We’re Sailing to the End of the Earth

We’re Sailing to the End of the Earth We set sail tonight for El Hierro, the end of the earth in the pre-Columbian era. For their farewell promenade around La Palma, the crew of Lady Mary chose the island’s capital, Santa Cruz de La Palma. A must on the itinerary was a check-in at the naval museum. The Museo Naval is a concrete replica of the Santa María, flagship of Columbus’s first expeditionary fleet, which met an untimely end on a Caribbean atoll sometime in 1492–93. The fleet’s other ships were the Pinta and the Niña. Columbus himself sits in the captain’s cabin, lost in thought about faraway lands. Christopher Bonifatievich is as young and cold as only a mannequin can be, but the chairs, table and straw mattress are genuine. The cannons on deck were almost real too, and were immediately inspected by our gunner. And the museum’s enormous guest book now has its first entry in Russian. Our youngest sailor tested every cannon aboard the ship for sturdiness and almost fell asleep on one of them. It’s no easy task being in charge of a fleet... One of the capital’s charming sights is its traditional balconies. There is even a special sign pointing to one place where they are clustered: “Canarian Balconies.” We gave the most colourful springtime balconies a photo shoot, then added the vivid colours of a neighbouring town to the collection. Next up— El Hierro. We’ll be in touch when we reach the end of the Earth.