We were awoken this morning by the sound of howling wind against the windows of the apartment. It was overcast and blowing about 20mph, mixed with intermittent drizzle. Thankfully, we'd already seen the crater lakes and higher-elevation views.
We'd been advised, and read, that the best time to visit the Ferraria ocean/hot-spring pool was mid-tide; at low tide, it can get too hot, and at high tide it will be cold (ocean temperature, anyway). Low tide this morning was just after 11 AM, so we wanted to experience the pool somewhere around 2 PM.
In no rush to get on the road again, we slept in and enjoyed breakfast at the apartment; it was too windy to eat on the balcony.
I decided to try a new bakery today, taking us on a different route through the city. We took some pastries and coffee on the road.
The top of the switchback route down to Ferraria is a scenic overlook with a view of a lighthouse, and we weren't quite sure if we had to walk down from there or could drive down, so we got out to poke around a bit.
Seeing a few cars come and go, and the absence of a sign like we saw yesterday like "dangerous road" and "vehicle passage not recommended" (or whatever it was), was enough to convince me that we should drive down. It wasn't the steepest road I've driven, but I wouldn't want to go up that in the rain. At least, not with this rental car.
At the bottom, there's a generous parking lot and a "thermal spa" that is closed on Monday and Tuesday, fortuitously. That did severely limit the bathroom options, however.
In the distance, the rowdy ocean was audibly crashing on the lava-rock shore. Apparently the not-insignificant wind was coming form the west, and the waves were the roughest we saw the entire time here.
To the south, a manicured path leads to the natural pool that is the reason everyone is here.
The yellow flag, it turns out, means something like "swim with caution".
We watched in disbelief as a dozen-ish people carefully climbed over the lava field, barefoot. Thankfully, we'd been tipped off to bring water shoes, as had about 50% of our fellow thrill-seekers.
There was a loose grid of ropes across the swimming area, thankfully; the rough water made it more like a wave pool than a "thermal bath". Most of the other people who came down the ladder did not seem to enjoy getting tossed around, what with the lava rocks and such. Sabrina joined me briefly, but delcared it to be too rough for her taste. This freed her up to take some action shows of me getting minor rope burns trying not to get dashed against the rocks.
It was warmer, near the end where the waves were crashing. Also it seemed less dangerous, what with the crashing waves not too far past the ropes.
One woman commented something like "wow, you could very easily get swept out to sea if you couldn't grab any of those ropes."
After I got out, we briefly debated what the lifeguards could possibly do to help someone who was in trouble.
It probably would have been nicer, or at least calmer, on a less windy day. Instead, it was a bit of a thrill ride.
Back at the car, we changed into dry clothes, then drove back up the switchbacks to the overlook. We loaded up some snacks and water, and started along the cliff-edge trail to the lighthouse.
The lighthouse was in a finely-manicured garden, and looked almost brand new. There wasn't much else to see, other than the ocean and some nearby cows.
There wasn't much else to see at the western edge of the island, as we had already been out this way after visiting Sete Cidades on Friday, so we returned to Ponta Delgada and starting considering an early dinner.
We decided to try our first choice from Friday night (when it was a two-hour wait). Even at 5 o'clock, there was a line at the door.
We left with some cheese and bread, which will become first breakfast.
While we had driven through downtown a bit, and walked around an area with a variety of restaurants, we hadn't yet seen the waterfront area.
Armed with a vague idea and a map of a suggested walking tour, we meandered for about half an hour, stopping to admire the old city gates and the plaza at city hall.
Farther east along the waterfront, there was the typical variety of ocean-related activities (jetski rentals, boat tours, whale-watching, fishing, etc.) as well as some boardwalk-style concessions and attractions.
Almost every place we've been near the ocean or by a beach here, there has been a vendor selling ice cream bars and Ben & Jerry's cups. The Ponta Delgada waterfront probably has several.
Just inside the commercial boat harbor, there's a roped-off swimming area. We felt that it was rather busy, considering it was after 7 PM on a Monday night in September.
Apropos of nothing, this is one of the strangest vending machines I've ever seen. It was in a row of other vending machines, next to a car rental storefront. In fact, it's listed as Grab & Go, currently rated 3.4 stars. If you want to be truly horrified, check out those Google reviews.
We decided to call it an early night, for once, and watch the sunset back at the Airbnb, as we need to leave the apartment by 8:30 AM. To limit the list of things to do in the morning, we ventured back out after the parking situation cleared up a bit, to gas up the rental car.
It wasn't until Sabrina started organizing things into piles, to pack suitcases, that we realized we left our water shoes in the parking lot at Ferraria. She initially declared that we have to go back and get them, but I convinced her it was insane to drive 75 minutes, round trip, in the dark, on crazy roads... for shoes that are probably not still there.
When Sabrina asked our Airbnb host for checkout instructions, she replied that there are none and not to worry about anything, then expressed sorrow that we had to leave so early in the morning and gave us two bowls of chocolate ice cream.
Our flight tomorrow is scheduled for 11 AM. It might be an adventure to return the rental car, and deal with the airport situation. One never knows, with small airports operating on island time.
No comments:
Post a Comment