Another adventure with Jeff and Betsy! Nothing like a little excitement to have a Category 5 hurricane named Lorenzo out in the Atlantic Ocean heading towards the Azores!
While out at sea with 100 foot high waves, Hurricane Lorenzo had calmed down from being a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane to a Category 3 and hopefully would go down a Category 1 or 2 when it was expected to hit the Azores in a few days.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/azores-islands-map-and-travel-guide-4134970_final-f1ebcbcd4640419597f0f163b7aed324.png)
We were scheduled to fly from Sao Miguel to Pico Island on Monday morning, September 30th to begin the hiking portion of our trip. Hurricane Lorenzo wasn't expected to hit until the following day, Tuesday, October 1st. So we drove to the airport, returned our rental car, and looked at the departures' board to see the status of our flight to Pico Island. Its status? It was a question mark!
We did eventually board our Sata inter-island flight.
Onboard with us were a number of extremely fit, muscular men and women all wearing the same red and yellow uniform of the "Bombeiros" which are the Portuguese firemen/search and rescue team. It was comforting to know they were going to be on our island if needed.
When we landed and were waiting for our luggage, an official-looking fellow handed everyone who had gotten off the plane the following letter:
After we retrieved our luggage, we were met by our English speaking driver, Carlos, who informed us, "Your hike scheduled for tomorrow is not possible. Lorenzo is coming and the island is on lockdown. Welcome to Pico Island!"
Believe it or not, it was an absolutely beautiful day on Pico Island! Blue sky and just a few clouds. We were staying at the lovely Aldeia da Fonte, a "nature hotel".
We were greeted by Pedro Meneses, the manager. He gave us a free double upgrade to a suite! Here it is below, an entire volcanic house! It is located 40 feet above the ocean.
This place had it all...nature's serenity, tranquility,
reflecting pools with water lilies and fish
a wellness area with a tai chi garden
yoga room, zen room,
a beautiful swimming pool
and a Sea Trail
which led us to
a panoramic sea balcony with which to view dolphins and whales.
The trail then continued down to the ocean
to the "swimming hole" in the ocean!
It was similar to what we had seen on Sao Miguel at Ferraria a few days ago.
In addition to all this natural splendor, the Aldeia da Fonte also has an award-winning restaurant which is ranked #1 of all Pico Island. The food is fantastic and the restaurant has a lovely understated ambiance with its beautiful indoor and outdoor seating.
Our home away from home for the next 4 days was perched on a sea cliff, 40 feet above the Atlantic Ocean. Here's a map of our location. We're on the far left with the black dot.
Here's the view looking down from our deck.
Sitting on our deck and listening to the waves lapping against the shore, it was hard to believe that a hurricane was approaching.
The next morning, Tuesday, October 1st, the sky was clear with pinkish clouds. It reminded me of "Red sky at night, sailors' delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning!"
The last time there had been a hurricane, not a tropical storm, was 1976, 43 years ago. The news said Hurricane Lorenzo is considered the strongest storm ever to hit this far east in the Atlantic citing climate change, the warming of the ocean's temperature, causing more intense storms.
Pedro, our wonderful manager, told us Hurricane Lorenzo was supposed to hit us tomorrow evening around 8 or so that night or very early the following morning. He said it will be a
"NO rain hurricane, just hurricane wind, and hurricane waves".
The last time there had been a hurricane, not a tropical storm, was 1976, 43 years ago. The news said Hurricane Lorenzo is considered the strongest storm ever to hit this far east in the Atlantic citing climate change, the warming of the ocean's temperature, causing more intense storms.
Pedro, our wonderful manager, told us Hurricane Lorenzo was supposed to hit us tomorrow evening around 8 or so that night or very early the following morning. He said it will be a
"NO rain hurricane, just hurricane wind, and hurricane waves".
Arriving on Pico Island today was actually the first part of our 10 day hiking adventure exploring the "Triangle of the Azores": the 3 main islands of Pico, Sao Jorge, and Faial Islands.
After a great dinner and good night's sleep, we awoke ready to roll and explore Pico Island. We felt it was safe enough for us to venture out.
We had a taxi driver take us to the start of St John's Forest Reserve where we'll be in a forested area for part of the trail and then we'll follow the coastline back to the hotel.
We passed gorgeous plants that lined the trail.
We followed the path along the shoreline and
As we walked on the clouds rolled in
and the waves crashed onshore.
We walked inland, through towns along the shore.
We passed beautiful churches with all sorts of lovely inlaid tiles
Walking down one particular street we passed another church that was built on a slant in 1917.
Near the church stood a stoic windmill.
We walked back home along the volcanic shoreline. The waves started kicking up, as did the wind.
That evening, after a delicious seafood dinner at the restaurant, Pedro brought us an "emergency preparedness kit": a candle, matches, and a bottle of wine. Luckily he included a cork screw in the kit.
He said the "no rain" hurricane would be hitting us in the early hours of the morning.
