Azores

We spent the day today at Ponta Delgada, Azores. This archipelago of islands is 740 miles from Portugal - but is part of Portugal. There are nine islands in the group. The Azores were discovered in 1427 by Portugal. There was no trace of human habitation or visitation from before then. All 9 islands are inhabited. In 1957, one of the volcanoes erupted and enlarged one of the islands.

We went on a whale & dolphins excursion. We saw sperm whales for the first time as well as 3 kinds of dolphins - Atlantic spotted, common and bottle-nosed. Sperm whales are pretty big. We saw a mother and calf. Mom was at least as big as our boat. They stay on the surface much longer than humpbacks. Our skipper said that sperm whales dive the deepest and the longest of the whales.

Didn't have time to get into the town but it seems nice. Photos from our verandah attached.

Since the last update, we have been at sea for two days. Pretty much just kicked back and relaxed. Of course, played trivia and won once more - 3 times so far. Our weather and the seas have been about as good as we could ask for. Only very minor swells and no real waves or whitecaps like the N Atlantic. Today is the coldest day with a high of just 69. Mostly, we have had in the low 70's.

We sail early today - around 2PM. Then, we will have 5 glorious days at sea. No telling what kind of weather we might encounter over that distance but I'm sure it will be fine for us since we have nothing planned other than relaxing and naps.

Next land stop will be the HAL private island - which we will skip since we aren't beach people anymore.