Transatlantic Crossing Day 9

Start of day: Ponta Delgada, Azores
End of day: At sea

Early in my career, 1999-2000, I worked for Disney Cruise Line, first as a shoreside person and then as an officer living and working onboard the Disney Wonder. As part of that, I spent 5-6 weeks at the Fincantieri shipyard in Marghera, Italy, only a few miles away from Venice. Once the ship was done¹, we sailed to Southampton in England for the christening hoopla, and then from there we started to make our way across the Atlantic to Port Canaveral. Along the way, we had an afternoon stop in Ponta Delgada, Azores.

An older, low-resolution photo of a Disney Cruise Line ship with a black hull, white superstructure, and two red funnels docked along the Ponta Delgada waterfront, seen across a parking lot of small European cars under a clear blue sky, with a red cargo ship farther along the quay and a leafy tree at right

Too much time has passed and I don’t remember a lot about this stop. At that point all of my international travel consisted of one or two trips to Toronto, and the preceding 5-6 weeks in Italy – which barely counts, as I was living and working in the shipyard most of the time. What I do remember is Ponta Delgada’s interesting architecture, and that the city was a little gritty and hectic.

An older photo of a young woman in a white top, jean shorts, and an open patterned shirt posing with arms outstretched in front of the Portas da Cidade, Ponta Delgada's three white-and-black basalt arched city gates topped with a crown, on a plaza paved in black-and-white calçada patterns, with leafy trees and a few parked cars behind the arches under an overcast sky

An older photo of a narrow cobbled pedestrian street in central Ponta Delgada, busy with shoppers and lined with white buildings trimmed in dark volcanic stone, wrought-iron balconies, hanging shop signs, and old-fashioned street lamps. In the foreground, men in short sleeves stand chatting at the corner of a cobblestone road, beside a white Mercedes taxi and a small silver hatchback

When I saw this standee in a mall I had to get a photo:

An older photo of the author, younger, in a navy-and-white striped polo and khakis, arms crossed and smiling beside a life-size cardboard cutout of Mr. Bean in a grey tweed jacket and red tie holding a Fujifilm camera box, inside a bright photo shop. A green Fujifilm poster behind them reads 'GANHE! 3 automóveis Minicooper,' with glass display cases and the shop name 'Ana Nó...' partly visible

Otherwise, the rest of that day was drinks and then dinner with three friends from the ship.

Back to present day.

I booked an excursion for the afternoon. In the morning I headed off the ship shortly after arrival, intending to get my steps in and see a lot more of the town than on my first visit.

Many of the sidewalks have interesting textures:

My obligatory visit to the local farmers market (moo):

A life-size white fiberglass cow with black patches standing inside the Mercado da Graça in Ponta Delgada, a large open market hall with a high black steel roof frame. Stacks of crates hold pineapples beside it, with vendor stalls of fruit and vegetables and hanging banners in the background

A hot tub store:

A building in Ponta Delgada painted with a tropical mural of a couple relaxing in a hot tub surrounded by palm leaves, hydrangeas, and a waterfall, above a shop window displaying spa equipment, at a street corner with a pedestrian crossing and a no-parking sign

I ducked into a coffee shop when it started to drizzle.

An espresso in a white cup and saucer on a wooden café table next to a glass ashtray, looking out through the window at a quiet paved plaza in Ponta Delgada lined with white apartment blocks painted with bright blue and yellow panels under an overcast sky

I thought the rain had passed when I left the coffee shop and started making my way back to the ship, but it very much had NOT. I walked for 10 or 15 minutes in a heavy drizzle, annoyed but thankful the weather wasn’t colder.

Naturally the rain let up right as I was nearing the ship.

A whitewashed curved wall on the Ponta Delgada waterfront painted with a red heart on a green stem inside a grey frame, with orange and green brushstrokes trailing behind it, beside a wet street with parked cars and the cruise ship and port cranes visible in the distance under a grey sky

I boarded, had a free lunch onboard, then left again for my 4.5 hour shore excursion.

The weather was foggy with spitting rain, hard at times. Again, thankful it wasn’t cold rain. Our first stop was Lagoa do Fogo, a crater lake a ~45 minute ride from the cruise port. Here’s my photo:

Lagoa do Fogo, the crater lake on São Miguel, seen from a roadside viewpoint as mist rolls over the caldera, with the lake curving around a forested peninsula below steep green slopes, small conifers dotting the hillside, and a strip of wet grass and red earth in the foreground

… and one by Veloso Patacas (via Wikimedia Commons) showing what it looks like on a clear day.

Lagoa do Fogo on a clear day, a large blue crater lake curving around a forested peninsula inside a ring of steep green volcanic slopes, with the Atlantic visible through a gap in the crater rim, bright white clouds overhead, and yellow wildflowers in the foreground — Lagoa do Fogo on a clear day. Photo: Veloso Patacas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized)

Our next stop was Caldeira Velha, a protected national monument and geothermal reserve that, frankly, looks a lot like Hawai’i to me. With the moody foggy rain and the hot thermal pools, it was killing me that I wasn’t equipped for bathing.

A wet cobblestone path at Caldeira Velha on São Miguel winding through lush green forest beneath towering tree ferns, edged by a mossy bank on the left and a low wooden rail on the right, under a grey, misty sky

The entrance to Caldeira Velha on São Miguel, with the name in rust-colored metal letters on a dark volcanic stone wall framed by large leaves, beside a tall metal gate through which visitors are walking along a red path into the misty forest

Our final stop was the Gorreana tea plantation, Europe’s oldest. We sped through the factory part of the tour here so that we could have more time for tea and pineapple cake in the tasting room.

A red wooden bench against a white wall under red-framed multi-paned windows at the Gorreana tea factory, with old factory machinery visible through the glass on the left and an interior room on the right. A bottle and a glass of dark tea sit on the floor at the bench's end

A wooden arrow sign reading 'Plantação de Chá' pointing into the neat rows of tea bushes at the Gorreana plantation on São Miguel, which roll down green hills toward the sea, with a small headland and the ocean on the horizon under a heavy grey sky

A hand-painted azulejo tile panel on a white wall at Gorreana, showing a woman in a straw hat and yellow dress carrying a basket through tea bushes beside a steaming cup of tea, with the words 'Fabricante Fernando Hintze' and 'Chá Gorreana - S. Miguel - Açores'

Note to self for next time: rent a car and tour on your own. The roads and signs are good, there’s not a lot of traffic outside of Ponta Delgada, and Portugal drives on the right-hand side of the road. I believe there are car rental agencies right on the cruise pier. Book ahead online for Caldeira Velha.

Footnotes:

OK so the ship isn’t “done” when you sail away from the shipyard, but there’s a schedule so off you go. ↩