The Azores

12th January

After a very rough night at sea (up to Force 10) we docked in Ponta Delgada (The Azores) at about 7.00am. The captain said if the wind had been in another direction we would have had to forego this port. In fact because the wind was changing direction we had to leave Ponta Delgada by 3.00pm, instead of 4.30pm. The first picture is of the ship arriving in port, and as you can see it is quite early. We had to put our clocks back one hour on 11th January.

After a quick breakfast we boarded our coach for a tour of the Furnas Valley and Hot Springs. This tour worked out quite well for us as we didn’t have to go up into the cloud – one of the tours saw absolutely nothing because it was so cloud up higher. We drove across the island and then along the north coast, stopping at a couple of places for photo opportunities. The Valley and Lake was formed inside an old volcano, with Hot Springs down in the valley. These Springs are the richest in Europe and there are twenty three different mineral springs, which apparently cure all sorts of ailments. Doreen tried out the iron Spring!

On our journey to the Furnas Valley we passed the only tea plantation in Europe and learnt about the benefits of green and black tea. Here they grow Camellia Sinensis – using the same leaves for both teas but the black tea is dried longer before use. The leaves are pick mechanically and harvested every two weeks through the growing season, which is April until September. The island is also famous for growing pineapples and we found out that it take two years for a pineapple to grow!

Before visiting the Springs we visited the Botanical Garden at the Terra Nostra Hoteland had half an hours guided tour. Doreen was very interested in all the Camellias currently in flower.

All in all it was a very good excursion and the weather was kind to us with temperatures of 16 degrees, although our guide described the unusually harsh winter they had had, where temperatures dropped to plus 13 degrees. To which everyone laughed.

On our return to port we strolled around town before returning to the ship for the sail away party at 3.00pm.

13th January

After another very rough night we woke to calmer seas (Force 7) and now at lunch time they are down to Force 3, and temperatures rising to 18 degrees. We have just been informed by the Captain that we can expect temperatures of 28 degrees at our next stop at St. Maarten. Sorry for you folks back home where we understand it is still snowing and temperatures barely above zero. (Of course, we are thinking of you).

We have a further three days at sea before we arrive at St. Maarten. We probably will not do another blog until our next port of call.