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Faial Island: A morning tour of the
island
then an afternoon exploring Horta
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We enjoyed our peaceful night's sleep.
We had arrived in the port of Horta over dinner last night
and we were looking forward to seeing more of Faial
Island today.
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Disembarking at 9:00am,
we walked to, and through, the port terminal buildings before
boarding our coach for a half-day excursion. |
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It was nice to see an
image of our ship painted on the harbour wall, amongst a
collection of images of several other ships which had all
visited the port in the past. |
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Assistant cruise director
Wendy, diligently checking that everybody was accounted
for before we departed. It was amazing to think that she
had joined the ship with us in Ushuaia, Argentina in March
and had then remained on the ship when we disembarked in
San Antonio, Chile, continuing to sail all the way to the
Azores, where we met her again two months later! |
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Another day when our
local Azorean guide Bento would join our coach. A most informative
and pleasant man, but oh my goodness, can he talk! Also
in the photo is cruise director Reba, seen talking to Wendy. |
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Our road trip today
was only a half day excursion and we were due to return
to the ship for lunch. We drove from the port at Horta up
to the Nossa Senhora da Conceição outlook,
where we had our first stop. From there we drove inland
towards the Caldeira do Faial. The section of road up to
(and down from) the caldeira is particularly twisty! From
there we drove to the westernmost part of the island to
see some recent volcanic activity at Ponta do Capelinhos
where we also visited the "Interpretive Centre"
and climbed to the top of the lighthouse. From there it
is was straight back to the the ship at Horta, via the southern
coastal route, arriving back in time for lunch. |
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The Nossa Senhora da
Conceição viewpoint. |
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The City of Horta and
Horta Bay, as seen from the Nossa Senhora da Conceição
outlook, showing the marina, the old dock, and volcanic
cones, Monte Escuro and Monte da Guia. We also had a good
view of the Island Sky from here. |
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Bob and Pat were on our
coach today. |
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From the viewpoint we
drove inland for another thirty minutes, the last fifteen
of which had plenty of twists and turns as we ascended to
the rim of the island's volano (Caldeira
Volcano). Unfortunately, the low cloud obscured the
view, but it was an interesting stop nevertheless. |
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This is the view we might
have hoped to see! |
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Another view of Pico
Island, where we were yesterday. |
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After the visit to the caldeira, we drove
back down the same twisty road and then in a westerly
direction. About 40 minutes later we arrived at the bleakly
beautiful Ponta do Capelinhos.
Here, one or more volcanic eruptions lasted
13 months (from 27th September 1957 to 24th October 1958),
enlarging the land by 2.4 square kilometres. The eruptions
spawned 300 seismic events, hurled ash 1 km, destroyed
300 houses and resulted in the evacuation of 2,000 people,
many of whom emigrated to the USA and Canada. More information
in the link above.
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Sue was just leaving
the site, having escorted one of the other groups who were
visiting the places of interest in a different sequence
to us. |
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The impressive, outwardly
disguised interpretative centre, where we spent about 45
minutes looking at the exhibits and watching a film. |
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We were invited to visit
the top of the lighthouse. Of course, Bruce wanted to do
it and was joined by Pat. Geoff and Bob, however, declined
the invitation. It turned out to be quite a strenous climb... |
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...but the views from
the viewing platform made the steep ascent worthwhile. |
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Afterwards, Pat celebrated
her climbing achievement, especially getting back down again,
which was a little more challenging than going up, especially
having to descend backwards at one point on what was little
more than a very steep ladder! |
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We took the southern
coastal route back to the ship, passing the island's airport
on the way. |
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Returning to the ship
for lunch. |
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At around 2:30pm, we
disembarked and walked into the town. We decided not to
join the guided walk, preferring to explore for ourselves. |
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Our walk aroung the
town of Horta
proved to be an interesting one, with some very interesting
buildings to be seen. |
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We weren't expecting
to spot any famous people, but we did! Martin Clunes was
there with a small team of people doing some filming for
a documentary. We decided not to disturb him, but Pat and
Bob did speak to him and said that he seemed genuinely pleased
that they had recognised him. |
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We returned to the ship
in time for afternoon tea... |
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...or in Geoff's case,
to sample a Portuguese beer. |
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At 6:00pm we left the
port and began the 154 nautical mile voyage overnight to
Ponta Delgada on São Miguel Island, where we had
embarked a week previously. |
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Having picked up the
pilot, the pilot ship turned back towards the port and we
were on our own again. |
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There was a gorgeous
sunset this evening... |
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...which we enjoyed
very much despite the temperature being a bit fresh! |
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