Ponta Delgada, The Azores

Today, we arrived at our final port destination before the last leg home; Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel in the Azores.

Free from tour escorting duties, we ate a leisurely breakfast before heading ashore. The sun was shining, but a keen breeze kept things cool, so I was back in long trousers and a jumper for the first time in almost five weeks. Our only itinerary was to take a good look at the town, find some herbal teabags for Tracey (because she’s run out) and a couple of extra rolls of masking tape for me (for our forthcoming exhibition).

Being Portugese, Ponta Delgada is a very black and white sort of place, with patterned tiles along every pavement, and in the public squares. All the buildings are painted in black and white, too: there’s something very OCD about the orderliness of it all. We stopped to photograph the town’s famous three arches, and visited a couple of churches (because they were open, and free). One of the squares has a huge, old tree, with branches so long and old that they have to be held up by metal scaffolding. Other trees in the area are also quite fascinating to look at; I don’t know what kind they are, but they look like they’ve been cut back to near extinction, with stubby ends to the branches, and hardly any small, new growth to speak of.

We managed to find what we wanted, shopping-wise, in a supermarket and a Yorkshire-Trading-style ‘Chinese Shop’, and headed back towards the ship satisfied with our activities.

After lunch, we headed back outside, into the terminal area, where several establishments advertise free wi-fi. We chose ‘Doris Bar’ to sit in and have a drink while accessing the internet, but to honest, the free, non-bar-specific wi-fi, available to everyone along the quayside, was faster and more stable.

All-aboard time was 4:30pm, and by 5pm we were on our way.

We knew, from looking at the navigational charts that there would be rough weather ahead. Unfortunately, the huge splash of red, signifying big waves, was now to the North of the island, which is precisely where we were heading.

The minute we left the safety of Ponta Delgada, the ship started rockin’ and rollin’, and when we saw Jonathon the Cruise Director a bit later, he advised us that the forcast was for it to get worse from about 11pm onwards.

Strap yourselves in folks… we’re in for a rough ride…