As if our day wasn’t busy enough, we decided to visit Arruda Pineapple Farm. We saw greenhouses full of different stages of pineapple growth. It takes 2 years to grow a pineapple, and 2 minutes to eat one. They smoke the greenhouse for 9 days during one of the stages to stress out the plants and make them grow flowers. Then the pineapples grow! It was very hot in the greenhouses… There’s some sort of effect going on in there? Not sure what it’s called.

We had delicious, fresh pineapple juice too.

We headed out towards Ferraria, a spot on the west point of the island with a swimming area. It’s an alcove in the ocean, where sea water rushes in and mixes with boiling hot thermal water from the volcanic activity below. This makes for a very cool swim, because you’re swimming in the ocean, but it’s like a hot tub! There are ropes in the pool to hold onto for when a big wave comes in. The closer you get to the shore (and the thermal vents), the hotter it gets. Michael was in his element.

Now we’re currently finishing off a nice romantic dinner outside at Calcada do Cais. We went there because we needed a break from Azorean food… We had a steak made from what was once a happy cow, risotto, and lemon meringue pie. We are now happy cows.