Mission Océan - Pollution workshops in Tenerife
by Mission Océan 13 Jan 2018 17:26 PST
A Japanese art installation in the bay of Garachico © Mission Ocean
As we arrived into Tenerife early in the morning, Henrique’s phone beeped back into life. A few days before our departure for the crossing from the Balearics, we had been in touch with a French teacher friend of his living on Tenerife, and had offered to come into her school to run a workshop on plastic pollution. After a lot of practice in Palma, our lessons run almost without a hitch now, and we usually spend an hour or so with groups of kids of all ages to explain how plastics end up in the ocean, and ultimately in our food chain.
“Do you fancy going into a few other schools whilst you are here?” she had asked, to which we of course replied that we would. The early morning message some ten days later was from Marie, who introduced herself as president of the French Teachers’ Association of Tenerife. She has sent us a surprise programme of teaching filling the entire week to come, and starting the next day! The advert that she had placed for teachers on social media, offering our workshops in French for 11-18 year olds, had been met with a deluge of enthusiasm, and would see us zipping up, down and around the island in the little red hire car that Marie provided for us.
We immediately extended our stay in the stunning port of Garachico, in the West, from three to ten days. This brand new marina is protected from the Atlantic swell by an enormous harbour wall, into which are carved vast Poseidon figures brandishing giant tridents. The town in itself is small but immaculately clean, less than 10 minutes walk from the marina, and bristling with bars and restaurants along a stunning volcanic coastline. One evening, we were treated to an impromptu walking tour by a man who had lived there all his life, and who showed us the old monasteries, natural swimming pools and best eateries that the town had to offer.
We picked up the car and headed to the first school early the next day, where we were met by the beaming smile of a walrus-like headmaster. He bought us breakfast from the school canteen before shepherding us into an auditorium, complete with conference tables and microphones, where we were to give our first workshop. With the help of photos and drawings on the whiteboard, we described life on board our catamaran and the citizen science experiments that we do, before showing examples of plastic that we have collected from beaches across Europe, and discussing the extent of plastic pollution across the globe.
This quickly became a pattern that we established in each school that we visited, and we were met each time with presents – plants from the school’s horticultural section, local cakes and hot chocolate, baskets of fruit – and, most importantly, by enthusiastic, engaged children with great ideas on how to reduce their own plastic consumption. This is the main message that we try to communicate in the last section of our workshop, and we discuss everything from straws to Kinder eggs, single-use cutlery and water bottles.
Our week’s programme took us from one end of the island to the other, from Santa Cruz in the North East to Los Silos in the Western-most point, and we clocked up over 600km in our little red car. The route took us to some of Tenerife’s most beautiful towns, including La Laguna whose town centre is classed as a UNESCO heritage site due to it’s stunning authentic island architecture. One of the schools that we visited in La Laguna was in a converted nunnery, built in ochre-coloured quadrangles teeming with lush tropical plants. When we told our tour guide from Garachico that we were to visit this school later in the week, he encouraged us to ask to see the Exhibition Room, which apparently hosted some of
Tenerife’s finest artwork. On our arrival, we were ushered into this very same room, with plush red carpets, pew-like benches and, as promised, stunning paintings from floor to ceiling, including one very striking depiction of the Battle of Trafalgar that must have been at least 15m². A projector and screen had been set up in this room, and we were thrilled (if slightly intimidated) to learn that this was where we were to give our presentation.
It goes without saying that we thoroughly enjoyed the time that we spent in Tenerife. I was concerned that we would be disappointed after the wonderfully warm welcome that we received in Palma de Mallorca, but my fears were rapidly assuaged by the smiling faces of the teachers, children and teenagers that we had the pleasure of presenting to. We ended up speaking to more than 500 students, with some schools asking us to stay and teach more classes than planned. We did what we could in the time that we had, and reached the end of the week, exhausted but beaming, and more than ready for the next adventure: a six day sail to the Cape Verdes, and the thrills and challenges that this archipelago has to offer.
Mission Océan is proud to be supported by: Boero, Doyle Sails Palma, Rotary District 1730, Navigair, Octomarine, Battery World Service, Victron Energy, Monaco Marine, Aquatabs, Spade Anchors, Plastimo, Furuno France, Pejout Marine Services, Lyvio, Storm Bird, Aethic, Astrolabe Expeditions, Asociacion Ondine, AGL Marine and Sail-Worldcruising.com
Mission Océan is Laura Beard and Henrique Agostinho. Their three year plus mission is to share their love and respect for the ocean with others, through education and scientific research. Neither is a stranger to the water, so they have combined all their skills and passions in this bold, courageous and inspiring project. Sail-Worldcruising.com is delighted to be with them for the journey of their lifetime. You can also find out more on their Facebook page