Whale watching and our Jeep tour around the island

My prize from CN Traveler included a whale watching trip and a jeep tour around San Miguel island.

The Azores are on the gulf stream and on the migratory route that whales take each year.  In fact, the whaling used to be one of the main sources of income.  We saw lots of dolphins and a couple whales on our trip.  Here are some photos of dolphins.  It was too wet when we were near the whales.  I didn't take any photos because I was afraid to get salt water on my camera. 

 Even though we were all wearing these long slickers, we still got soaked. 

This is the boat we were on.

 The next day we went on a jeep tour around the western half of the island.  There was only another couple with us - plus the guide - so it was a great tour.  We climbed up one of the many volcano craters to the Visto do Rei viewpoint of Sete Cidades.  We even drove along the edge of the crater on a dirt road with no guard rails.  It was pretty exciting.  I tried not to look down the sides of the crater.

Views of the ocean from the same spot. 

This is the area we went whale watching the day before.

 As you can see, the island is very green.  They used to build stone walls to divide the fields. 

Now they use hydrangeas.  They were everywhere!

 This guy was fishing in the lake formed by the volcano crater - and talking on his cell phone!

 Later in the day we drove to another volcano crater - this one was Lagoa da Fagoa (Fire Lake).