The Azores (Pico)

The Azores 2008 (2/2)

2008's main holiday was in The Azores - spread over 2 islands, Sao Miguel and Pico.

We chose The Azores because we really enjoyed Madeira and The Azores have the reputation of being good for whale watching but we had no real idea what to expect. Having checked the internet we found Archipelago Azores and sent Diane and team a list of what we thought we wanted. Delighted to say that they came up trumps and off we went.

This page covers our second week. Click here for Sao Miguel page.

Pico is the second largest island in the Azores and very different to Sao Miguel. Our accommodation was at the eastern tip of the island so we drove to the back of beyond and kept going (and going). We stayed at O Zimbreiro (Juniper House).

Our room was just like a beach hut but bigger. The surrounding landscape was lovely, the stars at night brilliant, the views were spectacular and Jeremy and Anne-Lise looked after us very well, both of them being very good cooks / chefs. The pool was chlorine free (bit chilly as the week progressed) and tea and coffee was served regularly with a smile!

The views weren't quite as spectacular as this a few days later (Monday) with the rain lashing down and the wind howling around! It didn't seem to last long into the morning so didn't stop us doing anything but you couldn't even see the island across the channel (Sao Jorge) as it was covered in cloud/mist.

We shared our home this week with various animals - dog (Soquette), horse (no name - borrowed from a friendly local farmer to cut the grass), geese and hens (one less hen by the end of the week as we had one for tea one night).

Saturday afternoon we had a quick drive around to orientate ourselves and Sunday off we went to try and find some whales and dolphins. Joana was our marine biologist and on our various trips we had either Pedro or Marco as our skipper - we even had Serge (boss) himself on day acting as skip. They worked really hard to find cetaceans for us to see. Sunday was very grey and wet so not particularly pleasant and we got pretty damp. The whales must have thought the weather was pretty horrid too as they were very well hidden. We did see some Risso's dolphins for the first time though so that was nice. They just coasted up and down, back and forth - apparently this is normal behaviour! They are known locally as Michael Jackson dolphins as they change from black to white as they get older and don't have the usual pointy nose that other dolphins have.

We went out with Espaco Talassa - a great firm that believes in conservation first and entertaining the tourists second - just our sort of thing! There was a film crew there while we were, trying to get a film clip of dolphins bow riding. The film will be called Ocean(s?) and it's taken 4-5 years to put together so far and goodness knows how many £millions all for about an hour or two's viewing! It should be in the cinemas next year.

The same firm have a really good cafe / restaurant / hotel next to the whale watching centre so that was a good place to sit and dry out while having something good to eat.

From there (Lajes do Pico) we ventured inland. Pico is dominated by the Pico volcano which is a stratovolcano and stands at 2,351m. It is the highest mountain in Portugal. The 3 views are one without cloud, one with cloud (more normal while we were there) and the final view from the sea on a good whale watching day (ie. quite calm sea).

Pico is the "newest" of the Azores and has several lava fields from slightly explosive basaltic eruptions. It includes smooth surfaces with various structures - ropy lava, pressure ridges and lava tubes. There are also some lava flows called biscoitos (biscuits) with rough angular surfaces. We saw good examples of the various structures at Ponta Negra on the north coast - see a bit lower - and during our trip to the Lava Caves.

We seemed to lose the main road somewhere along the north coast (still not sure how) but it was a great diversion via Ponta Negra - a lovely, protected area showing the various different lava strata. The black rocks, azure sea and white surf made for good viewing.

There was a lot of this type of stone work around and this house caught my eye as a good example.

There were also a lot of fields which seemed to be split into tiny areas by stone walls. Not sure why this is done - perhaps we'll find out by the end of the holiday (we never did find out!)

Finally into the middle and we drove along the eastern ridge of the island. On our drive around on Saturday we'd driven through pasture land but today's journey was much wilder (probably because it was much higher). Still plenty of cows and cattle grids around though.

Whereas most of the cows in Sao Miguel were black and white, those in Pico were a creamy white / pale brown colour. There were black and white ones as well but nowhere near as many.

Another difference was the lack of hydrangea hedges. Again, there were a few but not as many apart from the main roads where the hedges were really colourful.

The lakes were also smaller and we didn't find any caldeiros.

I suppose it's only natural to have windmills when it's so high and windy. There were a few traditional windmills around as well - see photo lower down the page.

It's probably a good time to introduce you to Washington - our car on Pico. A Renault Megane so a big improvement on the Skoda from last week. We called him Washington as the letters in his registration number were DC.

There were loads of birds around. We think they were mainly Goldcrests or Yellow Wagtails but they were too fast for us to photograph (Jonathon's challenge for this week - see below!). However, we did enjoy watching this bird of prey search for food down a hillside during our travels.

Another main difference between Sao Miguel and Pico is the quality of the food. Pico is far better so far (except for the breakfasts which were very nice but Chris would be a hard act to follow in that respect). Jeremy and Anne-Lise, our hosts, cooked the first and fourth evenings and the food was delicious. Sunday we went further along the north cost to Canto do Paco for local food and that was lovely too so what with that, and the cafe at Lajes, we ate well!

Monday - we stayed at "home" for the morning to avoid getting wet or blown away but the sun came out mid morning so off we went. Jeremy had recommended some caves on the west side of the island that seemed like a good idea.

I'm not sure what we were expecting but what we got was surprising but still enjoyable. We donned our hair nets, hard hats with Davy lamps (very fetching) and were each handed a torch before inching our way down into the dark caves. There was no electric light as that encourages the wrong kind of fungus to grow deep in the caves!

Our guide was very knowledegable and also took good care of us. There are caves all over Pico but the Gruta des Torres are the tallest with max height of 15m and no need to crawl in any of the spaces we visited (good!). They are 5,150m long and are near Criacao Vehla. They are classified as a National Regional Monument.

