The Azores!
During the two-day ship transit across the mid-Atlantic waters from Madeira to our destination, I pondered my love for sea days in my journal:
“[It is]...a time to embrace the passage – it cannot be fast-forwarded, or paused. It just is, minute to minute, with not much in the visual panorama to distract or intrude on the meanderings of my mind...[A]s I look out to the horizon, are we actually just in the center of this rim of water, with the sky and clouds dancing above, are we going...anywhere? Of course we are, but it could be possible to imagine that this speck of a ship is alone and must thereby be self-reliant in every imaginable way.”
On that day, happily, we were very much on a path. Our 301-degree heading carried us directly toward the Azores. It is a place I’ve wondered about ever since its intriguing place-name caught my attention decades ago. Our arrival was delayed a day because a hefty storm was rolling through, so our captain had wisely decided to wait in Madeira to avoid being caught out on the open ocean. The result was that our time in the Azores was cut short by a day.
We pulled up to the dock at Sao Miguel, one of the nine main islands in the volcanic archipelago in May, 2025. Its largest city, Ponta Delgada (pop’n 69,000), is the capital of the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal. Our one full day there was busy! We went whale-watching on small boats with spotters on the island guiding the skippers. We saw some sperm whales at a distance, and some bottlenose and common dolphins close-by. Then it was onto a bus for the ride to the town of Furnas in the highlands. There, we sat at long tables and enjoyed a highly-efficient lunch at Tony’s (eat there when you go!); it was a delicious traditional stew cooked in the boilers of the volcanic fumeroles. Next we were whisked off for a rapid (read: rushed) tour of the Gorreana tea plantation. It was a typical day for group-travel – on and off the boat and bus, (bossy) shepherding by an impatient guide, and no wiggle-room for spur-of-the-moment asides. It was a good reminder that a tourist (as we were on this trip) must give up some autonomy and live with the convenience of having everything pre-arranged, I suppose.
The next day, after disembarking from two weeks aboard our ship, our flight to the mainland wasn’t until evening. We had thought ahead and arranged a private tour of Sao Miguel. What a difference! Our guide, Gabriel, was a breath of fresh air, and the experience was thoroughly enjoyable. A guide since age 14, Gabriel showed us the northern part of the island. A highlight was descending from the rim of a volcanic crater, over a bridge separating a blue lake from a green one, to a town built inside: Sete Cidades. Serendipity graced us when a Mother’s Day church service let out and a horde of townsfolk walked in a traditional parade led by an oomp-pah band all around the town. (Gabriel can be found at https://azoresislandsexperience.com – take a look!)
What I learned from my limited visit to the Azores is this: I need to go back! There are nine islands in three groupings which all warrant a proper look-see. If the rest is as good as what I was able to see during my short two days solely on Sao Miguel, I can understand the attraction of this mid-ocean place filled with history and natural wonders.
[If it interests you to read my brother’s “take” on the journey, go to his website at https://sheepdogguides.com/tr/atlan25/atl-itin0.htm]
