On Sunday, I had the day off and was invited to go on adventure with my friends Ken, Ann, Jean and Jean. We headed to the mountains and the former volcano in the middle of this island of Gran Canaria. We drove up to 6,500 feet, though when we got there, we could not see anything but the cloud. We stopped along the way in small quaint small towns and just enjoyed the day together.
During our tour of the ship on Sunday morning, I took this photo at the bow (front of the ship). Since she was a ferry in Denmark before the ship actually had two rudders – one in the front and one in the back – we don’t need the one in the front and so we welded it closed. So far things are going good with the inspection and certificates that we need to continue to sail.
Sunday morning we had the opportunity to have a tour under of the Africa Mercy as we are in drydock. Here you can see the middle bottom of the ship resting on these platforms with wood on railroad tracks. That is how they move us around the shipyard. It was very interesting to see the bottom and the different parts that are normally always under the water line.
This lovely view is of Las Palmas from the hillside where the Korean Church has their building. They hosted 55 of us crew on Sunday for service which was translated from Korean into English, Spanish and Chinese. Then they enjoyed bulgogi, my favorite Korean food and then went for a short bus ride to the Botanical Gardens and the Calle de Colon – Street of Christopher Columbus.
Photo of the Africa Mercy in the drydock here in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria for our annual inspection. This is required for our passenger status for the ship and our options from West Africa are to go to South Africa or the Canary Islands. Soon I will post a photo of me standing down below the ship on dry land!!!
I am standing on Deck 8 – highest deck on the Africa Mercy as we watch the ship being raised and on placed on platforms with railroad like wheels as they pull us into our ‘parking spot’. You can see 3 of the bulldozers pulling us. I have been in many drydocks, but this is the first time usually a system like this.
The helm (steering wheel) on this ship is much smaller than on the Anastasis and Caribbean Mercy (ships of the past). In case any of you are wondering, the officer on duty had the ship on auto-pilot – I just stood there for the photo.
Even though most things are not electronicized/computerized on board the ship, we still make use of the charts for our voyages. Here we are checking out our route to the shipyard in Las Palmas.
On the Africa Mercy bridge, there is this section on both side that has a glass bottom, so the capitan and officers can see when docking the ship. In the photo, I am standing on the glass looking down at the ocean as it goes by. When the orphans came to visit the ship, we got permission to take them to the bridge and I would ask for a brave one to volunteer to stand on it first, usually I got one, but even afterwards, some of them would not stand in this spot.
The area of Tenegar is a possible location for agriculture, water & sanitation and community health education. Jeff and I visited this school, Alieu Swaray School, spoke with the principal and teachers to learn more about the area. All of our photos and information in our reports goes to our Programs Director and the leaders at our headquarters to be considered for a community for our ’08 field service in Liberia.
