The Vigia’s lookout

After a huge thunder storm last night with lightning and torrential rain we woke to beautiful sunshine this morning. Despite the lovely weather onshore, the sea was too rough for the boats to go out so we spent our final day on land. A tour of the north of the island of Pico in the morning, then a visit to a Vigia’s lookout post in the afternoon.
A Vigia is an onshore lookout used to spot whales. They were first used in the Azores during the 1850’s when commercial whaling was established. Commercial whaling  ended in 1984 when Portugal joined the EU and since then the vigias make their living by spotting whales for the whale watching companies which run trips like we have been doing this week.
After dinner tonight we went on a wee extra trip out along the coast to a dark area out of town to listen to the Corey’s Shearwaters coming in from the sea for the night, what an amazingly strange noise they make, it reminds me of Mr Punch from Punch & Judy, very odd! A great way to end our trip.
We start early in the morning for our long trip back to Glasgow.