Day 08 - Saturday, 11/16/24 - Day 7 At Sea - Ponta Delgada Arrival

 We were supposed to arrive in Horta, Azores today, but because of the weather, we diverted to arrive at our second port of call, Ponta Delgada at roughly the same time as originally scheduled into Horta.  We took the opportunity to sleep in a bit and after breakfast we found seats in the Crow's Nest where we spent the rest of the morning.


Mid morning the Captain came on the PA system and said that our arrival would be delayed about an hour to 1pm as the ship had to reduce speed overnight due to the weather and sea conditions.  Around noon we started to be able to make out the shape of land dead ahead of us.  We pulled into the harbor and rotated 90° starboard (right), and we backed into our berth at the container terminal. Another ship (Azamara) occupied the cruise terminal dock.


We gathered up our things and joined the disembarkation line on deck 1 forward.  Because it was raining we were held on board where it was dry until the shuttle busses to the port arrived.  Shuttles were mandatory as this is a working port.  At the entrance we walked by the fort (now a museum) and down to the city gate for photos.  Given it was a Saturday afternoon, most businesses were closed.  We strolled through the city and found a nice little shop for some specific items we were searching for.  Afterwards we strolled our way to the José Do Canto Botanical Garden.  It was 5€ ($5) each to enter and it was fun to stroll through even though there was not much in bloom.  There were, however, lots of trees from Japan, Australia, and China.  We also happened to meet up with our friend from the ship, Pam, and chatted with her and her traveling companions while there. There!s also a nearby free botanical garden we. Night check out on our next visit.

                               City gate

We then strolled back down the hill and along the very narrow sidewalks to the oceanfront promenade and back to the shuttle bus stop.  After a quick 5 minute ride we were back on the ship just before dark. All totaled we logged 4.6 miles. Tonight was a German themed bierfest in the LIDO pool area with live loud music not playing German music. In the Lido buffet, extensive German specialties were served but we found the meats a bit tough.  

Our track for today










Camila Andrade, Brazilian singer, was our entertainment and she was once again quite good.  Afterwards we hit the proverbial sack early as we have a 7:15am report time tomorrow for full day excursion.

Camila Andrade

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