Thursday, May 5, 2011

This morning we ordered breakfast from 6:30-7:00 am and received it at 6:10 am.  For some reason they don't seem to be able to tell time!  We docked in Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel, Azores an island of Portugal a little before 8:00 am. 

We were some of the first off the ship and quickly met up with our tour guide.  He was the father of the owner of the tour company.  The owner was already booked for the day so we got to go with his father.  He was a good guide and showed us all over his island.  We told him we wanted a 6 hour island tour and after we got back wished we had asked for a shorter tour.  We  saw lots of beautiful churches.  We also saw several lakes.  This is a volcanic island and there are hot spots around the island and you can smell the sulphur and see steam coming from the earth.  There was one spot where they dug holes in the ground and buried food in there and it cooked for 6 hours in the ground and then they dug it up to sell to people at restaurants.  We didn't get any to eat because you had to order it a day ahead of time.  However, I did read about this before I left home and the food sounded gross so I wasn't too disappointed that a we didn't get any.

There was another place they took us where we had to walk a pretty good bit to get to a warm pool of water where people could go in and swim.  It was supposed to make you feel better.  We didn't bring our swimsuits along, so I had to skip that also. 

The guide wanted to take us to another place but it would add an hour to our tour and we already felt like we had been beat, so we begged him to take us back to the ship and he did.  We told him that the next time we came to his island we would let him take us.

We got back to the ship at 2:30 and were hungry so we went to the Lido Buffet to get something to eat.  I decided to get a hamburger out by the pool since I hadn't had one on this trip yet.  There was no line and it was really good.  After eating, we went and played bingo but had no luck.

Tonight the only show is the Filipino Crew Show at 11:00 pm.  I feel pretty sure I will be asleep at that time.  I may try to go to the hydrotherapy pool after dinner.

They are having half price internet minutes between 4-6 pm so I am trying to get this posted quickly during this time period.  I will also try and post some pictures.  I am not sure if the pictures will work and may have to do later.