Bananas and Potatoes

 TSH and Diva watched the sail-away from Tenerife in order to get a good view of the dramatic rocky scenery. The departure was, unusually, assisted by a tug because of the strong winds. The captain announced that the Spirit of Discovery would be taking a short detour into international waters in order to 'feed the fish'. 

In Santa Cruz de La Palma, they took a short tour which gave Diva a white-knuckle ride along the twisty mountain roads with steep unfenced drops at the side. They had good views of a massive volcanic caldera with their viewing position higher than the drifting clouds. The guide was confusing in her descriptions and her indication of which direction guests should look in was given by her raised arm which was invisible from many seats on the bus. She emphasised the drama of the route but she was the only person shrieking at the sharp bends.  She also asked guests to inform the driver if another bus was approaching along the narrow roads. Not sure what he thought of that.

TSH took many photographs to provide him with an occupation of deleting and editing in the afternoon. Another guest was taking photographs with a tablet with the sound instructions played at a high volume. 

Some guests are talking a lot about the rough seas encountered during some nights but this has not been at a level to bother TSH and Diva.

Diva's brightly coloured jacket was admired. The restaurant manager checked that TSH and Diva were happy with their lunch.

The main crops on La Palma are bananas and potatoes.

Round and Round

The white-knuckle excursion on the Faroe Isles involved a long tunnel under the ocean as they crossed from one island to another. This was followed by a ride along one-track mountain roads with steep drops, especially at the hairpin bends.

They did, however go twice round the only (alleged) roundabout on the planet which is under an ocean.

On the plus side, TSH and Diva had good sight of extremely dramatic cliffs where – spoiler alert – 007 died in a recent film. The chocolate cake at the refreshment stop was very good but not quite as good as Diva’s brownies.

The Faroes appear to be more developed than Iceland, although it is unclear why. TSH and Diva even saw a supermarket!! The claim is that 90% of the income is derived from fish. Sheep-shearing was in full swing - there are more sheep, of a variety of colours, than humans.