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Canary Islands

November 15, 2023 we arrive in Santa Cruz de la Palma, Canary Islands on a beautiful sunny day. Santa Cruz de la Palma is the second-largest city and is the capital of the island.

Panorama of Santa Cruz harbor. Santa Cruz de la Palma has the only major port in the island,

Around 13,000 people live within the city limits, with the remaining population residing in other settlements.

The Canary Islands is a province belonging to Spain.

Approaching our docking location in the harbor

The city, originally called Villa del Apurón, served as a port that connected routes to the Americas, exporting goods from the island such as sugarcane. The city was sacked by pirates and was later reconstructed and fortified against future pirate attacks

A tunnel was constructed through the hills to make driving easier and connects areas of the city.

Terrain is very steep on the island. This is next to the harbor area.

The Pool Grill is the most casual of all the Seven Seas Voyager restaurants. It’s located poolside so you can enjoy a bite after sunbathing or swimming.

Fred. Olsen Express is an inter-island ferry service based in the Canary Islands, Spain. It operates a fleet of six modern fast ferries on five routes.

Compass Rose is the main Seven Seas Voyager restaurant. It is also a beautiful dining room with ornate chandeliers and a chic Parisian decor.

The Constellation Theater is the main show lounge on Seven Seas Voyager. It is a Broadway-style theater with stalls and a dress circle. It features big production shows performed by the resident cast, as well as enrichment lectures

The Horizon Lounge is stylish and elegant. There are soft leather armchairs and beautiful chandeliers – it is very impressive. The Horizon Lounge also has a small stage and a dance floor where the resident cast sometimes perform.

Prime 7 is a specialty Seven Seas Voyager restaurant. It is an American-style steakhouse serving mostly grilled meats and seafood.

The Veranda buffet is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. At breakfast there is a traditional buffet spread of hot and cold options – in fact it is the most popular breakfast spot onboard. At lunch time the buffet offers antipasti and salads as well as lobster, jumbo shrimps, roasted meats and fish.

The Veranda is a relaxed, buffet restaurant with lovely ocean views as well as a small teak terrace for al fresco dining.

In the evening The Veranda becomes Sette Mari at La Veranda – a relaxed Italian-style restaurant.

The Observation Lounge is perched high on deck 11 at the front of the cruise ship. It has panoramic views across the bow and during the day it is a peaceful place to relax and read a good book. As the sun sets the Observation Lounge takes on a different mood. Guests gather in the sunset glow to share stories of their time ashore.

Hillsides are very steep for building. View from the homes of the ocean are spectacular.

Very little level land anywhere on La Palma.

A large sewer treatment plant for this side of the island.

Palma in the Canary Islands,a volcano erupted from 19 September to 13 December 2021. It was the first volcanic eruption on the island since the eruption of Teneguía in 1971. At 85 days, it is the longest known and the most damaging volcanic eruption on La Palma since records began. The total damage caused by the volcano amounts up to 800 million dollars.

On 20 September, in one day around two hundred houses have been destroyed by the flow, according to local authorities.

The next day in the early afternoon of 21 September, the lava reached the neighborhood of Todoque, in the municipality of Los Llanos de Aridane, with 1,200 inhabitants. At the end of that day, 185 buildings were destroyed and a thousand acres lay in ruin forever covered in lava.

The British were the first to introduce the cultivation of bananas on La Palma in the Los Sauces valley in 1896. In the meantime, more than 100,000 tons of bananas are still produced per year on about 7,200 acres. Almost every usable area along the coast is used for banana plantations.

Bananas need a lot of water. Since La Palma is the wettest of the Canary Islands, it has the most irrigation water available, and the most banana plantations,

Jets of red hot lava shot into the sky on Spain's La Palma as a huge clouds of toxic ash drifted from the Cumbre Vieja volcano toward the mainland and jeopardized the island's economically crucial banana crops.

A local neighborhood on the highway to the top of the hills. Walls of lava, which turn black when exposed to the air, have advanced slowly westward since Sunday, engulfing everything in their path, including houses, schools and some banana plantations.

We stopped and visited the Volcano San Antonio visitor center. The San Antonio Volcano’s crater is one of the most incredible sites in the Canary Islands to visit. This crater was formed during the 1677 eruptions and, nowadays, is the perfect scenery to explain the volcanic activity in La Palma.

Looking into the dormant volcano.

The surrounding hills covered with lava and today with thousands of acres of bananas.

Homes built in the surrounding hills next to the dorman volcano.

A resort built in the middle of banana fields below.

Homes built on the steep hillsides. Just miles further was the damage from the destructive volcano that had erupted just months prior to our visit wiping out whole communities, of banana plantations, businesses, homes schools and churches.

A number of us climbed across the hillside to get a view from the top of the volcano San Antonio. Quite a site over the banana plantations below and the lava strewn hills.

We stopped at the Bodegas Teneguia for a tasting of locally grown and aged wine. Very refreshing after a day of driving across La Palma island. We returned to our ship and set sail for Tenerife our next stop.

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