you know, I hadn’t thought about it before, but I am clearly a huge fan of islands. I feel so at home near the ocean and absolutely love the concept that one can drive from one side of the island to the other in less time than it takes to drive all the way from Minneapolis to that far off state of Iowa. Ha. But at the same time, I have learned what size island I would need to be happy and this one is a titch too small. Though it sure is stunning!!

This ‘adventure/time of refreshment/chance to escape winter early’ has started out with family on the very small island of São Miguel which is part of the Açores which is part of Portugal. We are in the teeny tiny town of Fenais da Luz on the north side of the island. Right about here [see blue dot] … 

Though that may not help most people reading… I’d say of the folks I talked to about my travels, maybe 5 had heard of this place? In fact, I had no idea where it was when I started seriously considering it as my starting point for adventure. And the really funny thing is even after buying the ticket, I made the assumption I could just hop a boat over to mainland Europe. Ha!

Maybe this will help put the difficulty of that into perspective…

I am on that blue dot. In the middle of the ocean. Miles from everything. There are no boats.

But there is water. A lot of water. 

And THAT is the other best part of islands… You are always close(ish) to water. We are staying crazy close to the ocean and our daily adventures have ensured we see it more than we don’t. We also attempted to go into an amazing hot spring that mixes with the ocean, thus you are able to swim in the ocean with warm water all around. It sounds lavish, but unfortunately this  self titled tour guide has no idea how good it is. Since the Portugese couple described the ocean in this area as “very much agitated. No swim. Dangerous” we opted to just drink wine on the lava rock nearby. It sure was convenient their English included these words as my Portugese sure does not! 

There is so much more to this island I’d love to write about! Like little town life, how everything is humid, how we are gawked at by everyone our little Opal car passes and how I’m getting to photograph a working dairy farm tomorrow evening. I can not wait!! But right now I’m feeling sun burned and exhausted, so I will save all those nuggets for a later day. Bom noche!