Off to the hot springs of Caldeira Velha today which are in the center of the island about a 45 minute drive, about halfway up a mountain range. We decided to skip the more touristy baths at Furnas after seeing all the buses there yesterday. These bath are supposed to be in a more natural setting. I slept in later than we had planned as the bedroom is dark and I had thought it was earlier than it was. We arrive at the parking area to find two tour buses had just unloaded – damn ! Should not have slept in.
We parked in the overflow parking lot and walked up the hill. The baths are in a park which you have to pay to enter even if not using the baths. Because it is a protected area, they limit the visitors to 250 at a time and 2 hours max. You walk for about 10 minutes down a stone path and arrive at a visitor center. There are good facilities – washrooms, showers, change rooms and lockers. There are 3 baths – 2 hot and 1 moderate which has a waterfall. We soaked in the hot bath for a while which is a natural pool of murky water in a stone basin covered in moss and beacuse of the sulfur the stone has a rust on it in places. It also has a strong sulphur smell. The pools are fed by a larger pool of boiling water which you can see above them. After the hot pool we dipped in the waterfall pool -stepping over boulders to get to the waterfall at the end which was very refreshing.
One of the pools with a waterfall 
Now that’s a hot springs
We had only spent just over an hour there but it was long enough.
The baths had tired us out, so we decided to go back to the villa to relax the rest of the day. We walked through our village of Calhetas to the end where there is a hotel with restaurant and bar, indoor & outdoor pools and overlooks the sea. Along a trail and down a path to the sea are natural pools which are all over the islands – they are areas where the rocks form a bit of a sheltered space to allow the water to warm up and the surf is not as strong. But the water is frigid this time of year and the tide was out so we weren’t able to test the waters.
Walking back to the villa, we stopped at the local beach. It has a parking lot, change rooms, and stairs leading down to the water. We stayed only a few minutes to check our the water but way too cold to swim this time of year and we realized that our property has a path leading to the same beach.
At the villa we grabbed some lawn chairs and sat by the water for a while listening to the surf. So soothing.