Rob's Blog

Friday june 4 we had a pleasant surprise. The belgian radio station JoeFM called us, and Ria had a little chat in the program Lilaleen of Leen Demaré. In their blog they also putted some comment and a link to us : http://joe.be/blog/lilaleen-met-leen/gastarbeider-12 .

During the next days we had a lot more visits on our website.
Thanks JoeFM and thanks Leen.
We hope a lot of Belgians will find their way to Pico.

After weeks of hard work we went one day on the sea , looking for whales. At this period of the year there is a lot of krill and the baleen whales are fond of it. After 30 minutes we saw the first giants blowing. We nearly stayed a full hour side by side.

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It was very exiting to see so many of them on this brightfull day.

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For a while everybody was so busy that I was promoted as "skipper". Good to feel a boat, although I missed the sails.

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We met Karin, a dutch biologist who lives on Pico for more then 10 years. She's doing research for the Nova Atlantis foundation on the behaviour of Risso dolphins.
To support her organisation, we adopted "Storm". She lives in the Azorian waters, and the researchers monitor her. Twice a year we'll get pictures and the latest news. If you would like to adopt a dolphin too , you can find out how to do on their website.

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Beside dolphins, Karin had something else to adopt: 4 beautifull puppies. We couldn't resist, and now Miles has a girlfriend : Jools.
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It has been quit a while since I wrote something on this blog.

Half october last year I returned to Belgium. While the Cruzeiro was on his way to Faial, Pico gave me a last wink.

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Back in Belgium we began our preparation to return to Pico: collecting an buying a lot of things that are hard to get on the Azores. And of course arrange a container for transport .

Now and then we took some time off . Around Christmas we went to Germany for a typical "weihnachtsmarkt" and here too we found some nice little things to take with us to Pico.

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In the beginning of february our container was loaded. Thanks to the people of Dockx Movers; they really did a great job.
Shortly after our container was shipped, we took off ourselves ( Ria, me and Miles (our young Norwich terrier) .
Yes, we've got a new dog because Billy (our old faithfull) died of cancer in january .
When we arrived, it was still winter on Pico. The top was covered with snow - beautifull.

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The first days were a bit uncomfortable : our luggage was lost in Lisbon and the house was chilli after beeing closed for four months.

Miles discovered a whole new world. He's even learning to bark in Portuguese.

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Two weeks after our arrival we got good news : our container had arrived in the port of Sao Roque. As soon as he knew about it , our good friend Klaas jumped on the first plane and came to Pico to help us unload.
Because the street to our house is so narrow, the container had to stay in the port and we had to drive the 20 km up and down to get the stuff to our place. With a van of the moving company and our own pickup, we could do it within a single day. Unfortunately it started to rain in the afternoon - after coming home we had to unpack as quick as possible.

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During the next days we started working in the house. All new things had to find a place; and of course there was some cleaning and painting too.
When the kitchen was nearly ready Ria felt at home.

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Besides working, we made a little tour around the island and over the highland. The lagoas look kind of mysterious in the mist...

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and when it clears for a moment , the view is bright.

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In the clouds and with some snow, Pico looks fantastic too.

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Most of the pictures were taken by Klaas. He really liked the one below. If this picture needs a title, I would suggest : "Pico's pride"

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Our work in the garden had some result : now that our bananas get some air and light, one of them started florishing.

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It is quit amazing to see the "flower" grow day by day, forming dozens of bananas.

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In fact it is not one single flower; if you look closer you'll see that there are a lot of little yellow flowers hiding under a flyleaf : out of each of them can grow a banana.

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It was a beautiful day. We have different nationalities in Joe's Place; people from France, Spain, Austria, Portugal and New Zealand. Today some went up to the mountain ( and they did reach the top ) while others went whalewatching ( and yes they did see whales and dolphins). Since the weather was fine, everybody had a good day.

I noticed that is was a full moon this evening. So I went for a little walk myself. Even Pico showed himself in the moonlight for a few moments.

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And moon or no moon, when it is clear, the lights of Faial always look nice when the sun goes down in the west.

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