June 7, 2024
Exploring Las Palmas
Took the public bus about 45 minutes to the north part of the island to explore capital area Las Palmas. Went with 4 others from group and we split once in town, with Mark & Darlene doing hop on off bus and Peter Cris and I walking the town center. World Of Music And Dance sign for big festival put together by Peter Gabriel every November in Gran Canary.
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After a leisurely lunch sitting seaside, we went to the Castillo de la Luz a former fort, up at the Port, that now has the ruins of the Fort combined with a modern art gallery, , for the sculptural metal workings of Martin Chirino. Provides an interesting viewing space for both.
Then back on the bus to hotel, a quick shower and dinner. After dinner Delia & Peter and I took a stroll down to beach area and walked around the plaza people watching and strolled along the beach path thru many restaurants, bars and shops and ended at dunes section - sands blown in from Sahara, along southern island coastline.
Another great day exploring the South Pacific ! Today as soon as our ship docked in Honiara , and we were cleared by customs, I was off with 9 other residents, to get in 2 small speed boats and head out to Simon's Nature Reserve in the Solomon Islands . It was about an hour long ride across the Iron Bottom Sound but so worth it to experience this special place!
Fun fact - Papua New Guinea is the most linguistically diverse country in the World! It is estimated that there are at least 826 Papuan languages. Some are spoken by just a handful of people, while others by 100,000. (Thanks - Basia & Wikipedia for sharing this information).
Tully is a small sugar mill town about 2 hours south of Cairns and we traveled here with a group of about 20 other residents to go white water rafting in the Tully River at the Gorge in the National Park. It is the beginning of the wet season and the river was running at a high level, so the rapids were class 4 out of 5. We had some trepidation, but were excited for the adventure! OMG so much FUN!!