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In our travels that day, we visited the Botanical Garden at Flamengos, the large crater (caldeira) in the center of the island, Ponta dos Capelinhos on the far western tip of the island, and the natural swimming pool at Varadouro. In 1957-1958, eruptions occurred at Capelinhos creating two more square kilometers of land to Faial. A visit to the small museum nearby brought the entire eruption to life. A total surprise was the natural swimming pool we saw at Varadouro. Azoreans loved the water, and as there weren�t many natural sand beaches on the island of Faial, natural swimming pools were created around some of the interesting basalt rock formations lining parts of the island. This one was stunning with its narrow concrete walkways; it was almost like something that one might see at Disneyland.

From our boat we had a beautiful view of the majestic dormant volcano of Pico when it wasn�t hidden by the clouds. This mountain was around 7700 feet high, making it the tallest in Portugal. It was only befitting therefore that we visit the actual island of Pico across the narrow channel from Faial. Pico was about 2� times the size of Faial with about the same population. We took the early morning ferry over to the small town of Madalena and then traveled by bus along the southern shores of the island to Lajes do Pico. Here we visited the Whaler�s Museum (Museu dos Baleeiros) which displayed an interesting exhibition showing how whaling was done in the Azores using small open whaleboats outfitted with sails and hand-thrown harpoons.

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