left the following day, and in their place came High Seas High School, another German project on a way smaller, two-masted ship, boat almost.

On Tuesday we had a barbecue with them and the other Germans, which ended in a water fight between us and the smaller ship. Bottles, buckets, water balloons, everything was put to use. I was happy that my camera is water proof. The other ships had to leave the party at one point, but we’d only just started. Music loud, quite some 80s, and dancing. Our Captain Sam too, and not badly. At one point the police warned us that they hadn’t had any complaints, yet. So we turned the speakers away from the others and turned the beat up one last time. Oh yeah.

On Thursday the tenth of November, our seventh day on Tenerife, we did an exchange with a Santa Cruz high school. First all of us went to them, where they did sports and workshops with us. Then some of us were taken to class by the students, others went back to the ship. A Cuban girl took me to a philosophy class, in Spanish, which didn’t happen because the teacher was sick, so I just talked to the students until the bell rang. She took me to her house, where we ate lunch and I could check my social media. At 16.00 we were at the ship, where we’d prepared several activities, my task being giving tours around the Regina. It all ended in our third bbq and a sort-of party.

Saturday meant time to change cabins. I went from Cabin 2 to 5, with one roommate that was the same, one of my best friends aboard. The cabin is slightly larger, and in the first half of the hallway instead of at the end. After that we had ages of free time, but it was the weekend so of course the library computers weren’t available. The WiFi was, luckily.
You know, I don’t really miss my phone. Google sometimes, perhaps. But we’re all super social now, and talk deep into the night, or play "Stress. It’s a card game that’s gotten totally out of hand, every set of cards and table in use, championships with poules and a grand finale. Sam’s the best, and he plays a faster, truly stressful version. I’m not that good at it, but who cares?

Sunday, for once, wasn’t big cleanup. Oh no, we were going to do something else, the main thing on Tenerife. But that is another story, for another time.