Day 15 - 17: Faial Island (Horta)

This past weekend was our big excursion to Horta (Faial Island) for their annual Semana do Mar (Sea Week). According to our guide book –  “…it’s an internationally famous festival with all sorts of activities related to the sea and various cultural events.” We had a blast!!

We took the ferry across from Madalena (Pico Island) to Horta (Faial Island).  It’s only about 5 miles so just a short 30 min trip. Horta is definitely more developed and touristy than Pico Island. So it was a nice change of pace for a few days.

About half way across the channel there are some large rocks in the sea – one has a cut-out in it and it is claimed to be a silhouette of the Virgin Mary. Pretty interesting.

We arrived in Horta, collected our luggage and then hung in the terminal for a bit as we purchased our tickets back for Sun eve. The boys were sure we had all the necessities for the weekend - surf boards, paddle boards and snorkeling gear!

We walked the few short blocks to our Guest House for the weekend – Banana Manor. It was a perfect spot for all of us - and the backyard was amazing! A friend of the Alkers runs this place – Jim is from Santa Cruz, CA and his wife is from Germany. They have a 6 year old son (Tiago) who was a great addition to our beach adventures this weekend.

 

 

Each day was spent at a different beach (all sand beaches here!) – loving all this ocean time!

Friday: Horta
We didn’t venture too far on Friday – just a few blocks from our hotel. Some great waves where everyone attempted a little body surfing.

 

I enjoyed some reading time while Andrew napped (typical) - thankfully you can't see the tears running down my face. "Me Before You" is not a book to be read in public. Great book - but so sad!

Saturday: Almoxarife
Some decent waves here! Luke and Andrew had a blast in the waves and definitely kept Jim and I on our toes to make sure they didn’t get swept out to sea!

 

 

Yet another great cafes on the beach and a park to keep the kids entertained until lunch was served. I think this spot may have had some of the best shrimp and clams. Yum!!

The two littlest ones (Andrew and Teah) finally caught on... if they wanted to nap, they were just going to have to take it wherever they could get it! Even Tyler finally took a break - that lasted about 5 minutes!

Sunday: Porto Pim
Previously known as Shark Bay because this is where they used to drag the whale carcasses in. But no sharks were spotted! Now it is known for the jelly fish! We had to warn the kids that we wouldn’t know if we could swim until we got there. Lucky for us the swimming beach was clear of jelly fish when we first arrived. We took the paddle boards out and found them a little farther out – giant red ones (about the size of your hand) with long tentacles and threads. As the wind and tides shifted towards the end of the day, the jelly fish started to come in a little closer and several people were walking up and down the beach warning the kids about the “agua-viva” and getting most people out of the water.

 

 

 

A little sightseeing around the island. The ocean was beautiful. The view of Pico Island on Fri eve was gorgeous right at sunset.

 

The food and drink all weekend was typical Festa food – beef, shellfish, fish, cheese and lot’s of sangria! All our favorites we have grown to love over here! My favorite meal of the weekend – a fresh plate of meat and cheese served with bread and olives – all SO fresh! Delicious!! Jim and Ashley would probably say their favorites were the meat, lapas and clams.

 

 

Festa is true celebration time in the Azores. Wow! Huge crowds, music, shopping, art and culture. The Sat eve entertainment was classic - Rollin Clones! A late night for everyone and we treated the kids to a carriage ride home Sat eve for being such troopers!

 

 

 

 

A sunset ferry ride back to Madalena on Sun evening ended our fun weekend in Horta. But we still have plenty of adventures planned for Pico! 10 more days!

 

 

 

Day 14: Beach Day - Lajes

We took a drive to the other side of the island today to Lajes (a short 30 minute drive). Our main goal was to see if the swell produced any surfable waves on the south side of the island. The drive through the middle of the island was beautiful - we had to pull over for a  family pic at one of the lookout points. Love the 'guard rails' here (when they have them) – hydrangea plants!

We arrive in Lajes. Todd and Griff jumped in the water faster than we could unpack the cars. We had paddle boards and surf boards and everyone took turns trying to catch the best waves. Jim found his ‘surf legs’ after a bit – it’s only been about 10 years for him (that should be a sin considering where he grew up). Tyler successfully surfed his first wave – he was thrilled. Ashley wins for best wipe out – and probably won’t be too anxious to try surfing again anytime soon.

