Wednesday – Ponta Delgada

Today, we arrived in Ponta Delgada, on the island of San Miguel, in the Azores, our final port-of-call, and perhaps the tidiest place on the entire itinerary. Bordering on OCD, the harbour and town looks like everything has been carefully positioned and painted, ensuring contrasting blacks and whites fall in all the right places, and adjusted to the minutest degree, like they’re in a constant state of preparing for an important event that never comes.

I spent the morning working, then after lunch was on the quayside for this afternoon’s excursion, to Ribeira Grande, on the North side of the San Miguel, and to Fire Lake, a volcanic crater situated roughly in the centre of the island.

The first stop on our trip was to Arruba Pineapple Farm. I’ve been here several times before, and I can honestly say it doesn’t really get any more interesting. It is interesting that the farm is almost unique; pineapples are grown and harvested in the most traditional of ways, and the farm itself hasn’t changed its practices, or its greenhouses, since it was first established in the 1920s.

From here, we headed to Ribeira Grande. Because much of the town is having a lot of work done on it (elections are coming up apparently), the coach had to park some way out from the centre, and the group had to walk in from there. It wasn’t that far, but it was a bit of a stretch for a couple of folks. There isn’t a great deal to see in Ribera Grande; the coastline is quite interesting, with impressive waves that look like they should have surfers riding them, and the town has a few old churches and a theatre. I quite like the little roads, with the old houses, but the centre is looking like a large building site at the moment – I’m sure it’ll be nice when iit’s finished. As our guide explained; the name means ‘Large River’, something that doesn’t actually exist on San Miguel – although what they do have is big for them.

After our stop in Ribeira Grande, the coach headed towards Picco Da Barrosa Mountain, and our final destination. On our way up, the guide pointed out the many Geothermal Power Stations dotted here and there, where the heat from deep inside the volcano, which is still alive, provides the island with almost 40% of its electricity. In fact, as we got higher, it was possible to see both the Northern and Southern shores of the island, and the many smaller volcanoes that have gone into creating the island. After much twisting and turning up a tight, windy road, we finally came to a viewpoint where we could gaze upon the magnificent Fire Lake… the highlight of the day!

Thankfully the weather has stayed rather nice; the sun has shone, and it’s been a little warmer than yesterday, when we were in Horta. Most importantly, the clouds stayed away, which meant our views across the crater lake were unhindered.

So that’s that. Ponta Delgarda has been our final port of the cruise.

We now have four sea-days before we arrive back where we started; London Tilbury Cruise Terminal. I have three more days of lessons, and a grand exhibition on Sunday… the job’s nearly done, but not quite…