Day 12...Grand Canary

started off the day with a sprinkle... headed out on our morning tour of the island.. started raining harder ..then off/on thruout the AM... rain jackets and umbrellas w*rked when they were needed..  toured downtown.. made our first and best gelato stop at the Italian bakery as we did last year.. best of the best...left there and then toured the Volcano ..Botanical Gardens and the Beach stop before coming back to the ship.. then of course the sun came out for the entire afternoon.. turned into a nice day as we walked out to downtown and the Square in Las Palmas... on the way back stopped by Mickey D's for some free wifi at the Marina Mall.. a three story mall adjacent to the cruise docks  ships internet down to a crawl...loading pics is too slow

Italian Bakery-Gelato we visited again

Day 11.. Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

Land HO!.. arrived Tenerife, Canary Islands,Spain at 8am... cloudy day.. a sprinkle or two started the day off as forecast... was here last year so decided to do a Gardens of the Valley tour bringing us on to the North side of the island..  visited the Botanical Gardens..  Orchid Gardens and Risco Gardens....the winds on the North side of the island were up and blowing 'big time'  30mph+ with higher gusts...  clouds unfortunately stayed around the entire morning which was a bit disappointing for picture-taking... a final stop down along the North Coast for about 20 minutes to see the raging surf... a very enjoyable tour.. great tour guide, Mary... back to the ship by 130pm..

Day 10..day at Sea

another pretty day at sea sun shining  until a few minutes ago when some clouds moved in as we left our spot on the rear of the Navigation Deck...  Captain advised on his daily 'voice from the bridge'  of rain in the forecast tomorrow as we head into our next port--- Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain..
check out my 'spiked hair'

Day 9..day at Sea

lots of clouds for most of the day with the sun peeking out every now and then.. still 77* so it was back on the Navigation Deck to get some 'rays'..

was invited to the Pinnacle restaurant on formal nite by our friends Jan and Juul ...the Chief Engineer of the Maasdam... the Hotel Manager James Deering stopped by our table for an after dinner drink...  Juul..and Jan .. will be retiring next week and leaving the ship in Barcelona to go back home to Holland ..  we will miss seeing them onboard in future cruises..super nice folks..

after dinner we stopped by the 'empty casino'... quite a difference on this year's Europe cruise compared to last years when the casino was quite busy

tomorrow will be our last 'day at sea' before arriving in Tenerife, Canary islands(Spain) early Tuesday morning..

Day 8...day at Sea

well..it had to be..after 7 great weather days a storm that was actually behind and following us early this morning caught up to us... winds picked up to 28 mph... rain and nasty skies most of the day until 2pm when the ship's clock was moved 1 hour ahead as we continue our crossing..so we all went out on the Navigation deck for about an hour of sunshine...  we are now 3 hours ahead of East Coast time.. we heard about hurricane Sandy ..hope all is well back home

Day 7..day at Sea

another beautiful day at sea... sunny skies most of the day.. dark skies and clouds moved in about 315pm this afternoon with a 2 minute slight sprinkle.. a nice day overall

Day 6..day at Sea

almost half way across the Atlantic and the weather is still holding out with flat seas and 80* midday temps..

Day 5...day at Sea

our 2nd day at sea since leaving St Maarten..  wildlife so far ...flying fish and 1 lone Gannet bird who stayed with us all day long  ....  we're well south of the 'normal' shipping lanes on a heading of 75* ENE to get to the Canaries..still flat smooth seas with light winds...  the Captain announced there is a tropical depression about 500 miles east of us and hopefully shouldn't affect our course.. a pretty day today..plenty of sun...saw one Whale...some of the crew had a special Sea-Rescue certification class at the Seaview pool this morning

got an invite tonite's formal dinner at the Hotel Manager's table