The Cumbre Vieja volcano eruption forced Juergen Doelz and his girlfriend, Jacqueline Rehm, to flee La Palma on a boat.
They were planning to sell the small sailboat, but it proved more useful than expected.
Doelz, who is 66, and Rehm, 49, are from Germany, and they had been trying to sell the boat after Rehm lost her job.
Rehm used to work in a car rental company that had a business disruption due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The volcano gushed out lava on September 19, just four kilometers from their home in Todoque.
Meanwhile, the couple had just got back from a trip with a potential buyer to the boat.
However, the sale failed as the boat was “not sporty enough,” Doelz said, according to Reuters.
Authorities ordered the couple to leave their house after a few hours.
They left behind most of their belongings; their house was rented and had a vineyard and terrace with a sea view.
Luckily, “We still had the boat. Since then, we’ve been living on it. It’s small, but okay,” Retired Doelz said.
Lava streams destroyed over 600 hectares of land and 1,600 buildings in La Palma.
Nearly 6,000 people have evacuated their homes on the 83,000-population island.
“We moved here two and a half years ago, and after half a year found our dream house,” Doelz said.
“To lose that after two years, it’s hard; now we live on a boat.” he added.
As the eruption is not showing signs of abating, the couple believes it’s a matter of time before the lava destroyed their neighbors’ house.
“We’ll stay on the boat as long as we don’t know what to do next,” Rehm said.
She concluded, “Shall we stay here or shall we maybe go to another island, like Tenerife?”