The rest of the kids did their usual – swimming in the water and climbing on the rocks. Always fun to check out a new swimming hole!

My view today… another tough one.

After a full day of surfing we stopped at the whaling museum. Whaling was a huge industry in the Azores and the museum had an amazing collection of aritfacts, scrimshaw and even a short film (in English!). It was a brief history lesson for the kids (and some of us adults too!).

We began the drive back to Sao Roque around 5:30pm and were obediently following Griff’s van on the coastal road – through small towns called Santa Barbara then Santa Cruz (funny). Out of nowhere we see a building on the side of the road – dinner! Great food. Great views and yes – that is 9 scoops of ice cream on Ashley’s plate for dessert! Well deserved today!

Tomorrow we are heading out on the early ferry for a weekend adventure in Horta! Festa time! We'll check back in on Monday. Boa noite.

Day 13: Black Sand Beach

We found it! There exists a tiny little stretch of black sand near Prainha that we enjoyed today. We packed up our usual beach necessities and settled in for a long day in the sand.

The first thing all of us white sand beach natives discovered… black sand is HOT!! Yikes! You can’t stand in the sand barefoot for more than a minute or your feet feel like they are on fire! But as the clouds rolled in and the sun moved toward the west, the temperatures dropped just enough to make the sand a nice place to warm up after a long swim. And the kids definitely had fun with that.

The rocks here were big and smooth – not anything like the black lava rocks we’ve grown accustomed to the last couple weeks. Ashley spent a lot of time snorkeling around taking pictures. I think she might need her own blog to share all of her cool underwater pics. Here’s a few favorites:

We all spent a bit of time on the paddle boards again today. With the calmer waters today, it was so nice! Tyler and I took a long paddle along the coast. Jim and Ashley took their turn as well. Hard to beat the view of Sao Jorge Island as you paddle out and then the lush green landscape with just a few houses sprinkled here and there as you head back in.

 

 

Andrew was quite bold in his life jacket and several times went for a short ‘swim’ – all on his own!

And just in case you’re wondering what I do at the beach all day – towel? Check. Kindle? Check. Kids buried in the sand so Mom can enjoy some reading time? Check. Check.

 

Day 12: Cliff Jumping!

Today was quite the adventure! We wandered over to a new swimming hole (“grotto”) about a mile west of our house – definitely the BEST swimming hole we have discovered here on Pico Island. The entire ‘pool’ was surrounded by cliffs. The water was deep – at least 25 feet. Nothing man made – aside from the ropes and ladders to help you climb back out.  It was beautiful!

 

 

 

Jim and I realized today we have raised a bunch of adrenaline junkies! Everyone found a cliff to jump from today – something high enough to get your heart racing, high enough to make you think twice about what you are about to do and yet so completely satisfying when you go for it. It was so much fun!

So here’s a few crazy shots from today (someday I'll figure out how to upload the videos - a great one of Tyler and Andrew!).

Tyler – went for the highest of them all. We are guessing 40 feet! Insane! He seems to enjoy cliff jumping more than anyone and nothing’s ever high enough (although we did draw the line after today – 40 feet is plenty high!). And no ladders where he was jumping from. He had to crawl all the way up (hence his new nickname – Billy Goat Grotto).

Luke hit the ‘small’ jump – although even that cliff we estimated at 10 feet! He does the perfect pencil jump!

Andrew was not to be left out and followed Luke off the 10 footer! That's a far jump for the little dude!

Ashley and I slowly worked up the courage for the 10 footer (which was plenty high) and then finally got up the courage for the next step up – about 25 feet! Girl power!

 

A couple more of Tyler. The 25' cliff was nothing to him so he showed off with a few tricks.

 

After a couple hours of jumping we all put our snorkeling gear on and ventured over to the rocks for a look around – big rocks, fish, starfish. I think we’ll definitely be back to this spot again!

 

 

And this cool one of Ashley - btw... that's Jim snorkeling down below!