Volcanic basins and caves

05.08.21

Highlight of the day: old volcanic crater, covered with plants. Incredibly beautiful!

I'm slowly getting really good at getting by without a stove. For example, I'm quite proud of my fried egg on toast from the sandwich maker for breakfast. In any case, I'm full and satisfied when Corne and Tina pick me up in the late morning with the car from my little Airbnb in the middle of nowhere among cows and chickens.

'Hey Regina, are you okay?'

'Yep, definitely! Let's go swimming!'

'Haha wonderful, you have a plan! Tina and I were just discussing what we want to do today,' Corne beams and exchanges a mischievous look with Tina.

'Well, I thought we would first go to the lava pools and then in the afternoon to the volcanic caves. They don't open until 2:30pm and we resurfaced at 2pm yesterday. So we spent a good 24 hours on the surface and we shouldn't have any problems with our decompression time. According to Google, the caves are located at about 900m,' I say and look at both of them inquiringly.

'Man, you did your homework!' Tina says impressed and gives me a sideways glance.

Of course, I don't want to get decompression sickness just because we climbed too high on the mountain too soon after diving. This simple rule is taught in the very first diving course. Well, I won't say anything about it, I just shrug and smile.

And so we drive to the next town to the 'Piscinas Naturais Biscoitos'. These are natural lava pools by the sea where you can supposedly swim wonderfully. So I'm looking forward to finally going for a swim. Just swimming in the Atlantic Ocean, not diving, because I still haven't managed to do that in the past few days. But since I suspect that it is a slightly exaggerated tourist attraction, my excitement is limited.

But when we arrive at the parking lot and are surrounded by obvious local people in bathing suits, I suspect that it is not just a tourist magnet after all. So I immediately jump out of the car barefoot and 'Ouch! Ahh!', I'm back in the car. I actually burned my feet on the hot ground. Nice one, Regina, the lava ground is pitch black and of course heated by the sun.

Well, I put on my sandals and together with Tina and Corne we look around. From the parking lot, you can only see black and rusty-brown rocks in front of the foamy blue ocean. A neatly paved path leads from the parking lot past sanitary facilities down to a bizarre landscape of porous black rocks and water-filled basins. You can still see how the lava once flowed into the sea here. Over the centuries, the ocean has repeatedly thrown itself against it with its uncontrollable power, until basin-like hollows have formed in the lava tongues. The result is these beautiful, wild, and truly strange formations. (No, okay, they're not necessarily strange, but the alliteration happened by chance and I tried to continue it, but I can't think of a better word with W right now.) In any case, it's just incredibly beautiful and impressive, and especially one of the few places on the island where you can get to the water. Otherwise, the coast here is so steep that it's simply impossible to go swimming.

So we find a more or less shaded spot under a rocky overhang, take a dip in the crystal-clear water of the pools, and then warm up again on the stones. I carefully climb on the lava and try to get all the way to the edge to watch the surf. Fortunately, the rock is somewhat cooled down by the waves here and I manage to get there without burning my feet. I stand here for a while and breathe in the salty air before I set off to try out my new camera.

In the afternoon, we get hungry and go eat so that we can be well energized for the drive up into the mountains to visit the volcanic caves. Of course, we arrive much later than 2:30pm at the first cave 'Algar do Carvao', but we still have enough time to visit both caves and buy the double ticket.

A concrete, bunker-like tunnel leads underground, at the end of the tunnel you can see a light, moisture drips from the walls. It could almost be eerie, but then next to the lamp, as the only source of light in the immediate vicinity, a small fern plant calmly grows. Ferns are such cool plants!

Then I slowly approach the green light until I'm outside and blink into the light. I am speechless. In front of me and above me rises the conical interior of an old, long-extinct volcanic crater. The walls are covered with ferns and mosses, and the condensation drips from the leaves. It is cold and damp but not unpleasant, rather fresh. It smells intensely like green and something earthy, and I could swear that there are goblins and fairies here. If not here, then where? This is undoubtedly a magical and enchanted place. I search the walls, but only find a few frost-covered spiderwebs. But everyone knows that fairies and goblins rarely show themselves to us clumsy humans.

So I wander down the steps into the crater and the caves behind, where stalactites and stalagmites grow, condensation water drips mystically into the crater lake, and the traces of the gigantic explosion can still be seen on the walls.

We wander around for a while until I'm finally cold in my skirt and rain jacket, and we head off to the next cave.

The 'Gruta do Natal' is in no way comparable to the previous 'Algar do Carvo'. This cave system was created when the hot lava made its way through the earth. The outer layer gradually solidified while the inner hot lava continued to flow. It is left completely natural, even the sparse lighting, and we descend into the narrow, winding passages. I can't help but think of the dragon Smaug, as he crawls through the cave of the dwarves in the Lonely Mountain with his black, snake-like body, and I can vividly imagine how a dragon moves through these narrow, dark caves. I just can't think of anything other than mythical creatures, this place is too unreal and special.

And my imagination doesn't stop at goblins, fairies, and dragons today.

After we leave the Gruta do Natal, we drive through the fog of the clouds that almost always hang over the mountaintops to the 'Furnas do Enxofore'. These are small openings in the ground within a long-extinct and eroded volcanic crater. A small hiking trail winds through the landscape that is reminiscent of Scotland. I've never been to Scotland, but that's how I imagine it. Countless shades of green and brown in a rugged and inhospitable hilly landscape. Heath and blueberry-like bushes cover the slopes, and a small hiking trail weaves through the landscape. It's drizzling a bit, but we set off. First, we notice the sulfuric smell, and I think of dragons again as a rush of warm air comes out of a small round hole in the ground towards us. In the distance, there are large black-gray rocks, and mountain trolls join the dragons in my imagination as we watch the smoke rise into the sky and blend with the gray of the clouds.