Day eight aboard the Disney Magic Westbound Transatlantic cruise is coming to an end, with today being the first of five straight sea days as we traverse the Atlantic ocean. At the time of writing this post, we are west of the cape of Africa, with 17,470 feet of water below us.
With two sea days between Malaga and our next port of call, Tenerife, we kept ourselves busy with a variety of activities, including beer tasting on day five and wine tasting on day six. Beer tasting is usually my thing and the wife will join, unless she’s into a good book, which in this instance was the case, so I struck out alone.
I usually make it to at least one beer tasting when on board and I’m afraid they may have jumped the shark (pun intended), having attended many of them. The bright side is, for a fee of about $10, you get to sample five different beers and try to guess what they are. The down side is, you have to sit through a presentation you’ve heard many times before about which ingredients go into making beer and how beer is made. They’re interesting and informative, as long as you haven’t heard them multiple times previously. My hope is that they’ll ask for volunteers at the end of the tasting, which usually signals some fun. When chosen as a volunteer in the past, it’s meant pitting my beer drinking skills in some sort of competition against a fellow cruiser, as was the case again today. The challenge today: who can drink a pint of Guinness the fastest. My competition was a 50-something woman from the UK, who’s a professed Boddington’s hobbyist, so I wasn’t quite sure of my odds. Then came the twist: who could drink a pint of Guinness the fastest. Through a straw. We looked at one another when the challenge was announced and before I could say anything, she exclaimed “I hope this doesn’t make me start lactating!” When the look on my face turned quite quizzical, she explained that when she was nursing, her doctor told her to drink Guinness to boost her iron levels. Despite the threat of lactation, I’m pleased to report that when it comes to Guinness drinking competitions aboard the Disney Magic, I remained undefeated.
Day six brought a wine tasting, which I will preface by saying it is not a wine slugging contest. A little more refined and still informative, the wine tasting sessions have been great by introducing us to new wines that I don’t know we would have tried prior to the tasting. Today’s tasting was no exception, as Leslie really enjoyed the Beaujolais and I enjoyed a Cabernet Sauvignon from Simi Valley. The only criticism we had of the tasting was that they started late, which made our session feel a bit rushed. Unless you’re downing some 40/40 or Boone’s Farm, wine should not be a rushed experience.
Day seven was our gauntlet excursion to Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. This Port Adventure, booked through Disney, took us to Mount Teide, an ancient volcano, located about 10,000 feet above sea level. Upon arrival, I would say we were more volcano adjacent than actually at the volcano, ending up in the Teide National Park. It was a good photo op, especially on a day like today, when we were above the cloud line by a good 3,000 feet. The only thing we didn’t care for was the cramped bus ride up and especially, the ride down, where, due to all the switchbacks on the road, we, as well as several of our bus mates, became rather green around the gills due to car sickness. Should make any rough waves we encounter during the next few days a breeze! The neat part of this excursion, other than being told Star Wars had been filmed here, which I found out later was untrue, was driving through the enormous crater of a long defunct volcano. Tenerife at one point, was host to another volcano nearly twice the size of Teide, which erupted long ago and because of its sheer size, collapsed unto itself, creating a massive landslide down the south part of the island and into the ocean, as well as the aforementioned crater we drove through. The landscape left behind did enable films like 10,000 Years BC and Clash of the Titans (2010) to be filmed here.
After the long and nauseating drive back down the mountain, we ended up at a restaurant for a delightful tamarind glazed chicken lunch, before a visit to the botanical gardens of Tenerife. The island is just a hop, skip and a jump from the Tropic of Cancer and despite the fact that it’s located in the North Atlantic, it’s considered a sub-tropical island. This allows for temperatures that make it feel like Spring all year long, and enables the growth of more than 500 different plants that are indigenous to the island. Long story short, the botanical garden was beautiful and a great opportunity to put our new camera to the test.
Day eight has been fairly uneventful, with me finishing my first book (The Circle – a great read of perhaps things to come in a Facebook/Google/Apple dominated world) and going to bingo for the first time. We are also keeping our eyes peeled for two different storm systems in our neighborhood. The first, Tropical Storm Edouard, (coincidence?) shouldn’t be a concern, as it’s currently positioned in the middle of the Atlantic, with a west by northwest trajectory. However, Invest 93L has just formed off the cape of Africa and is currently positioned exactly due south of our location, moving at about the same speed as we are. I’m curious to see if the Captain will try to beat the storm or if he’ll slow our progress and allow the storm to pass in front of us. Whatever minimizes the chop is fine with us.
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