This was a great experience. The walk lasted just short of an hour and we were really glad we'd got good walking boots on as it was very tricky underfoot. The lack of electric lights made it more interesting and it was fascinating to have the various rock formations pointed out by our guide with the explanations as to how they came to be as they are.

We travelled back to base on the south coast road, calling in to take a photo of a more traditional windmill en route.

Back on the water the next couple of days (when we weren't lolling around by the pool). The sea was a bit rough on the Tuesday and we got thoroughly drenched (but managed to keep the cameras dry(ish)).

We didn't see any whales on Tuesday but did see some very active Common Dolphin and some Atlantic Spotted Dolphin.

The latter were almost by Faial (another island) so we were very late back and the crew had to radio the shore to ask them to contact Jeremy to let him know we'd be late back for tea!

Atlantic Spotted Dolphin

We did have a good view of the film crew while we were out and about on the water. They had 2 boats. One with a camera they used underwater (off the boom in the left photo) and one with divers who went into the water to swim with the dolphins etc.

We also visited the lookout. The Azores use land based lookouts with very powerful binoculars to spot whales. The view is pretty much from one end of the island to the other all along the south coast.

The white dot on the slope of the hill is the tower so you can see how tiny it really is.

The tower has two floors and I think I'd get claustrophobic stuck in the tower all day. Jonathon could hardly stand up and doesn't like ladders so it definitely wouldn't do for him!

Our third (and we thought final) time out on the boats from Pico was the most successful (and calmest to date, weatherwise). We had great views of dolphins - Risso's, Common and Bottlenose (Flipper types). We also came across a group of 4 juvenile male sperm whales - quite unusual so a treat. One of them was more "accommodating" than the others (or perhaps he was just showing off?)

As we spent most of our time either lounging by our pool at O Zimbreiro or on the sea from Lajes, we thought you might like a look at the village / town itself. It's an old whaling town (whaling officially stopped in 1984 in the Azores but it seems the last whale was actually caught in 1987, still quite a few years ago). The man in the lookout tower is the son of the man who used to look out for the whalers - traditionally it's a job handed down from father to son so the whale watching teams could preserve the tradition but put a different twist on it.

The colours coming back in from the third whale watching trip were lovely with the sun beating down, the blue sky, blue sea, green island and the white houses / red roofs strip of the village / town at the foot of the hill - beautiful.

Dinner was another good recommendation - Aldeia da Fonte. It also looks like a really nice hotel so perhaps next time or maybe not as there's always Jeremy and Anne-Lise to stay with or even the Whale'come Inn next to Espaco Talassa - so many choices.

Thursday and the whale watching trips were fully booked so we took ourselves inland. A beautiful sunny day and lots of lovely scenery so here are a few pictures as a flavour.

Loads of cattle grids later and we were still trundling along. We had all the time we wanted so took plenty of opportunities to get out of the car and stroll around. We also saw a lot of "hobbles" restricting cows' movement. The wooden ones seemed to be the most common sort.

Another feature was the number of birds. Apologies for the furriness of the blackbird photo - he just wouldn't stand still near enough for me to do him justice!

At times we questioned who was watching who?

It seemed odd to see the sea behind the cows but at one time we were high enough to see both coast lines. The darker outline behind them is Sao Jorge island.

The clouds began to gather when we were a bit higher up. It's weird to watch them creeping up the hill sides.

There were a few lakes around as well. The one above (I think) is Lake Caiado. The one of the left is Lake Peixihno and the one on the right Lake Rosada.

We were pointed in the right direction by signposts - you sometimes had to use your imagination to work out which way the arrows were pointing.

Come lunchtime, the lure of the sea was too strong to resist so we popped back to Lajes to see if anyone had cancelled. Thankfully, 3 Brits had so we could have 2 of those places.

The viewing highlight was Short Finned Pilot Whales. There was a large group of them, males, females, juveniles and even a baby. It was lovely to see. A special treat was the amount of activity. Normally you don't see tails or jumps but the youngsters in this group seemed happy to show off occasionally. They even did some spyhopping - which basically means popping their head out to have a look at us!

We also saw some Bottlenose Dolphins. They weren't very friendly at first smacking their tails on the sea and telling us to clear off. As soon as the boat moved far enough away not to be able to get any close up photos they started leaping and diving etc. Jonathon managed to capture one of the higher jumps (albeit a bit furry). Serge reckoned the dolphin must have been 5 - 6m above the sea - very spectacular.

As you can see from above, Thursday was a lovely, calm, warm, sunny day. Friday came along and was very different. The sea was heavy and it was quite windy. We'd hitched a ride on the "Swimming with Dolphins" boat - not to swim, just to watch the dolphins. It was more than a bit bumpy but we did see about 200 Common Dolphin hunting which was great.

We also saw a few Risso's Dolphins but by then we'd put the cameras away to try and prevent them getting any more sea water in them!

Wherever you get dolphin hunting, you get birds looking to cash in on the fish that try to escape the dolphin by coming to the surface.

Finally, we had to say goodbye and head back to the airport. The photo below was taken on the Thursday - we'd left before sundown on the Friday - back to Sao Miguel for the transfer back to London.

We had a great time and would love to come back, especially to Pico. One of our main reasons for visiting the Azores was for the whales and dolphins and, as you can see, we were very lucky in the number of animals we managed to see. There's definitely more to do on Sao Miguel, it's a bigger island, more set up for tourists (but not too many signposts so not everyone can find the best attractions!), more variety of scenery etc but the whale watching experience out of Pico was brilliant. The baleen whales visit in the Spring so perhaps we need to get something arranged for then.