Friday 11^th July. All the best laid plans........ we are still in Ponta Delgado and not visiting Santa Maria. We are having a great time here and really getting to see the island. We are tied up in the new marina that opened last week! Only a few boats and cheap at 14 euros a night including limitless water and power. We took a bus to Furnas where we saw the boiling pools, heat from the subterranean volcanic activity. We visited the park and warm lake where we swam in the tepid water, it was marvellous, and then we lunched in grand style ot the Terra Nostra Hotel, all traditional Azorean fare, creamy vegetable soup followed by pork, beef and chicken with vegetables, all cooked in great iron pots in holes in the ground, heated by the volcanic heat, the food was lovely and ahad a faint sulphur flavour, it sounds crazy but it was really nice. The girls had massive cheese omelettes. We had fresh pineapple, bean pie(unusual and sweet and lovely) then coffee. Including a bottle of  Vino Verde, the fresh local white wine, made young and very drinkable, the total bill was 77 euros. We then walked around the nearby lake which took 2 hours and walked off the lunch, then we caught the bus back to P3 and went to bed at 2100. The following day we caught the bus to Sete Cidades and took a horse and carriage around the Lagoa Verde and L:agoa Azul, two adjoining lakes, followed by another cheap and plentiful lunch, all we could eat and a litre of wine at 10 euros each. We then took a taxi to the field of the guy who we hired the horse and carriage from and he took us riding for 2 hours. He wanted to charge 40 euros for the whole day but we gave him more, it was a crazy price. The taxi driver tried to sell us 10 acres of land with planning permission to build a house on, we looked, but it was actually about 3 acres and not for us. Having said that, we love these islands and it woulod be a wonderful plave to retire to, just too far from the family.