Copyright: Jurgen Brauer, Augusta, Georgia, USA

My 15-year old daughter Anne and I (Jurgen Brauer) went to the Azores at the invitation of some dear friends. Here's the story, mostly in pictures. The Azores are a set of nine Atlantic Ocean islands, located due west of Portugal, about a third of the way to the USA. This picture was taken near the marina at Horta, the major city and port of the island of Faial.

The islands are of volcanic origin. In a few places, hot steam escapes the ground and, on weekends, local people come to cook food in the hot earth.

The volcanic activity also creates a number of hot springs (caldeiras) where people enjoy a bath -- if you can stand the sulphuric smell!

Here is the view that welcomed us. Stepping off the airplane in Ponta Delgada ...

... (ok, it's a joke), a bus drove us to the airport terminal. The photograph below was taken through the bus window, revealing heavy cloud cover (very common on the islands, as we will see) with the sun breaking through gloriously.

We were welcomed by our hosts, Maria Manuel and Manuel Ferreira.

Maria very much likes lapas ...

and Manuel likes fun ...

... and mussels.

Their daughter, Ana Rita, is an aspiring model ...

... and likes my daughter, Anne.

Felipe is Ana Rita's brother ...

... and Pedro is Felipe's (shy) friend.

The boys and girls liked to swim, of course, and go snorkeling and spearfishing in the inviting waters.

By far the most dominant view of the so-called central islands (Terceira, Graciosa, St. Jorge, Faial, and Pico) is the 2,351 meter high volcano on Pico ...

... which makes for endless photo opportunities ...

... if you can find it! The photos above and below were taken from almost the same spot, but the island of Pico and its volcano have vanished into the clouds.

Stunningly lush and productive, all islands (we visited four of the nine in ten days) lend themselves to nature photography.

For entertainment, one may attend the traditional bull-fight. Mercifully, the bull is merely tied to a (strong) rope, and the sport consists of running away from him. (The embarrassing photo of your intrepid photographer being cornered by the bull has been ommitted.)

The next photographs show Pico -- and not. The scenary is stunningly beautiful.

The eastern-most end of St. Jorge harbors a small village, called Topo. The lighthouse ...

... and the "end of the world" make for attractive, idyllic photos.

On clear days, driving up the volcanoes and looking down to the sea can induce vertigo. The islands receive plenty of rain and moisture from the ever-present clouds. Lush hardly describes the abundance of greenery one is immersed in. The areas depicted on the following two photographs, as I learned from the tremendously informative Coastal Ecology of the Azores book, are ecologically unique areas, so-called Faja's, and much in need of protection.

Most of the islands' volcanoes are inactive and incredibly beautiful freshwater crater lakes have been formed. Hereunder a couple of pictures of Lagoa do Fogo on the island of St. Miguel. One can climb into the crater and hike all around the lake. The islands are generally small. For example, the vantage point from which this photograph was taken allows one to view the island's north and the south coast simultaneously.

The next four pictures are of picturesque Lagoa do Furna, followed by a view of the village of Furna itself.

Furna, as the name suggests, contains hot springs.

More scenary shots follow. Note the greenery, the mountainous landscape, the sun, the clouds, the sheer volcanic rock cliffs, the water ...

The five central islands are connected by ferry service (the two eastern and two western islands are best reached by airplane). Here is an inside look at the ferry captain's bridge.

We undertook a couple of day trips from St. Jorge to Pico and Faial.

By way of entertainment, celebration, and festivals much awaits the eager visitor. In fact, there is a whole WEEK of festivals on St. Jorge. Each of the other four central islands sent dance groups, each in different customes.

The islands we visited all possess beautiful saltwater-swimming pools near the ocean. The one near the marina in Ponta Delgada was the best. The main pool (second picture below) was probably 100 meters long and 40 or so meters wide, and also had access to the ocean.

In addition, we spotted a huge trampoline from which one can jump into the somewhat frigid water. (Usually 66-degrees Fahrenheit; and this was in July!)

One of your photographers (below) takes a break. Ten days of frolicking can be so tiring ...

