“The Azores lived up to their promise, as did the whole Étendues Sauvages team.
I’ve gotten into the habit of sharing my travel impressions with family and friends during my trips, here are some extracts…
San Miguel
The blue of the flowers, the blue of the azulejos, the blue of the shutters on the colourful houses, the blue of the vast ocean that you skirt so as not to go in circles on an island (as a sailor friend put it), the blue of one of the lakes of Sete Cidades which, according to legend, was filled by the tears of a blue-eyed princess who could not marry her green-eyed shepherd (who, in turn, filled the neighbouring lake with his green tears).
And every now and then, nature rebels, and amid all this blue appear bursts of vivid colour: yellow orchids, purple bougainvillea, orange trumpet vines, pink oleanders, red hibiscus.
I finally got to experience the scents — first that of the ocean, when we stepped into those famous natural pools, calm interludes along a rugged coastline where sharp black rocks have been hurled into the untamed ocean by angry volcanoes.
Then the scents of the forests, where trees are covered in thick, silky moss, fierce ferns, deadwood, water. A setting straight out of Celtic folklore.
The villages are fairly deserted as we drive through them, apart from the odd old man sitting outside the local café. Portuguese hospitality, on the other hand, is no myth — people are naturally smiling, kind and courteous: a real pleasure.
The roads wind delightfully, lined either with stone walls or thickets of hydrangea. A joy to drive.
Pico
These 5 days of swimming with dolphins were exceptional — never a dull moment, wonder every single time. A feeling shared by the whole group.
We managed to swim with 4 of the 5 dolphin species with which swimming is permitted; all we were missing was the blue-white dolphin, though apparently we did see one, according to Youri — it mingles with the common dolphin, which is grey/yellow! I’m sceptical, but I won’t argue with the specialist. Our favourite was the spotted dolphin. During our many swims we were lucky enough, twice, to see a dolphin come right up close to us, look at us, then turn back — impressive!
Yesterday, on our way to our swimming spot, we saw a flying fish. I’d be tempted to call it a “speeding” fish, it moved so fast alongside the boat — a dart to the right, a burst of speed, then left, then right again. We were all so mesmerised that none of us thought to take photos, so you’ll just have to take our word for it. Pedro the captain had the time of his life racing it.
Today we visited a cave formed by lava flows. We didn’t catch everything, since the explanations were only in English, and our English is better suited to marine biology than geology! There was AA lava (apparently called that because you go “ah! ah!” when you walk on it barefoot — Portuguese humour, or geologist humour!), lava stalactites, flows, lava balls and plates! That’s about all we understood.”
Viviane P. (July 2013)
