Besides this page, I also offer an overview, with maps.
and a page about some topics, some highlights.
Not by me, but I can also recommend a splendid blog about a detail exemplifying how splendidly National Geographic/ Lindblad looked after us.
April 17, 2025:My adventure begins!
I set off from home to fly to Lisbon.
Departed London Gatwick, 14:50, on 2hr 40min flight, TAP, to Lisbon, Portugal, where (the next day) I was joined for the rest of this by my sister.
The "official" start of the expedition, "Expedition Day 1", was on April 19th, in Praia, on Santiago Island, part of Cabo Verde.
April 18 - (Hereafter, the text in these blocks will be from the trip itinerary supplied by Lindblad Expeditions, with some modest edits. I apologize for the inconsistent verb tenses. The itinerary says things like "Start the day with a walking tour...". In my personal notes, which look like the "Fun in Lisbon..." below, you will see "We started the day with..")
Sister arrived at start of this day. Had fun in Lisbon, a city I had long heard to be a great tourist destination... and our experiences confirmed this.
Expedition day 1 (April 19, 2025): Praia, Santiago Island, Cabo Verde- Arrive in the remote and mountainous volcanic islands of Cabo Verde and the capital city of Praia, on Santiago Island, and transfer to the hotel.
Expedition day 2: Praia, Santiago Island, Cabo Verde- Start the day in this island paradise with a walking tour of the old town center or "Plateau." Rich in history you will experience the colonial influence on the architecture of the Presidential Palace and Main Square. Explore the open-air market where displays of local fruits and vegetables are works of natural art. Via bus, travel to Cidade Velha, the historic center of Ribeira Grande and the first city built by the Portuguese in Africa.
A UNESCO World Heritage site, the ruins tell the story of architecture that protected the city against pirates, provided sanctuary within the cathedral and convent and supported everyday life with the thatched roofs of Banana Street. Following lunch, head to the port and embark the ship.
I try to write my own reports of my trips. On this trip, I was traveling with my sister. She has done an excellent appreciation of Cabo Verde. (I'll try to add something here in due course, but she's already covered it pretty well!)
Expedition day 3 (April 21): Fogo Island, Cabo Verde- Anchored in harbor, just off of in Sao Filipe on the island of Fogo at about 7am.
The first of several exciting encounters "up close and personal" with volcanoes.
After a great day on Fogo, we returned to the ship. About 16:30 we set off on our longest sea crossing.
Expedition day 4: At sea / Cross the Tropic of Cancer- Visit the ship's bridge as we sail northward across the Tropic of Cancer. Soak up the views from one of the observation decks and attend engaging presentations on a range of subjects, from 15th-century Portuguese and Spanish navigators to talks from our marine biologists on the amazing navigation skills of the cetaceans who travel these waters.
Expedition day 5: At sea- (as day 4)
Expedition day 6: At sea- (as day 4)
Expedition day 7 (25 April): La Palma, Canary Islands- Spain- Drop anchor in the azure waters of the Canary Islands, which occupies a central place in the history of Atlantic exploration.
The larger island of La Palma is known as La Isla Bonita, or ”the pretty island," for its lushly forested mountain slopes set against azure waters. Enjoy a scenic drive up to Mirador de la Concepcion, perched on the edge of a crater. Take in fantastic views of the town and harbor below and visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Snows, with its fusion of baroque and Spanish-Moorish architecture.
We docked at La Palma at about 7am.
A big storm was brewing, and threatening our passage to Madeira, originally scheduled for the next day. We were given good warning that some changes to our original plans might be prudent.
The news was broken gently and gradually, but eventually it became clear that we would spend an extra day in the Canaries... making a visit to Tenerife... at the cost of visiting two of the three islands in the Azores, which was the original plan.
This all made very good sense, in the end. The National Geographic team saved us a very rough crossing, at considerable cost to themselves.
At very short notice, they arranged interesting visits ashore. Local guides and transport had to be hired. Reservations for meals had to be made. Etc, etc.
Expedition day 8 (April 26): La Gomera, Canary Islands- Arrive San Sebastian, La Gomera about 7am
A wonderful hike in the Garajonay Nacional Park.
At every island there were various options. Some members of the expedition visited a house where Christopher Columbus stayed while his ships were provisioned with supplies.
Expedition day 9 (April 27): Tenerife- Visit to Tenerife, to postpone crossing to Madeira until the storm had blown through
As usual, we has sailed through the night, spending some time hovering offshore (due to the short crossing) and docking at about 7am
Again as usual, there were a range of good options for what we did on shore.
The storm cooperated, and we were able to head on to the Desertas and Madeira almost as if it hadn't happened, just day later than planned.
Expedition day 10: That which was to have happened on day 9 (Day 10 was 28 April): At sea/ Desertas Islands, and Madeira- Portugal- By 11:30, we were south of Madeira in the Desertas Archipelago. This small group of volcanic islands has been deemed a nature reserve, helping to protect both the sea and land. The area is a refuge to the Mediterranean monk seal and an array of seabirds.
We set off for Madeira at about 14:30, arrived before going to bed. Along the way we looked for whales... and found some.
