Graciosa
Graciosa, meaning “gracious” in Portuguese, is the appropriate word to describe the island where we have been today. Zodiac landing took place early morning at the fishing port of Praia, from where we went to Santa Cruz, the main town of the island, which has a picturesque square with two large water tanks surrounded by metrosideros (New Zealand Christmas trees) and araucarias (Norfolk pines).
Graciosa is also known as the “white island” (Ilha Branca), being the least humid of the archipelago, but one should wonder why on this sunny and tropical morning when staring at the emerald green pastures or smelling the wild mint scent that invaded the school bus through the open windows on our way to Furna do Enxofre, a sulphurous cavern inside a round shaped crater on the southeastern part of the island.
Throughout the narrow road, some quiet donkeys chewing the grass under fig trees were a clear illustration of Graciosa’s relaxed pace, and the charming windmills with their red onion-shaped domes reminded us the Flemish contribution to the settlement of these islands. An unexpected emission of sulphurous fumes from the lake inside the cave did not allow our descent to the cavern of Furna do Enxofre, Graciosa’s greatest attraction that has been responsible for such famous visits as the one made by Prince Albert of Monaco in 1895, during one of his frequent oceanographic campaigns to the Azores.
Furna do Enxofre has an underground connection with a coastal Spa, and following that link we visited the thermal baths of Carapacho village, a cosy summer resort in the south coast where some of us were lucky enough to watch a charming local mermaid taking bath at the sea pool.
After lunch and already aboard cruising the channel between Pico and Faial looking for sperm whales, luck did not strike twice.
