Tenerife

This Tuesday, April 9, two curious vessels, completely antagonistic, coincided in the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, a luxury cruise ship, the second largest in the worldy a United States Navy ship. It is, on the one hand, the Sea Cloud Spiritfor which you have to pay more than 1,000 euros per day to enjoy its facilities, and the Wilson Wharfone of the four American military ships that sailed from Virginia in March on a mission to build a floating dock off the coast of Gaza.

Regarding the first, sources from the Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife indicate that it arrived at the chicharrera facility, specifically, at the South Dock, from the Port of La Estaca, on the island of El Hierro, and will depart this Wednesday, 10 April, heading to Arrecife, on the island of Lanzarote. This luxurious boat, in which they travel on this itinerary 67 passengers and 81 crew, is 135 meters long, 17 meters wide and has a draft of 6.5 meters. Likewise, it has 4,228 tons of displacement.

He Sea Cloud Spirit It was built at the Metalships & Docks shipyard in Vigo, Galicia, and costs more than 100 million euros. The ship was commissioned in 2007 but, after multiple problems, its construction ended on April 29, 2021. It is currently considered the second largest sailing ship in the world, after the five-masted sailing schooner Club Med 2, a French cruise ship.

This luxury sailboat is equipped with three masts, capable of rigging 28 candles, that support 4,165 square meters of cloth to catch the wind during navigation. The mainmast has a height of 57 meters. It also has two Diesel-electric engines, along with a Volvo-Penta. The ship can reach a maximum speed of 14 knots, thanks to its two propellers. He Sea Cloud Spirit It has two “anti-sway” boxes to provide stability to the vessel, both when sailing and when at anchor.

It has a steel hull, five decks and 69 suite-type cabins, which can accommodate 136 passengers. Twenty-five of these cabins have a private balcony. Of the 90 people that usually make up the crew, about 40 are in charge of maneuvering when sailing and the rest take care of the passengers and the cruise facilities. It has a luxury restaurant, wine bar, library, bar, tea room, spa area, hairdresser, gym, infirmary, promenade deck, boutique, and swimming pool, among other services. Likewise, it has an elevator that connects all the decks.

American warship, in Puerto Chicharrero. / Carsten W. Lauritsen

On the other hand, in the Los Llanos Dock, there is the American military ship USAV Wilson Wharfwhich will remain in Puerto Chicharrero until the next April 18th. It arrived in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, along with three other ships of the United States Navy, USAV Monterrey, USAV Matamoros y USAV SP/4 James A.Loux, last Thursday, April 4. These three left the Tenerife facility on Monday, April 8.

These vessels, which left Virginia in March bound for the Gaza Strip, are loaded with spring steel material and segments, in order to build a modular road system that allows the disembarkation of containers with humanitarian aid. Apparently, the Wilson Wharf arrived with a small breakdown, which will be repaired in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. This last ship was built in 1990 at the Trinity-Moss Point Marine shipyard in Escatawpa (Mississippi-USA).