Ponta Delgada

March 16th
Ponta Delgada, Azores

Today was my first stop in the Azores, a group of islands I’ve been curious to visit for the past couple years. Ponta Delgada is the Capital City of the Azores (I think) and is on the biggest of the islands. But even though I’d never been there, I had a friend on the ship who had.
After a late arrival and some crew drills, I left the ship with John, a drummer in a different band, and a couple of photographers on the ship. John had been to the Azores a few times, and even spoke Portuguese, so I figured he’d be the best person to hang out with for the day. He usually likes getting a cab and going to some of the smaller cities on the island, which we ended up doing today. We had wanted to go up into the hills of the island, but it was cold and overcast outside, so we stayed near the shore where we knew we wouldn’t get stuck in tons of fog.
John, however, had his mind set on swimming today and I’d brought along my bathing suit to humor him. He knew of a municipal pool in the next town over, one that had naturally been formed by lava and cut out by the waves. The excitement of the place is that you’re essentially swimming in the ocean, but you have volcanic rocks all around you forming a sort of break-water, but ocean waves can still reach you depending on where you’re swimming. Technically, you could be in the wrong spot at the wrong time and have a wave throw you into a volcanic rock, but we don’t like to think about that.
Well, John had his heart set on swimming, and me, always desperate for a good story and taking advantage of the moment, decided we’d go for it. Mind you, it’s a completely overcast day, no sun, windy, about 60, and we’re on an island in the middle of the atlantic, and I don’t mean south Atlantic where it’s warm. I’m sure the water had to have been colder than the air temperature, but I don’t have an exact figure to give you.
We found ourselves a taxi and made a deal so that I’d jump with John only if he didn’t feel the water first. I figured that if I was jumping into the cold Atlantic, I wanted the full experience and full surprise. We soon arrived at the recreational building, which was closed, with a sign posted about swimming at your own risk and that they wouldn’t be responsible for your death, or so I gathered from the Portuguese. But the gate was open, and with them being closed down, that meant we didn’t have to pay the entrance fee, which was a good start. The pool area was really interesting though when you walked down to it. There were runs of volcanic rocks that surrounded the area and formed small pools, though you were never totally free of the waves coming in off the ocean. Had it been a nice day, this would have been an awesome place to hang out, but alas, it was far from a nice day. Well, I found myself an open changing room, put on my suit, and walked down to the water where I met John for the big plunge. I figured we’d make it a little more exciting by jumping off a 10 foot ledge into the water, which is slightly discerning when you can’t see what’s under the surface, but there was a sign that said it was ok, so why not? And as soon as we got the cameras out and had the two photographers get into position for the plunge, we counted down and jumped.
Water was cold…really cold. I popped up and just swam for shore. It wasn’t cold to the point where it was paralyzing, but it was cold to where the crashing sea waves and volcanic rock made you question your ability to combat the currents in such conditions. But we both made it out safely, John reentered one more time in a smaller pool, and I walked around half naked for a few more minutes till I eventually took a shower in the dressing room and changed into dry clothes. Stupid idea, check. Glad I did it, Check!
We left the pool area to find a restaurant John had experience at and highly recommended. It was a smaller, local place, just the type I like to look for, and we had some really nice food. They brought us a plate of cheese and bread, which was good, a huge carafe of wine, probably almost 2 bottles worth, which cost a total of 4 euro ($6), we had some small fried fish (great), and a bunch of desert cakes. Everything was great and everything was local, it’s one of those perfect types of meals that you hope you can find every so often. We didn’t eat a lot, it was mostly all appetizer type dishes, but it was perfect for making you feel like you were part of the culture.
Our cab driver met us at the restaurant at an already agreed upon time, and took us back to the ship where we were reintroduced to our real lives again. But it was a memorable day, something fun and stupid that you kind of just have to go for when the opportunity presents itself, and I’m glad I did. Next stop, England!