Adventures of Beth and Dan: Heading to the Azores!

For two days we enjoyed calm seas and sunny skies heading toward Ponta Delgada. We filled those days with walking, card playing, listening to lectures, reading, napping and enjoying evening entertainment or movies under the stars. Each night our clocks were set back one hour slowly catching us up to time in Florida. Our guest speaker continued to be Captain Anderson where he spoke enthusiastically about the gems of the Atlantic, the Azores. His descriptions and photos were excellent and provided us with detailed and interesting information. The Test Kitchen gave cooking lessons on the flavors of the Mediterranean or you could join in a game of cards or mahjong. The evening entertainment one night was a virtuoso pianist, Juan Pablo Subirana and another night a vocalist and comedian, Jo Little. We opted out of the pianist but thoroughly enjoyedJo Little. She stayed onboard with us till Fort Lauderdale. I also enjoyed attending the coffee chats in the mornings where the cruise director would interview various ships personnel. It was amazing to hear about how they got into the industry, their education and work experience and their life outside the ship. They always served coffee and tea along with a pastry but my interest wasn’t in the food but in the people aspect. Dan was able to get in a few games of pickleball if it wasn’t too windy in the sport court!

Here is some information about the Azores..

Portuguese settled there first under Henry the Navigator

Azores are a part of Portugal

Very active fault line is located through the Azores

Sao Miguel is their largest island

Some landscape is like moon scape where others are very green and lush

Often the Azores are called the purple island due to blooming flowers all the time

Azores Bullfinch and the Azores bat are found here and nowhere else

Early 1400 s they discovered Azores looking for different routes to trade spices

Fizzy spring water is found in the Azores

Locals can cook meat and vegetables in the ground due to the hot boiling water at Furnas.

We finally arrived to the port on November 3rd docking station 8 to then leave by 5:00 pm. The weather was about 68 degrees and a little cloudy. We decided to get off and do our own thing here. The area is famous for whale watching but not at this time of year as we weren’t there for the migration. I walked up to a few tour guides and asked them what they could offer the four of us. They showed their brochures and gave us their sales pitch. Back behind them all stood a quiet man very unassuming and not pushy to present his information. As it turned out he was a local tour guide fully certified and trained. He had a jeep to take us where others couldn’t go and said he would take the four of us for a five hour tour for forty dollars per person. His Jeep was fairly new and clean and we liked his demeanor so we loaded up and took off with him for a fun day adventure.

Our guide was exceptional taking us off road high up around the rim of the old volcano. He took us to a very inexpensive cafe for hot drinks and snacks. Then again high up for vista viewpoints. We were amazed by the beautiful blue hydrangeas that we’re profusely blooming along all the roadways planted by the highway department. At the end of our adventure he personally took us to a large mall going inside with us to translate for us. We were looking for some cold medicine and hairspray!! He dropped us off at a quaint pub where we had Special Beer made in the Azores and then we also ordered cheese and bread. It was all delicious and as we walked back to the ship we commented on what a great excursion we had experienced.

Beautiful lush fields for grazing

Overlooking the ocean. We are at least 900 miles from the coast of Portugal.

The historic old aqueducts

The huge lake is the old volcano basin. No swimming in this fresh water lake and supposedly no fishing.

We stop for cattle driving from pasture to pasture

An old historic church through these trees

A walk way underground that drains the lake into the ocean when it overflows

Our quaint cafe for hot coffees and pastries on the banks of the lake

Another beautiful viewpoint