We awoke the next morning to calm cruising seas, but an
inexplicable situation.
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| The old fort, Ponta Delgada |
Getting the morning cruise info update on the
television, Capt. Larry noticed that the ship’s course was 282° or WNW. Our next
port, Bermuda, would be in a southeasterly direction. Thinking that the ship’s
info wasn’t updated or was incorrectly displayed for some reason, he ignored
this anomaly until he glanced out the window and realized that the sun was
rising on the ship’s aft (in the east).
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| At the harbor |
Conclusion: we were headed west away
from Bermuda. We talked about this at breakfast, but Jane had a not-totally-convinced
look on her face, until the captain came on and announced that we had a medical
emergency and were returning to the Delaware Bay area to rendezvous with a
Coast Guard helicopter for a medical evacuation.
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| The city gate and main square |
Then, about an hour after the evacuation,
the captain announces that we are changing our itinerary. A storm was brewing
over the Bermuda area with winds forecast to reach over 50 knots! No one needs
to be in tropical storm force winds on a cruise ship, so the new plan was to
press on to the Azores for our planned two-day stop, then head to the Canary Islands
with a stop on Tenerife, before getting back on schedule in Lisbon.
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| Carlos Muchado Museum |
The only
problem is that this would mean we had 5 sea-days facing us (break out the bingo
cards)!
Between reading, working on the blog, and eating, we passed
the time rather easily.
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| Sete Cidades twin crater lakes |
Jane and Sheila spent their time with spa treatments,
cheesy-ship shopping, and some craft classes, and we celebrated Keith’s
birthday on the first day of spring. But, five days of being cooped up onboard
a ship is a really long time. It was too cold and windy for us to walk out on
the decks, and exercising with the ‘fitness buffs’ in the gym did not appeal.
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| São Miguel countryside |
So
even though it was a ‘formal night,’ we were certainly glad when our last sea
day arrived. The Azores would be a new destination for us. This Portuguese collection
of 9 islands form an archipelago with a population of approximately 235,000
inhabitants of which 135,000 live on the largest island of São Miguel—the island
we would be visiting.
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| That's a really BIG Norfolk Pine |
The captain announced that we would be docked at the
Ponta Delgada docks at 0800.
After docking the next morning, we waited until the shore
excursion passengers and the early birds had disembarked before making our way
to the exit.
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| A big mess of roots! |
A shuttle bus drove us a short way to an old fort where we were
deposited just as the sun was really starting to break out. It looked like it was
going to be a great day. From the fort, we walked to the triple-arched Portas
da Cidade, the old main gate that led to the town square and was anchored by the
Gothic-style Church of St. Sebastian. With a current population of 69,000,
Ponta Delgada is the largest city and capital of the Azores archipelago.
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| Greenhouse for pineapples |
The
city is a gateway to the crater lakes of Sete Cidades, to the northwest. After viewing
the church’s interior, we walked through the beautiful brown and white town
square, and stopped at a sidewalk café for coffee and a sampling of some local
pastries. Moving on, we came to a square with a horse-drawn carriage that was
apparently for hire. The public library and a small park were adjacent to the
square, and we stopped for a brief respite.
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| A Azorean greenhouse pineapple |
We passed the Carlos Machado Museum
which offers diverse artifacts of Azorean culture and a glimpse into the
customs and traditions of island life. We ventured into the museum, but did not
stay long as it was time to get something to eat (something we surely didn’t
want to miss!). Walking back to the waterfront, we found an outdoor café where
we feasted on boiled shrimp, steamed mussels, and beer.
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| Santa Cruz de Tenerife |
It was probably the
best meal we had eaten since we left Miami. Back onboard, we had a low-keyed
evening to rest up and recharge.
The next morning we were up early for our booked excursion to
the Sete Cidades Crater Lakes.
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| Santa Cruz's auditorium |
We met Keith and Sheila after breakfast and boarded
our bus that would take us on our excursion. After seeing some important landmarks
in Ponta Delgada, we entered the verdant, rolling hills of the countryside. What
first struck us was the number of cows we saw grazing in small pastures
demarcated by neat lava-rock fences. Our guide told us that milk was the number
one Azorean export and that 70% of Portugal’s milk comes from the Azores.
