Canary Islands

Pretty easy to sum up the Canary Islands with beach and adult beverages.  Honestly I had to look them up before I went out on the ship.  Spanish owned islands off the coast of Africa.  The ship docks and there is usually a mall and a beach nearby.  

Tenerife

Gran Canaria (This is where I got my palm tree halloween costume idea.)

Fun fact about the Canary Islands: The bird is named after the island.  Gran Canaria in particular was known as Island of the Dogs.  It apparently had a large population of large breed dogs.  So the Latin translation named the island which then named the bird?? Something like that.

Fuerteventura 

From the beach we swam over to this pier.  Now this lady claimed to have seen a sting ray in the water.  I thought maybe she had too many mojitos.  But on our way back from the pier my friend Joe and I spotted about 20 of them.  They were really light- almost white in color and mostly gliding along the rocks.  Let's just say I kept a good swimming speed on the way back!

You know you are with the entertainment department when....

Lanzarote

I love cranes and shipping containers.  I plan on living in a crate home someday!

So the first time we went to Lanzarote, my drummer friend Ryan got on a shore excursion which he boasted and raved about for days.  It was to the Volcano Park at Timanfaya National Park.  I had to throw some elbows around but got my name at the top of the shore-ex list for the next cruise.  Good Choice!!!!!  Pretty easy walk through but it was damn beautiful!  I just had to babysit the old people and make sure no one fell into a crater.

Lichen above and lava tube below.

Now this is something else I found very interesting.  This style of farming was invented here on the island of Lanzarote.  Because the trade winds that hit this island were so strong, the soil would blow all over the plants and destroy them.  This picture is of a wine vineyard and the best protection the locals discovered for their crops.