Jan 31st we departed Tenerife for our 10 day sail to Togo, West Africa our next nation of service from Feb-Aug 2010. Our original departure was delayed by 1 1/2 hrs. After a month and a half of beautiful sunny weather, this day we awoke to dreary rainy skies. I wasn't looking forward to sailing out in the rough seas just yet. Thank God, the rain stopped and by the time we were to depart, the skies had cleared. God's timing was perfect..TENERIFE STORM: but less than 24 hrs after departure, Tenerife was hit by a major storm causing torrential down pours that resulted in some sever flooding, mudslides and damage to several roads and caused serious problems to the islands infrastructure. The last sever storm was March 31st, 2002. Please keep the Canary Islands in your prayers. Estimated cost of damages up to11,300.00 Euros in Tenerife alone.
Sailing away from the island we could see the beginning stages of the billowing cloud formations building up over the land. It looked very beautiful but little did we know that 24 hrs later the island would be hit by a damaging storm.
Our first evening at sea, the sky was lit up by a full moon. Moonlight refelctions bounced off the sea creating brillant amounts of light that guided our path south. The first four days of sailing were pretty rough, the ship was performing her rock and roll dance as we headed south. The captain had to make a slight course change as the swells were getting fairly large sailing over the continental shelf. We are back on course and the seas are calm and some of the crew are able to get a decent nights sleep. The bow has been open during the day and we can enjoy the whales, dolphins and flying fish as they join us along the way for short spirts at a time.
Pictures
1,2) AFM in Tenerife Port, Santa Cruz
3) The crew wave goodbye to our Spanish friends
4) The last views of the port from the Stern
5) Santa Cruz sky line, Opera house (white building)
6) Billowing cloud formations build over the island
7) First evening sunset
8,9) Sunset during Harmattan season
10) Me sunset gazing
HARMATTAN HAZE: Have you heard of Harmattan? Well we are in the middle of it as we sail. The Harmattan is a dry and dusty West African trade wind. It blows from the Sahara into the Gulf of Guinea between the end of November and the beginning of March. On its passage over the desert it picks up fine dust particles. When the Harmattan blows hard, it can push dust and sand all the way to North America. In some countries of West Africa, the heavy amount of dust in the air can severely limit visibility and block the sun for several days, comparable to a heavy fog. However during our sail the Harmattan haze has created some decent sunsets. Although at the horizon there seems to be a fairly thick wall where the sun has difficulty penetrating its beautiful rays. In the past four years aboard the ship, I have experienced the thick haze and the dust that builds up on the ships decks. There have been times when we haven't seen the sun for weeks. The ship also goes through a transformation...The bright white hull takes on a grayish tone and for weeks the deckies begin the endless repetitive task of scrubbing the decks until the season ends and they can begin repainting. 
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