Monday morning a full bus left the marina of Las Palmas with participants ready for a day of tree planting! World Cruising Club works alongside a local non-profit charity organisation, Foresta. Their goal is to cover the island of Gran Canaria with the dense forest it once had.
This year was especially important as at the end of the summer Gran Canaria suffered.jpeg)
some devastating forest fires which burnt down 2700 hectares. The ARC forest project improves bio diversity, helps prevent soil erosion and reduces flooding.
35 ARC+ volunteers left the marina early Monday morning on a bus trip towards La Finca de Osorio up in the mountains of Gran Canaria, where the Foresta workers were waiting for them and took them on a tour of Osorio. The children enjoyed getting close up with the enormous cows and horses, and they were then shown the the process of planting the seed to planting the tree onto the mountain and all the care that goes in to cultivating the forest.
Fresh bananas and juice were enjoyed by the participants after their short but very steep walk up to the planting hill. The group were separated into two teams and were spread out to cover the area they were planting. After 90 minutes of hard work 196 trees were planted!
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A light lunch was provided after which the participants slowly walked back down the hill enjoying some spectacular views of Gran Canaria before hopping back onto the bus which took them back to the marina. Foresta manages the ARC Forest throughout the year, ensuring our newly planted trees grow strong and proud and become a truly sustainable forest. World Cruising Club would like to offer our sincere thanks to all the volunteers for doing such a great job.
That evening the Crew Dinner took place at the Embarcadero restaurant. It was the first time the participants got a chance to mingle with each other over dinner and it is easy to say the night was a success as it ended with everyone on the dance floor.