Trip to the Azores

Hello and welcome to my as of this week defunct blog. I am going to use it now as I am trying this whole writing thing. I would like to take this time to walk through the amazing experience I had in the Azores, independent islands located off the coast of Portugal. My wife was actually inspired through Pinterest and we had a phenomenal vacation there.
My wife decided she wanted to take a trip to Europe, but despises flying. As the Azores is only 4 hours from Boston she found it to be a great compromise. I was browsing travelocity one day, found great air fare, and the trip was planned. My in-laws were also looking for a nice European travel destination as they are getting close to retirement and so decided to come with us. I will therefore be able to provide some information on that. I had never really been traveling outside of the USA before. (The only other time I had been out of the country was to go to Costa Rica for our honeymoon). Based on our travel requirements and current personal styles. We decided to stay on the island of Sao Miguel in the city of Ponta del Gada (PdG). PdG is located on the southwestern portion of the island and has an airport named Joao Paulo II.
We left for the Azores on Easter Sunday, April 5th, 2015. It is about one day of travel so arrived early morning Monday. We stayed at the hotel Marina Atlantico in PdG. We spent the morning walking the pier and grabbing a quick nap. It was wonderful. Breakfast is included for each day you stay with the exception of check-in day. We ate their anyways because it was open and we were quite hungry after our travels. They serve the same breakfast most mornings and some of the items available include fried eggs, miscellaneous breads, bacon, sausage, and miscellaneous coffees and drinks from concentrate.
A quick note on the car. I am not sure if they are available at all, but when we booked the only option left was manual transmission. As always with car rentals make sure all previous damage is noted. We had family with us so we opted for a class of care where we received a Peuoget diesel wagon. I liked it. I liked it a lot. We booked everything together and got the extra insurance for the sake of not having to deal with figuring out if my car insurance company would extend a policy or if any of my credit cards included out of country auto insurance coverage. And again, they will charge an extra fee if there are any additional drivers. (We had one.)

APT (Azores Pro Tip): If you are staying at the Marina Atlantico, in order to park go to the lot to the left (NOT underground, press the telephone button, and tell the lobby you are staying at their hotel.

On Tuesday (7 APR 2015) we visited Furnas.

The Caldeiras
We visited the caldeiras, which translates to "boilers" in the morning. We also came across a microbiological research center that studied some of the local algae and fungi, which we took a tour of. As my degree is in biology and I focused on marine biology, the tour was of great interest to me. My wife and her parents both enjoyed it and it was a simple way to support academia. We also saw a tub as the building the center is housed in used to be a bath house, and we bought a pack of stunning post cards. There are many breathtaking images, but what they don't often tell you is that all of these calderas have a strong odor of sulfur (read: rotten eggs/stink bombs).

The pools at Furnas were super cool. There is an iron water pool that is naturally heated. It is a few euros to enter, but it absolutely worth it. There are changing rooms and rest rooms there. The air temperature was probably only around fifty degrees Fahrenheit, but as it was probably going to be the only time we would ever be able to visit, we decided to just go for it. I am glad we did. Wear an old bathing suit and the iron water will wash right off. There is also a second pool that is a little smaller/more secluded.

APT: The visibility in the water in the large main pool is bad. You will not be able to see your feet. The bottom of the pool is covered in tree debris. If this is going to be a thing for you, start wrapping your head around it now.

Bensaude hotels owns four hotels on Sao Miguel Island including the Marina Atlantico. The other hotel we were looking at was the Terra Nostra Garden Hotel , also owned by Bensaude.
Lighthouse

On Wednesday, 8 APR 2015, I went SCUBA diving and my wife went to see the pottery factory in the morning. I scheduled the trip on Monday and went with the operator Best Spot Azores. There are several small enclosed kiosk-type SCUBA shops on the pier. I initially thought they were all the same store spread out; however, I was wrong and they are all different operators. I could not have been happier with my experience with Best Spot and we did two dives that morning. The first spot we went to was called "The Mirror" and we saw lots of marine life. We saw ornate spiny lobsters, spider crabs, and lots of miscellaneous fish and soft corals. Between dives we went back to the shop, had the option of changing into a dry wetsuit, and they provided coffee. The second dive was at a location called "Viteleiro." The DiveMaster told me it had something to do with baby cows in relation to the mainland, but using my trusted translation sites I can neither confirm nor deny this. This dive was great because not only did we see marine life, but we saw an unidentified 18th century shipwreck as well as a lava corridor. There were octopus, puffer fish, ornate spiny lobsters, and blue damselfish.
I do not currently have a housing for the camera to take underwater, but this trip has made me decide to make it a priority.
POTTERY FACTORY
The Azores boasts the only tea plantation in Europe. It is called Gorreana tea. There are several sources that site a "tour" of the facility, but don't expect a guide and/or presentation. There are some orange arrows on the wall that you should follow. You are going to basically be walking through some of the historical machinery that they tore there and interspersed with that you will see people actually working. The signage is limited, but the people are friendly and at the end there is a self-serve sample of their teas. They have a small shop/cafe area where you can purchase the teas, and the prices there are actually cheaper, so if you are going to buy tea you should do it while you are there.
This is a photo taken at the plantation where the tea is taken by conveyor belt and thrown at a wall. I don't know why.

This is the first gif I have ever created. It is the machine that cuts the tea bags.

On Thursday, 9 APR 2015, we visited the Termas da Ferraria. I pretty much conquered the ocean. NBD.

On Friday 10 APR 2015, we went and saw the Nossa Senhora da paz. It is the our lady of peace church and it took us a few hours to find it.

APT: When trying to navigate it is often best to enter the closest city into your GPS and then look at the posted signs for exact directions. We found this to be the only method that actually worked.

Saturday we explore the town and took some pictures of the street art. Some of it is pretty awesome.

Sunday was a travel day. As I had never been to Europe before, here is my last pro-tip. Once you pass security at the airport, you are not done. Apparently in Europe (with at least England being an exception), they stamp your passport on the way out. So, pay attention to the booths at the end of the glass wall and head through the second security check before your flight. We were confused so you don't have to be.

As a final farewell, I offer to you my first attempt at photostitching. I took ten shots of this really cool whale on a wall behind the hotel and I would say I was moderately successful at stitching them together. The output was tweaked slightly in the open source painting tool Krita. Overall, I think it came out pretty Okay.