Island Odyssey: The Azores -- São Miguel

The next day (May 7, 2011) was spent sailing towards the Azores, a welcome slow day after the exciting and busy time on Madeira. Activities included the mandatory safety drill, introduction of lecturers and staff, a presentation on the history and geology of the Azores, and our delayed Welcome Cocktails.

Our first port of call in the Azores would be Ponta Delgada, on the largest island, São Miguel.


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We approached the island in the morning light of May 8.

Ten minutes after I took the snapshot above, the Explorer encountered a blue whale. The numbers of the blue whale are starting to recover from near extinction due to whaling, but such a rendezvous is still rare in the North Atlantic. The naturalists were ecstatic to see a member of the species thought to be the largest animal ever to exist on Earth, including the dinosaurs!

Some guests hope to see jumping or breaching, but that behavior is limited to a few whales, including the well-known humpback and the diminutive (for a whale) minke. For most others, such as the fin or our blue whale above, the blowhole and the back are only body parts that rise above the water. Here is our crowd watching the show.

Both afternoon options took place at an extinct volcanic crater, Sete Cidades. The milder choice was a walk along the shores of one of the lakes, below, and the other choice was a hike on the rim of the crater.

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The hike on the rim started at a parking lot/observation area that was just below an abandoned luxury hotel.

The trail is really a tertiary dirt road; we did have the occasional passing small car or tractor.

The next photo zooms into the caldera, where the two main lakes (Green and Blue, or Lagoa Verde and Lagoa Azul) reside. Down there, on the peninsula, is where the gentler walk took place.

The other slope of the volcano runs down to the sea, supporting small towns and farmsteads.

As we walked we heard sporadic booming noises, reminiscent of cannons being fired. There was no obvious smoke, and some of the sounds came from inside as well as outside the caldera. Finally, I asked our local guide what was happening. The answer was that it was the second Sunday after Easter, and many of the small villages were having fireworks or processions. Apparently these mini-festivals are held for several Sundays after Easter.

The noises didn't perturb these cattle as they browsed. I wonder if they prefer clockwise or counterclockwise grazing?

Our hike covered perhaps a third of the old, worn rim of the crater; the ups and downs weren't challenging. We rejoined our bus, which descended to the town (also called Sete Cidades) for a brief stop. There was a motorcycle club at the canteen across the street, complete with aggressively decorated leather jackets, so several of us investigated the church instead. There was a picnic waiting for us at the lakeside anyway; this was a merely a bathroom break.

The interior of the church.

Our bus paused for several minutes before entering the final road to the picnic; the other group's buses had to leave first because this road could not accept traffic from both directions at once. The site itself was attractive, a few yards from the shore of Lagoa Azul.

The picnic was a feast; it could have substituted for dinner. Still being in Portugese territory, wine was of course included. I tasted a local wine, made on another Azorean island, Pico. I didn't know that I would see unusual vineyards there in a couple of days! 

Here is one of three tables (two for food, one for beverages) after both groups had eaten their fill. I tried a sample of everything, and ate a second piece of several items.

The ground was too soft for our bus to finish turning around -- it got stuck. Here the driver hopes that a simple piece of cardboard will suffice to gain traction. It didn't work.

More sophisticated methods having failed, the bus was finally freed by a dozen volunteers laying on hands and rocking it forward and backward in synchrony with the driver. We did leave our mark on the picnic ground.

This bird seems suspicious of my intentions. I'm just interested in your picture, honey.

Soon after arriving back at the Explorer, we were easing out of the harbor with the aid of a local pilot, and on our way to our next Azorean island, Faial. Here is my photo looking back to Ponta Delgada.

The clouds were beginning to increase.