Jameos del Agua, Lanzarote

Wednesday 16 March 2005. Our ship has docked in Arrecife, Lanzarote and we are in the middle of a coach excursion. Having left the Mirador del Rio, we arrive at Jameos del Agua.

The first thing we see is a stonking great hole in the top of a nearby mountain. When the volcano Monte Corona erupted several millions of years ago, a searing stream of molten lava burst out from its interior.

It carved a tunnel for over seven kilometres underground until it reached the nearby Atlantic Ocean then... it kept going. It is the longest volcanic tunnel in the world and extends out under the floor of the Atlantic.

Here you can climb down into the tunnel and explore it for a short distance. There is a handy bar at one end should you feel in need of refreshment, or just a bit of dutch courage in case the mountain tries its hand again whilst you are there.

Our walk through the tunnel is only a short one because a few yards further on the pressure of the lava trying to bore through solid rock and backing up caused a huge explosion and created a hole in the roof of the tunnel. Little blind white crabs live in the water here. No one is sure why. Presumably they got in through another such explosive hole but this one must have been under the ocean. However, normally these little blind crabs live at immense depths (where eyes would not be of much use so far from penetrating sunlight) and here the water is only a few feet deep.

And out into the roofless bit. The artists César Manrique has turned the place into a tourist attraction, sculpting the (now thankfully cool and solid) lava into terraces, spiral staircases, and a landscaped pool without crabs.

Here I've climbed one of the said spiral staircases for a higher viewpoint and a troubled look at the dark sky. Is that pesky mountain going to blow again...?

Lanzarote can be justly proud of César Manrique (that's the artist, César Manrique) but our guide mentioned César Manrique so much we were sick of his name (César Manrique) by the time we finished the tour!

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El Mirador del Rio, Lanzarote

Wednesday 16 March 2005. We are on an excursion from our ship, the Carousel, which has docked in Arrecife, Lanzarote.

We are at El Mirador del Rio, where the local artist César Manrique has designed a brilliant viewpoint as the setting for some of his art. He created a building set into a cliff face and this was taken from the balcony. In the background is the massive picture window of a restaurant and bar.

The view from the Mirador del Rio, across the Strait of EL Rio to the tiny island of La Graciosa. The island is stunning with its volcanos rising from the coast.

Miss Franny takes in the view whilst her hair gets rearranged a little by the breeze! Mine pretty much stays the same...

There's a good view from inside the cafe bar as well. And not as much breeze, unless someone leaves the door open...

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Lanzarote Excursion

Wednesday 16 March 2005. We arrive in Lanzarote to a beautiful day.

Arrecife is an industrial port, but we haven't really come to see the factories and containers stacked up so it's onto a coach and we go exploring.

Before too long we are up in the hillsides and stop at a mirador, or viewing point, to take in the scenery.

There are plenty of cone-shaped hills with holes in the top to remind us that we are on volcanic land. In fact the car and coach park is delimited by large chunks of volcanic rock. Light though pumice stone may be, you wouldn't want to crash your car into a large chunk!

Looking towards the deep blue of the Atlantic, we can look down a steep valley. There are patches of grey exposed lava amongst the green. Nervously we keep an eye out for any tell-tale wisps of smoke but today at least will be eruption free.

The hillsides have been terraced to allow crops to be planted. They are steep enough to call for the he road below to twist in a series of hairpin bends as it descends from the hills.

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Colourful Coasts (Canary Isles) on Thomson Celebration, 4-11 April 2014

This is a series of articles covering our trip around the Canary Islands on the Thomson Celebration cruise ship. Once more meeting up with our friends, Tomas and Maris who sing as 2 Intense onboard the ship, we will be taking it easy on this trip, with far more independent trips ashore than excursions.

Click each of the photos below to view the associated articles and photographs.

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Leisure in Lanzarote

Thursday 10 April 2014. The last day of our cruise around the Canaries is a day on Lanzarote. We awake in the port of Arrecife and after breakfast we bounce down the gangway and onto a coach as we have an excursion booked.

This will be a morning tour and sets off with a trip to a shop... Just about every sort of souvenir you can think of and of course this includes fridge magnets. There's a free "glass of wine" that's a small plastic beaker with an eighth of an inch of liquid in it. At 9:30 in the morning it's still more wine than I want to drink...

The first real attraction is at the Mirador del Rio with a viewpoint that looks across the Straits of Rio to a small island, La Graciosa, on which an incident occurred that inspired Robert Louis Stevenson's book Treasure Island.

The fall of the cliff face is spectacular, plunging down to the sea in a sweep of barren rock. The viewpoint itself is fairly spectacular as well, being burrowed into the cliff face.