Around 2:30 am we awoke to the sound of a sonic blast. Then one "BAM!" right after another. It was the ferocity of the waves pounding 40 feet below. Throughout the night the spray from the waves hit our deck with some water coming in under our deck door. Wave spray also splashed our windows with gusto. Our sturdy, interior door
Around 2:30 am we awoke to the sound of a sonic blast. Then one "BAM!" right after another. It was the ferocity of the waves pounding 40 feet below. Throughout the night the spray from the waves hit our deck with some water coming in under our deck door. Wave spray also splashed our windows with gusto. Our sturdy, interior door
kept banging incessantly throughout the night. I remained awake, but Jeff managed to sleep through it all!
Just as Pedro had told us, this was a "dry" hurricane, no rain, just wind, and sea.
Our windows were wet from the sea spray from the waves crashing on our sea cliff.
Here's what our windows looked like in the early morning light.
Our deck was also very wet from the sea spray. Here's a view of what it looked like yesterday from our deck before the hurricane:
This is what it looked like in the early morning hours after the hurricane passed by.
Even though the winds were still quite fierce, Pedro ventured out to check on us and we told him we were fine, all safe and sound. He told us the restaurant would be open at 11 and apologized for any inconvenience the hurricane may have caused us.
As we arrived in the restaurant, and thanks to Pedro, this divine, hot cappuccino was waiting for me! The wind had died down to a breeze, and we enjoyed a delicious breakfast.
We absolutely could not believe what today looked like just hours after Hurricane Lorenzo had departed. It was a stunningly beautiful day!
We tried to take a walk around the expansive property but all of the beautiful, well-groomed trails we had been on the day before were now impassible with all the downed trees.
Here's a photo of what one lovely trail had looked like the day before
and here's what the same trail looked like on our morning walk after the hurricane.
The ocean remained loud throughout the day. It was a constant, Boom, Boom, Boom with the sound of the waves crashing on the sea cliff below our room.
The next morning brought another gorgeous day. Mt. Pico was out in all her glory!
On this sunny, calm weather day it was hard to believe the hurricane had just hit the island two days before.
We were excited to do today's hike of Caminho dos Burros for we would be hiking on the central plateau of the island. Our route would take us down to the northern coasts where hopefully, because it was such a clear day, we should be able to see Sao Jorge Island. With Mt. Pico behind us, we were off!
The island you see in the distance is Sao Jorge. At the end of tomorrow's hike, we will be taking a ferry there and will spend 4 days filled with memorable hiking trips.
We passed the windmill and headed down to the coast.
The Church of Holy Mary Magdalene withstood the hurricane as well.
Due to the rough seas, our ferry was delayed.
We didn't mind a bit .
The sunset was spectacular!
The hike was well marked even though the sign had been blown over.
It was a beautiful hike.
Just a few downed trees in this section.
Once we crossed over the rise, we were greeted with this spectacular view!
As we descended we found the trail a tad more challenging with the fallen trees.
So many of the trees had been blown over like match sticks.
We hiked down to the seashore and reached the "beach with no sand". The shoreline literally consisted only of round stones shaped by the sea for as far as the eye could see.
The next morning was the start of our last day on Pico Island. We bid Pedro a fond farewell. We were sad to leave for we had so enjoyed our time at Hotel Aldeia da Fonte.
Our taxi dropped us off at the trailhead where today we will hike along the eastern coast of Pico Island. This route will end at the harbor in Madalena where we will catch our ferry to San Jorge Island.
Our hike to the coast took us through the World Heritage vineyard area. Hiking through here we witnessed firsthand some of Hurricane Lorenzo's extensive damage.
We also hiked past farms where the corn crop lay flattened by the hurricane.
As we neared the shoreline, we began to see the hurricane destruction on this side of Pico Island.
As we hiked by the sea,
we were met with massive boulders that had been lifted from the breakfront along the shoreline by Hurricane Lorenzo.
Many massive rocks lined the road.
You can gage this rock's size by comparing the size of my boot with that of this bolder.
And here's a chunk of seawall.
We were walking on, what up until two days ago, had been considered one of the most scenic coastal roads in the world. It connects (or use to) the eastern side of the island with the western side. And now, its asphalt had been ripped up and flung around like a piece of flimsy cardboard having landed far away.
We were the only ones out there for miles and miles.
Jeff and I had been the only two on the "road" for hours. Then off in the distance we saw two men walking. One gentleman was Nicholas who is a local businessman and the other was Peter, a schoolteacher. They both could not believe the devistation brought on by Hurricane Lorenzo.
We enjoyed chatting with them and then they invited us to lunch in Madelena. We all had a lovely, long lunch and an absolutely delightful time!
Madelena is a beautiful town! This church which was built in 1805 fortunately withstood the hurricane.
As we headed out to sea, Pico Island soon disappeared.
We were all in awe with nature's beauty.
While the sea was rough, we made the crossing to Sao Jorge in fine shape arriving around 11:30 pm. Our driver met us at the dock and took us to our lovely hotel, appropriately named the Hotel Sao Jorge.