Natural swimming pool in Santa Cruz
Well it’s our fourth day in Flores and we have, I think, been from one end of the Island to the other. We rented a car to do some inland exploring and had a great day speeding all over the Island. Technically we were only going 40 to 60 km at any given time but the roads are so small and winding that you feel like you are out of control a lot of the time. We were joking that it reminded us of playing car racing Nintendo games when we were kids – all sharp bends and steep hills. The scenery was beautiful, although I have to admit that when Adam was driving I found myself watching him watching the scenery so that we didn’t shoot off a cliff. He says that I’m a terrible backseat driver. We took the main road to Faja Grande and had a picnic lunch at the lava rock beach before heading to one of the waterfalls in the area. Adam and Daniel braved the cold water at the falls and went for a very quick dip but I was content to stick a toe in the water – very briefly. The waterfall was the highlight of the day and we felt like we were in a tropical paradise – which I guess we are. When we arrived there were a few people swimming but they soon left and we were surprised to have the spot to ourselves for the rest of the time we were there. Well, aside from the small herd of cows that came over the hillside to get a drink. Adam managed to climb up a section of the waterfall and Daniel and I managed to help him get back down again before we headed over the mountain to Santa Cruz. The trip over was incredible and we stopped at the green and black lakes which were well named as one was very green and the other was very black. Santa Cruz was mainly shut down as it was Sunday but we checked out the old whaling factory and the Flores ecological museum and tried to pick out words from the displays which were in Portuguese only. The whaling museum wasn’t open but we got lots of pictures of the giant model of the whale with its head cut off and being skinned – I will post pictures soon as there may be some animal rights activists out there who might want to copy the idea! We also checked out the natural swimming pools which really have to been seen to be believed. They are basically rock platforms with ladders and a diving board that kids were jumping from. The waves from the ocean come barreling into the “pool” and the kids get knocked around, have a great time in the swell and somehow don’t get swept into the sea. Yesterday we dropped Daniel off at the airport and napped for the whole afternoon – the life of the unemployed sailor is a hard one. We also checked out the Café by the Marina and found that it is also a pizzeria. Adam tried the vegetarianne pizza and to his great delight, aside from the black olives, found it was the best pizza that he has had since we left Toronto. For now we are going to spend the next couple of days re-stocking the boat and looking at the weather and hope to head to Horta on the island of Faial by Thursday at the latest.