On Tuesday 23rd October we spent a wet day in the Azores at Ponta Delgada.
This was our last land before our five day crossing of the Atlantic to St. Maarten in the Caribbean.
Thunderstorms off Ponta Delgada
I am not sure whether it was the flashes of lightning, the thunder or all the chanting that actually woke me up. I sheltered on the balcony as the rain hammered down. It was only 6 am. I tried to look out in the dark where the storm was.
There were sheets of lightning aft of the ship and I stood and watched the whole sky light up. With the curtains open I watched the lightning and counted using the “one and two and three etc” that I’d been taught as a child. As the flashes continued my count was soon stopping at four. The storm was a lot closer and the thunder was definitely louder!
Much later I heard a shout from the cabin is below and I can now see Ponta Delgada ahead of Azura.
We still had rain and the hills behind the town were covered in cloud. After I took my iPhone off aeroplane mode I received messages including a welcome one from Vodafone. Slightly more worrying was the second message that told me I was no longer connected to Vodafone on land. I quickly said when I was back on Airplane Mode.
Into Ponta Delgada
I watched as we slowly entered Ponta Delgada’s harbour at around 8.35 am and started to dock next to the cruise terminal. Our breakfast was a noisy affair as for the first 10 minutes or so conversation was difficult because of the thrusters manoeuvring Azura alongside.
Back in our cabin I tried the phone again and hopefully all my messages and emails came via Vodafone from the land.
There was a pause in the rain as we left the ship and went out onto the quay by the cruise terminal. We walked along the promenade until we reached the square in front of the Saint Sebastian parish church. We walked past the cafés and then through the small pedestrian precinct until we turned left along Rua Machado Santos.
The rain came again and we dodged in and out of shops. The lack of gutters above us made walking along the pavement an extremely wet affair. We turned back and crossed the road. I was looking for the friendly bar that we had sat in earlier in the year. We came to the street art that we found before. Here it is.
More street art
Just as we reach the cross street the heavens opened again. We turned down the side street to head back towards the promenade. I stopped to grab these images painted on walls and doors.
