Wednesday  Sep 28th. At sea enroute from Lisbon to Sao Miguel, in the Azores

There were few people at breakfast in the Terraza and out on its sunny balcony. Then there was a mandatory Zodiac briefing at 9.30, followed by an introduction by Lea to the 17 day expedition; this was confusing as it covered so many  excursions! . At 11 Bruno Romeu gave his first lecture on his beloved homeland, the Azores; his  command of English/ presentation was problematic but we have had far worse!  At noon there was  a Sea Food  Al Fresco by the pool;  problems with cooking mussels and the tuna was nothing special

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. After a siesta  4 of us turned up for bridge in the Dulce Vita; I played with Bob, against Eva and Jens: nothing inspiring. At 4.15 I played Trivia with Kirt, Sandra, David, Jenny and Bob! . We snook in afternoon tea at 4.45, followed by Robin's 'Murder and Mayhem in the Intertidal' lecture. The Captain' s Welcome was at 7; Captain Kosta Dorenshenko , a Ukrainian, again. Cocktail and Canapees, courtesy of Logie in the Panorama lounge, before a Portuguese dinner in the restaurant. A sweet wine back upstairs to listen to 'Name that tune' with Jonathan, activity director!, and the pianist, Florandy  

 

Thursday Sep 29th At sea until 8.30 pm, then to our first stop in Sao Miguel - Ponte Delgada,

Went to a lecture by Bruno on San Jorge, a trifle confusing, but he was passionate Yes! Then had lunch in the restaurant, played bridge for 75 minutes until a lecture by Alex Freight on the Battle of Ponte Delgado, had afternoon tea, played Trivia, then a lecture  by Dayo Osinubi on Conservation. After Recap some good briefings, a cocktail and into Hot Rocks by 7.30 in order to take the 8.30 shuttle into the town of Ponte Delgada, the largest city on the largest island of the Azores. where we had docked about 8 pm in the container dock. A close run thing!. The town looked charming all lit up and, after exploring, we sat in the main square where we had a coffee, and David also had a waffle and a glass or wine. Caught the 10 pm shuttle back to the ship

Ponte Delgada in daylight

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Friday  September 30th . Caldeira das Setes

A swim before breakfast and then we set out on the Sete Cidades hike round the rim of a scenic, lake filled, crater. Now extinct, the mighty Caldeira das Sete Cidades would have been a truly awe-inspiring sight - as the colossal collapsed volcanic caldera blooms with lush greenery and scattered wildflowers. The vast crater has been taken over by a glowing, picturesque lake, which- sometimes! reflects the blue sky above. A full three miles wide - and with a circumference of eight miles - it’s a vast panorama to take in. However our hike along the rim of the caldera gave virtually no glimpses of the lakes as the walk was in a think mist : we were walking in thick cloud and saw nothing!. Also the pace was very fast and David was nagging me a lot to  hurry up. To start with  I was chatting to Lynne, but later to Seb in spanish, he coming from Chile. Anyway we got to the end of this fruitless walk in record time, and then, after some pause!, a short coach ride down to a lake shore, where one could buy a coffee and waste half an hour!.

Above-the view on a good day!!

 

Then back on the coach  to a pleasant park where Maria's Picnics had set up an attractive  and very tasty cheese picnic, which saved the tour, which was led by Bruno, the Azores guest lectuer, and was punctuated by some of his daft comments!.

 

Back aboard by 2, I had a siesta and then a swim, before typing this diary. Afternoon tea, Trivia, recap. Then canapees and cocktail before dining in the Terraza

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