A Pause in the Azores ….

On Wednesday, after 3 days at sea, the Azores popped up in the middle of the Atlantic – so we stopped.

We berthed at Ponta Delgada on the largest Azorean island of Sao Miguel. The islands are very green and lush but that’s due to the regular low cloud cover and rain. During our stay, luckily, we got just the low cloud.

A tour around the island would have been pointless due to the cloud so we had a great day mooching around Ponta Delgada where ………

……. it seems that when they decided on a particular style and look of architecture

……. they stuck to it!

To the point where nearly every building is the same! Very nice though.

One building that breaks the mould is the library! (Books on the shelves inside)

Another favourite is their collection of old anchors. Anywhere there’s a space there’s an anchor!

There were also plenty of Bird of Paradise – Doug’s favourite.

It’s a lovely atmosphere in the town, with the sound of horses hooves on cobbles.

After the Azores we’ve had 5 sea days covering 400+ miles each day as we head towards the Caribbean. One great pleasure has been the 22nd wedding anniversary of our dining friends Nicola and John. After 5 courses on Friday evening we enjoyed chocolate cake with them while the waiters sang “Congratulations”!

Another great pleasure was to watch the sunrise one morning.

Just before the sun broke on the horizon the cloud edges were lined with gold.

The moment of sunrise ……

…… and then full sunshine. What a special and glorious display of one of nature’s great wonders.

There’s not a huge amount to see during thousands of miles of ocean (not that we’re complaining!) but we have sailed through huge carpets of floating algae.

We’ve also had a gull flying along with the ship for most of one day …….

…… and shoals of flying fish displaying their talent by skimming along above the water for well over 100 yards.

Our cabin air conditioning is working overtime as it keeps us cool against the outside temperature of 30 degrees and, the captain tells us, the water temperature is also the same! That’s bit hard to believe but it’s along way down to dip your toe in to find out! We’ll wait until we arrive in Antigua on Tuesday to find out for sure.