Public Diplomacy in the Canary Islands

The Siberian circumnavigators have spent the last few days in Tenerife, one of the islands of the Canary archipelago. While there is a raging volcano on the neighbouring island, the crew is accomplishing the public diplomacy program. One of such meetings on October 7 witnessed the first steps to the cooperation of Russian Geographical Society and the compatriots in the Canary Islands.

On October 5, the round-the-world expedition “Russian Ocean Way” came in Tenerife, which is the biggest archipelago belonging to the Canary Islands and the most densely populated Spanish island. On arrival, Alexander Kirikov and Dobrynya Kirikov, a family from Tomsk, finished their stage of the expedition (Vigo-Tenerife) and set off to Russia. A new participant, who will cross the Atlantic Ocean by trimaran, joined the crew.

The President of the Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carlos González Pérez and the Honory Council of Russian Federation in Santa Cruz de Tenerife Olga Shuvalova met the crew in the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Evgeny Kovalevsky, Stanislav Berezkin and Ildar Mukharashev, the new participant of the expedition, told about the contribution of Russian circumnavigators to the exploration of the World ocean and the mission of the expedition “Following the way of Russian circumnavigators”. Carlos González Pérez and Olga Shuvalova were given bandanas by the crew, which symbolizes involvement of the owner in the circumnavigation. The meeting of the members of RGS and the Head of the Association Russian Alliance in the Canary Islands Olga Shuvalova witnessed the first step to the mutual cooperation of Russian Geographical Society and the compatriots in the Canary Islands. The cooperation agreement was signed on October 7.

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The round-the-world expedition reached the Canary Islands exactly at the time of a succession of powerful eruptions of the Teneguia volcano at the Palma island:

“Water vapour rises in the air as lava cools and soldifies on the half-blackened island in the Atlantic Ocean. More and more burning lava falls on the shore: the resulting plateau continues to grow, having already reached the area of more than 46 football pitches. Meanwhile a stream of lava spreads for more than 1200 metres in width. It has already destroyed a thousand houses as it spreads. Together with lava, ash clouds are emitted into the air.” – InoTV reports.

However, there is nothing to beware. The expeditors are a safe distance away from the raging volcano and continue to accomplish the tasks of the expedition. Tenerife is 200 km away from La Palma. Evgeny and Stanislav say that volcanic dust settles on the island, which is especially noticeable on white surfaces, e.g., boats.

At the present moment the crew is preparing to cross the Atlantic which is going to take about two months.

Elizaveta Shaimbaeva