Designed by the artist Cesar Manrique, it is a delight, with a whitewashed interior with almost no sharp edges anywhere and a feeling of light, space and peace about the place. No mean feat when several coach loads of eager tourists turn up at once...

Little artifact collections decorate the place. Stones, plants, earthenware pots. It's just a touch misty which makes the view across the straits a little subdued. Never mind, we're being herded back to the coach for the ride to our next stop.

This turns out to be an aloe vera plantation. That's not an aloe vera plant above, it's a cactus with a flower, the desert rose, about to blossom. This was one of those stops that seemed to be a half-desperate "please spend money here". There was an extremely boring talk about aloe vera. It may well be someone's idea of heaven to travel to far-flung places and learn about household products, but sadly it left me cold... Aloe vera is edible apparently and after using a huge knife to strip and divide small bars of the leaves for us to nibble on, the company owner and living partner of our coach guide passed them round. It was a bit like nibbling a small bar of hotel soap, though with a nastier aftertaste... and... spit!

Final stop is at Jameos del Agua, another natural feature enhanced by the skill and artistry of Cesar Manrique. In this case it's a tunnel formed by a lava flow that at this point blew out and formed a hole which we descend by way of steps.

We let the rest of the tour go ahead and stop for a drink in the bar. Before us is a short length of the lava tunnel which now holds a pond in which resides a species of small white blind crab, unique to this site. They like deeper water, so it's lucky the water in the pool is crystal clear. Even so, they are so far beneath the surface they could be white blobs of paint most of the time until all of a sudden you see through a relatively ripple-free bit of water and make out just for a second that they are actually crabs! Being blind, they don't wave back or react in anyway to the curious tourist. They just huddle together saying in crab talk, "I feel like I'm being watched..." "Watched? What's that?"

Drink finished, we make our way through the tunnel and come out to climb out the other side where we arrive in a landscaped garden complete with a blue pool. A choice of steps lead up from this second hole in the tunnel up to a terrace and shop.

Snatched from the coach window as we drove back into Arrecife, this is the wreck of the Telamon, which started life in the UK in 1954 as the Temple Hall and was wrecked here in 1981, proving to be beyond salvage.

Colourful Coasts Cruise Index

Chilling on the Carousel

3 March 2004. We had joined the Carousel as she set off for a cruise around the Canary Islands. This being our first day on a ship, we decided to ignore the delights of Lanzarote and stay on the ship.

Here the ship is coming into the port in Lanzarote. This is as much notice as we took. Sorry Lanzarote - we'll have another proper look at you next year in 2005!

There was a lot to experience on board the ship in fact. Breakfast, which we took on deck al fresco. Buffet style and lots of choice. Scrummy. Following which we explored the ship.

This is the Promenade Deck - an unbroken full circuit of the ship. Walking 5 times around it meant you had walked a mile. We did. We were on our own...

11:00 am. Elevenses were being served. Freshly made biscuits and coffee. Then a chance to sit on the deck, soak up a bit of sun and read. I was reading Bernard Cornwell's Heretic.

Lunch time. We stuck to a light lunch - salad and fruit. No sense in scoffing everything in sight! Besides at 4:00 pm it was Afternoon Tea. Sandwiches with the crusts cut off and (ooh!) bananas and custard!!!

During the afternoon there was lots to laugh at as the entertainments team made up lots of competitions between passengers and crew and there was some sort of demonstration each afternoon - ice carving, fruit carving, towel and napkin origami, cocktail juggling...

There was a formal dinner and we dressed up to meet the ship's Captain.

We had a photo taken in front of a screen backdrop of the staircase from the Titanic... er... hang on... why would a ship want to remind its passengers of one of the worst maritime disasters? Answer: because to most people it's a film, not a tragedy and therefore it's Leonardo's great romance with Kate Winslet rather than all those frozen floating bodies.

Evening meals on such a small ship were with the same table of people every night. It made for a jolly time as we got to know each other during the week.

Tomorrow we arrive in Africa - Morocco to be more precise and the port of Agadir to be specific. Until then, there's a Midnight Snack...

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Montage Making & Collage Creation

I'll hedge my bets as I'm not sure of the difference to be honest...

Anyway after making a series of montages about the last cruise we did I enjoyed it so much I've started doing some of our 2005 cruise around the Atlantic Islands - Canaries to you!

I've been uploading them to Flickr so you can have a look at the a bit bigger than this one! It shows the view from La Mirador del Rio on Lanzarote, designed by artist César Manrique.

From a large cafe window and from cliff edge balconies you can look over to the island of La Graciosa. The island is stunning with its volcanoes rising high above the coast.

According to some, Robert Louis Stevens based his book "Treasure Island" on an incident which occurred on La Graciosa.