Transatlantic cruise April 2013 The Azores cont.

We left the smell of the sulphur behind us and went to higher ground where the road was bordered with a lovely azalea hedge.

From here we could look down on Lake Furnas.

Below is the car park we had been in when we went to the boiling mud pots.

You can see them in the top right corner.

A last look at Lake Furnas from above before we made our way to our next stop.

More of the azaleas bordering the road.

This is a tea plantation.

The Azores is not a place we had associated with tea growing before.

Afterwards we went inside where the black and green tea could be sampled. I cannot drink tea, but Ivor assured me it tasted good.

 Tea leaf sorting machinery.

From there we headed back along the cliffs towards Ponta Delgada.
We asked the driver to drop us in the town so we could have a look around on the short walk back to the ship.

The Town Hall.
We left the Azores for several sea days as we headed for Dublin.

Transatlantic cruise April 2013 - The Azores.

We had several sea days after leaving Fort Lauderdale before our first stop at San Miguel, The Azores.

Eight of us had got together and hired a minibus for a private island tour.

We started off going up to the top of the cliffs near Lagoa and a rainbow made a good excuse for a photo.

From there we went to one of the old typical towns and had time for a stroll on our own.

From there we went on to the Lady of Peace Chapel at Vila Franca Do Campo.

Then we went back down to sea level.The roads were all cobbled around here.

Furnas Lake.

Looking out over the caldera at Furnas.

And back down to the lake.

From there we went to see the boiling mud pots.

That is boiling volcanic mud at the bottom of the hole. Local people and several restaurants prepare a pot with various meat and vegetables and put them in the hole and cover them and leave them for several hours to cook.

The covered pots.

We then went a little further to the Fumarolas (hot springs)

The smell of sulphur was very overpowering. We left there and headed up to the high ground again. That will follow in the next post.

Caribbean Cruise April 2013

We flew into Miami and stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel which is the hotel we usually use. We were upgraded to a balcony room. All the times we stayed there and we never knew they had any balcony rooms!

It was nice to sit out in the fresh air. As it was only April it hadn't got too hot.

We joined the Caribbean Princess the next day for a 7 day Caribbean islands cruise. Our first stop was Curacao.

So pretty with all the brightly painted buildings. I get very few pictures on the islands unless we take a tour so that's your lot!

Evenings we would meet up with various friends we made for drinks before we went to dinner.

Lunch was usually enjoyed on the balcony.

Cheers!

Our Room Steward left us a pet elephant to guard the booze and the flowers while we were out.
We visited three other islands before returning to Fort Lauderdale ready to start the main part of our cruise which was a fifteen day transatlantic crossing.