Faial Full Day: the Buried Lighthouse Floor and the Whaling Port

A full day on Faial with Ramiro, who lives on the island, in a small group and a comfortable vehicle. Two things on this route are hard to see anywhere else. At Capelinhos the lighthouse still has its first floor underground, buried in ash, and the Costado da Nau marks where Faial ended before the 1957 eruption remade the coast. At Porto do Comprido there is a whaling village almost entirely covered by sand and volcanic ash. In the 19th century it was one of the most important whaling stations in the Azores. The rest of the day goes like this. Monte da Guia, a cone with two semicircular craters above Porto Pim and Horta. The Nossa Senhora da Conceição viewpoint over the old town, the bay and Praia do Almoxarife. Then the beach itself, the largest volcanic sand beach on Faial and one of the largest in the Azores, with free time to swim, walk or sit in a cafe. Lunch is at a local restaurant off the usual tourist routes. After that the road above Flamengos, the one parish on the island with no direct access to the sea, and the Caldeira, 2,000 metres across, 7,000 metres round and 400 metres deep, with a short walk on the rim. The itinerary is the usual one but not fixed. Season and weather decide what is possible, and when a stop has to be dropped another goes in, natural volcanic pools or forest parks among them. Places are limited because the groups are kept small.