Departure
The weather was overcast with some breaks in the clouds, too cold for swimming, I found a spot protected from the wind on the aft deck with tables and chairs. Breathing in fresh ocean air was revitalizing. A passenger sang accompanying himself with his guitar and others gathered around him to listen.
The “Norwegian Jade” had a large library. None of the library books looked interesting, but in the corner, I noticed a shelf with the left books. One of them was Dostoevsky’s “The Adolescent” in Russian. I never read the book and picked it up.
With the book or the laptop on the aft, listening to the guitar, it was as relaxing as I wished it would be. I enjoy solitude and good company too. The best for me is to alternate these two lifestyles when there is time to think and time to socialize. Since I traveled alone, I mentally prepared myself for 13 days of solitude with occasional polite exchanges with fellow passengers about the weather. To my surprise, I heard a conversation in Russian at one of the tables. I came over to introduce myself.
These people turned out to be from my hometown of St. Petersburg who immigrated to the US. They were smart, intelligent, well-traveled and with a sense of humor. On top of that, we all had the same background. With them, the days at sea were not monotonous. They taught me to play a new card game which I did not master but nevertheless liked playing.
Two days after we left Miami, the captain announced that there was another sick person on board. Our ship was not far from Bermuda. The captain’s decision was to come closer so a coastal guard boat could take the sick person to the island. He also cheerfully suggested not getting sick anymore because there would be no land between Bermuda and the Azores for the next four days.
The waves were moderate to large. The ship’s rolling was sometimes significant. This did not seem to bother anyone. The rolling lulled me to sleep at night; I napped during the day too. Time flew fast, thanks to the good company.
Our first stop was at Ponta Delgada, capital of the Azores. The Portuguese were first to discover the Azores, a group of 9 main islands and many islets. Since then the Azores belong to Portugal. The islands were not populated before the Portuguese came; there were no large animals there either. The Portuguese brought cattle, rabbits and the Japanese cedar. These trees are grown commercially for their valuable timber. The main industries are fishing, dairy farming, and tourism.
There were 6 of us going on an “Off the Beaten Track” excursion on the island of San Miguel. When we got into the Jeep, our driver and guide Elvis asked where we were going to. This question confused everyone. Shouldn’t the guide know that? He said he was not given specific instructions. ‘OK’, we said, ‘just take us to some beautiful places’.
Our group consisted of a couple from Houston, two single guys, a pretty girl from Iowa and me. One of the single guys was retired. He was going to travel in Europe with no specific itinerary until he gets tired of it. The Iowa girl was 18 and also traveled alone. She sat in the back of the Jeep and loudly talked about herself to nobody in particular. Every other minute she reminded us how young she was and therefore she could handle anything. We learned quite a lot about her in the short timespan including details of her broken relationship with the boyfriend.
Elvis drove us around the central part of the island stopping wherever we asked him and telling us about the Azores past and present. Azaleas and nasturtiums were in full bloom, hydrangeas were about to start blooming. The lakes, beaches and green fields were picture perfect. Elvis took us to a park with geothermal baths. He said that 30% of electricity came from geothermal sources; the rest was from costly diesel delivered from the mainland.
The Azoreans grew oranges until the trees were killed by a disease. The oranges were replaced with tea bushes so the locals could start new businesses. We were given a quick tour of a tea factory that included tea tasting.
Someone from our group mentioned that the prices on the island seemed moderate.
‘They may be for you who came here with dollars, not so much for the locals whose income is modest.’ replied Elvis.
It was the low season. Everywhere we went, we hardly saw any people. Elvis said that the island is crowded in summer. Delta Airlines will start flying to Ponta Delgada from New York five times a week in May. That will bring even more tourists to the Azores which is good and bad at the same time.
Elvis dropped us off at the main square. We all went into different directions. I rushed to find free Wi-Fi to call my husband who did not hear from me since I left Miami, i.e. exactly for one week, and then returned to the ship.