One of the main reasons we trekked to the Azores was to go scuba diving. We had hoped to encounter and photograph one of the more than twenty species of whales and dolphins. Alas, the government requires a whale-diving permit three months in advance! (Perhaps next time, we'll manage to plan that far ahead.) We had to be content with diving from the shores. Hereunder, Ponta do Caloura, where John and Jane Cockshott run a small diving place. We entered the water (in 7 mm wetsuits and hoods) right by the swimming pool.

Next to John's office is a small restaurant that offered an attractive view.

After the diving, John and Jane invited us to share soup and fellowship ...

... along with a gorgeous view onto the ocean from their place just up the hill.

On Pico, we wanted to find and chat with the (in)famous Norberto. A research diver with the University of the Azores, he also runs a busy, busy, busy, busy ... (you get it) ... business carting eager tourists out to swim with the whales and dolphins.

Eventually we found him ...

... and had our chat with him. As we said, we need those permits to dive (not swim) with the whales and try to photograph them. The best time, incidentally, would be August and September for then the water offers best visibility.

Here, then, some of our dive shots. Note the sea star below is reproducing (the southernmost leg is being pinched off, and will grow into another sea star).

This sea star seemed an oddly symmetrical four-legged creature.

An empty sea urchin (we believe) shell.

A dead fish provides a meal for a bunch of fire (bristle) worms. Fire worms, as the name suggests, are better left alone.

We found a dolphin skeleton.

There were tons and tons of Guinea pufferfish around. They are the "Curious George" of the ocean! A whole group of them would swim right up to your mask, and ...

... look you straight into the eye!

This fellow hereunder (it looks like a Barred Hamlet) was much harder to photograph. We tried many times, took many shots, and this particular one probably took us five minutes of patient waiting before we got sufficiently close. Diving is about not-moving.

Some critters are harder to see. The Sanddiver (or Lizardfish?) hereunder is relatively easy to spot, at least in the photograph ...

... and this one's a little harder already, especially since it's the size of less than your little finger. Only the reflection off the dive light makes the front part of the body easy to detect.

How about this one? Do you see it?

And where's the critter in the next photograph? (Hint below.)

It's a VERY flat crab, about the size of a grown man's outstretched palm and fingers, nudged between the two rocks. It's photographed upside down but you do see the yellow markings on its arms.
   And what's this hereunder ...

... Right, it's a flounder nearly perfectly camouflaged in the sand (the tail is on the left and if you look hard enough you'll see the two eyes on the right-hand side of the picture).
   Jellyfish were not overly common but our friend Manuel did get a nasty set of stings the very first time he jumped in the water!

Scorpionfish (the next two pictures) were abundant! We saw dozens upon dozens of them on every dive we made. Fortunately, they were also very jumpy, reducing the likelihood of a painful run-in. Better keep your buoyancy skills honed and stay clear in the water column.

Another fire (bristle) worm, this one crossing from one rock to another.

Our greatest delight was to find, for the first time, nudibranchs. The one hereunder is common to the Azores (the size of the tip of your small finger; that is, the one in the picture is about three to four times life-size).

On the day trip to Pico, we dove near the swimming pool (located about 1.5 km from the St. Roque ferry landing). We found a gorgeous underwater swim-through, perhaps 30 meter (100 feet) long, and plenty wide and high.

The bottom was strewn with volcanic boulders, washed round by the water. So I decided to explore the ceiling with my primary dive light and, to our utter delight, found another nudibranch, a Yellow-purple sea slug, Hypselodoris webbi. (Thanks to John and Jane Cockshott for identifying it for us.)

Nudibranch eggs (the white spirals below) were common and easy to spot.

The second-greatest delight was provided by various octopi (the plural of octopus) We found several of them during daytime dives. We were fine, so long as we backed off when the animal got agitated. Eventually, we got close enough (six to ten inches away) to take a series of photographs, such as the one hereunder.

In the next picture, a moray eel. The teeth look formidable but the animal is only breathing (it needs to open its mouth to move water over its gills).

And so we come to the end of the many pictures. Hereunder, Anne at Ilha do Topo, on the far eastern end of St. Jorge. It's cloudy and windy and rainy.

Finally, a visit to a local women's handicraft cooperative where we left some Euros to purchase woolen hats.