Second try. Since it was cancelled on Tuesday because of the weather, it was a go-ahead today. The weather was perfect. We were supposed to be there at 8:30 am which we were of course. The sun was shining, the sea was calm.
We were at the pier in good time. I forgot to take a photo of the boat though. Here is one I took on Tuesday when the weather was not so nice. The best I can do. It's a catamaran.
The boat looked small but we were actually a pretty big group. Explanations came in 3 languages: Portuguese, English and German. Here we are on the top deck when the boat was leaving the harbor.
We didn't go far and there were dolphins. Of course we had seen dolphins plenty times before. But it is always fun to watch them.
VIDEO! (1:06)
We know that the whale watching thing is not that easy. There are look-outs on land who report when they spot something to the captain etc. There was also a smaller and faster boat (zodiac?) out in front of us.
After the dolphins our captain got excited because there was a message that something was spotted but we ended going all the way to the most west end of the island. And yes, we spotted a whale. We were told it was a fin whale, the second largest animal on earth. It is not one that actually comes out of the water so you have to watch very carefully and not blink to see it. We were told that we were lucky because they are usually here in March and not this early. Of course it is always a matter of weather and where the food is for the animals.
Because we had gone so far to the west and waited several times when the whale dove down to reappear it got late. Captain said he had to leave to go back because it would take about an hour but it took actually more an hour and a half full speed.
We went back between the land and this small island. It is fascinating and more about that tomorrow. It's very photogenic.
Almost back. There is the church a little above our hotel and other buildings we recognize.
It didn't matter that it was almost 2 pm instead of noon to be back. But we were hungry. Actually even more thirsty since we didn't drink anything since breakfast and the sea air dried us out. We went straight from the bought into the restaurant a few steps away. A beer and the local version of fish and chips (with veggies) did the trick.
The sun had shone all day but we still felt very chilled. Nothing like a long hot shower in the hotel and some rest to take care of it. Then we decided to go out for supper again. 5 minutes walk. A simple meal of creamy spinach soup and pasta.
Well, a really nice day ... again. We were lucky with the weather. We would have enjoyed the boat ride even if we had not seen a whale, but that was a bonus.
Step count: 7,692
Loved the video! And that fish looks great.
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