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| Las Teresitas Beach |
The dairy
pastures produced a very idyllic view. Our first stop was the Sete Cidades
Crater Lakes. The two lakes are located in the center of a massive volcanic
crater three miles across; each formed by separate, and juxtaposed volcanic
craters that are connected at the very top. Reflecting the color of the sky,
one lake is blue and the other is green due to the vegetation it contains. The volcano
last erupted around 500 A.D., but is now dormant.
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| The Anaga Mountains |
The lakes and surrounding
countryside were absolutely beautiful. Our guide informed us that there were 9
crater lakes on the island, but these were the largest. We continued to ride
through the countryside with a couple of more stops for photos. Back in Ponta Delgado,
we saw more landmarks before stopping at the António Borges Botanical Gardens. The
gardens featured mostly trees and shrubs and few flowers, but we did see the
biggest Norfolk pine we had ever seen.
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| Steep Anaga peaks |
The tree was huge and Jane and Sheila
together could only stretch about one-half of its circumference. We came across
another tree similar to one we’ve seen in Key West with a massive root system. Our
last stop was to the Arruda pineapple plantation. Introduced in the mid-1800’s
to replace blight-stricken orange trees, Azorean pineapples are cultivated
entirely differently than anyplace else in the world.
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| Church in La Laguna |
These pineapples are
grown in greenhouses under carefully maintained conditions right up to harvest.
We saw the greenhouses with different growing phases in each before Jane and
Sheila led us to the plantation’s gift store (naturally). While the growing
process was interesting, Keith and Capt. Larry wondered just how profitable
greenhouse growing would be, but the gift store prices provided a definite
clue!
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| Really old Dragon Tree |
Back onboard we had lunch while the ship got underway for our next port, before
retiring for an afternoon siesta. We had a good time in the Azores.
Sailing all night and another sea day put us at our port of
call, Santa Cruz de Tenerife on Tenerife Island in Spain’s Canary Islands. With
904,000 inhabitants, the island is the most populous of the 7 Canary Islands
and also Spain’s most populated. With approximately 5 million tourist visits
each year, Tenerife is one of Spain’s most important tourist destinations. Born
of volcanic activity, the rugged terrain of present-day Tenerife was formed by
the fusion of three islands from volcanic activity from Mt. Teide, Spain’s highest
peak (12,198 ft.), about 3 million years ago.
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| Church in La Laguna |
Up early, we arrived at the Tenerife docks while we were
having breakfast, and met Keith and Sheila in the auditorium at 0800 for our
morning shore excursion. Boarding our bus, we headed out for our first stop,
Las Teresitas beach. Our guide told us this was a popular beach because of its
proximity to Santa Cruz. She bragged about the ‘white’ sand (which was brown)
and noted that it had been hauled in from the Sahara Desert. So now we can say
that we have touched sand from the Sahara! Our tour focused on the southwestern
portion of the island. This area is very arid and receives very little moisture
compared to the northwestern areas. This moisture is due to condensation of
humidity carried by the trade winds which approach the island from the north,
northeast. But the Anaga Mountains we would be driving through were fantastic.
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| Monastery in La Laguna |
Volcanic in origin, these mountains are very steep, rugged, and young, and the
mountain road through them was narrow, filled with hairpins, and barely accommodated
our bus, let alone any oncoming traffic. When we met oncoming traffic, both
vehicles stopped and negotiated the pass. We had some spectacular view of the
peak and valleys as we wound our way to the top. As we ascended to higher elevations,
the vegetation changed from desert-like cacti and sparse shrubs to grasses and
flowering plants as more moisture was present.
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| La Laguna street scene |
Near the top, there was enough moisture
to support densely populated laurel forests with a widely diverse variety of
species and abundant undergrowth. We stopped near the top for a break and a
scenic view, but the mist prevented any scenic views. Descending out of the
mountains, we came to the valley municipality of San Cristóbal de La Laguna,
the first capital of Tenerife under Spanish rule. This quaint university town
was a real pleasure to see. Our guide took us to some of the local landmarks, and
then turned us loose for some free time. We stopped at some shops, before
heading back to board the bus. Our tour finished with a ride through La Laguna
and parts of Santa Cruz. We departed Tenerife soon after we were back onboard. We
hope to visit this beautiful island again.
