As I am writing this, my friends in Australia have already rung in the New Year and sensibly have gone to bed. It is only a couple of hours short of midnight here in Tenerife, Santa Cruz. The harbor, the hills and the city are brightly lit up and I can already hear the fire crackers going off.
We sailed in to the harbor around 1300. The Windstar (diesel 4 mast sailing ship) docked yesterday. The other ship in the harbor is Aida Cosma.
Aida.de
Where as our two ships are small – that one is up to 65xx at full capacity. I enjoyed sailing in, then I relaxed in my cabin for the afternoon, skipping both the combined cocktail party with the Windstar (yes, same cruise line and I think the original ship) as well as the tour of the Windstar. We (George & I) sailed on the Windspirit back in 2009, so I have been on the sailing yachts.
As I was explaining to some good friends with whom I had dinner tonight, it is not the fact that I don’t drink alcohol that causes me to skip these type of activities, I just don’t enjoy them. I have never, ever been a cocktail party or country club type person. I don’t like crowded gatherings of people I don’t know. The good thing about the passengers on this particular ship? Over all, everyone seems to be healthy. I have heard almost no coughing nor sneezing. Since I seem to have escaped acquiring anything contagious from the trip here, I would prefer to continue the same. Since my last infusion was 10 Dec – I have no immunity worth writing home about. Crowds of people I don’t know? No thank you. And attending in a mask? Nah, not worth it.
We will be here through the fireworks, then sail out about 0100 in the morning. Once we clear Santa Cruz, the seas are predicted to be a bit rougher. The four of us having dinner together tonight at the Star Grill were all on the same Pacific cruise in fall 2024 and experienced the “fun rough seas” leaving Hong Kong. We aren’t worked about 3-4 meter waves but know that others on the ship aren’t going to do as well.
I don’t know that I will do a summary of the last year. It was “interesting” with the usual combination of lovely times interspersed with a lot of challenges.
And, courtesy of Christian – the classic German wish – but without using someone else to get there (thank you very much….)