Expedition day 11 (29 April): Funchal, Madeira-Day in enchanting Madeira, a subtropical island abloom in flora. First settled by the Portuguese in 1419, the island's capital city of Funchal evokes a colonial time capsule, with architecture from the 15th through the 19th centuries. Explore its winding streets and culinary delights.
Set off for Porto Santo (another island in the Madeira group) at 21:30. We made the short crossing (45 miles)
Expedition day 12 (30 April): - Porto Santo- (Another good day on another island... but I need to dig into my notes a bit to get you the details!
21:30: Set off for Sao Miquel Island in the Azores.
Expedition day 13 (1st May): At sea, en route to the Azores.
Expedition day 14 (May 2nd): At sea, en route to the Azores.-
Lots of fun in the evening... a wonderful variety show of singing, dancing, music from the splendid staff of the ship. At the end of the evening, a core group of five musicians were jamming to a very high standard, and the "audience" became slightly superfluous to what was happening.
All through the expedition, I had a strong sense that all of the people who were working to give us our expedition were extremely good at their jobs, and also happy in the lives they were living. This added enormously to my enjoyment of the trip. Some of the engineers had been with the ship since it was built... 20+ years ago. Captain Leo was impressive for his manner and manners. And several department heads were also obviously very good at what they did.
Expedition day 15 (May 3rd): Ponta Delgada, Séo Miguel Island, Azores.- We docked for the last time, around 7, as usual.
Initially we were going to be in the commercial port, which would have made coming and going a nuisance, but in the end we were on the more relaxed dock as usual. Team National Geographic/ Lindblad work their magic for us again.
We had a good tour of the island, with an enjoyable lunch in a local establishment en route.
Expedition day 16 (May 4th): Ponta Delgada, Séo Miguel Island, Azores.-
Disembark in Ponta Delgada and transfer to the airport for flights home.
If I read the original plan correctly, we wouldn't have had as much time or as much fun on Séo Miguel Island as we did.
Today we all left the ship quite early. Some directly to the airport, and a place for our bags, and for us if we didn't have other plans, was arranged at a nice hotel.
As we were leaving the island later in the day than most people, my sister had arranged a tour for us. The guide was very good, and we saw a part of the island that had not be covered by the previous day's excursion.
Our flight back to Lisbon was late in the day, but not so late as to be tiresome. We went back to the hotel we'd been in on our way to the expedition, and were settled and relaxing before it was late.
Day 1, of post expedition time under our own arrangements, Lisbon. May 5th: Lisbon-
Details to come!
Day 2, of post expedition time under our own arrangements, Lisbon. May 6th: Lisbon-
Details to come!... but even in this draft of my trip report the WONDERFUL evening we had listening to some excellent Fado, in a wonderful setting, with a delicious and very suitable meal must get a first mention.
I knew very little about Fado music genre before this, but enjoyed the evening enormously. The programme was excellent, and we were treated to more than a few singers, while the two men on instruments (lute family) didn't change, which tied things together nicely.
Our hotel worked hard to find us a booking for a good evening of Fado, and they were successful. (The hotel was very good in many ways. It was Hotel Lisboa Plaza. Good location: just off the Avenida da Liberdade, about 2/3rds up. (In Tv. do Salitre 7, 1269-066, to be precise. (GPS 38.718827, -9.145487)). Yes! I've "gone on" about the hotel a bit. They deserve it!)
Day 3, of post expedition time under our own arrangements, Lisbon. May 7th: Lisbon-
Up early. Off to airport. Kate straight to security to start her journey home.
Originally, I had a flight boarding at 14:00, but... largely because the nice lady at the TAP (Portuguese airline) desk was very good at her job, I was able to switch to a 10am departure. AND I even got through to the excellent airport car service I've used for many years, and re-arranged my collection from Heathrow.
It was all a bit tighter than my usual planning process, but it WORKED! Even though I had to trust my cell phone to get the job done. I may yet get into the 21st century.
So... as I write this paragraph, I've been home again for about 30 hours. The cold I caught has beaten me up a bit, but it was a wonderful trip, enjoyable to the end. There was no "this has been fun, but enough is enough..." feeling near the end.
I got home mid-afternoon on Wednesday. Did a quick grocery shop. (But forgot a core element of my evening meal!) Did my hill walk, that day, even though my "rules" allow me to skip it if I won't sleep in the bed from which I arose. Saw Tig and Summer. (My canine friends at the bottom of the hill.)
This morning, Thursday, started with visit from engineer to fit "smart meter" on my gas supply. Happily, I was his first job when I'd only been promised "in the morning". That was finished in time to get to town to "my" cafe for my usual breakfast. Visited doctors office, and booked up my next 12 weekly injection. Went to "my" cafe as usual, collected plants and stick insects from their holiday home.
Tomorrow evening (Friday)... computer lesson for my 10 years old pupil.
Saturday/ Sunday... reunion for staff of the school I taught in 1974-1978 / celebrations of the school's centenary. (If you do the sums, you'll see I was teaching there when the 50th anniversary was celebrated.) great hopes for maybe seeing some of the kids I taught so long ago.
So! My return has not been to an empty calendar!
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