Yesterday we hired a car and drove around the island. It was fantastic! The sceneries here are dramatic and varying. We visited Porto Moniz on the northwestern corner of the island, there we had lunch and tried swimming in the natural rock pools. After driving around on curving roads the whole day we ended our tour with a visit to Pico do Areeiro. The top is 1818 meters above the sea level. We had to pass through the clouds, which on a closer look weren't as fluffy and soft as one thinks, but rather looked like ordinary mist. When we got above them the sun was shining and the sky was blue, but it was cold! Only 12 degrees, compared to 26 degrees in Funchal. The view of the mountains rising up through the clouds and the setting sun was amazing! We stayed there until the sun had vanished, then we slowly drove down towards Funchal. In Monte we found a nice restaurant and tried the local drink "poncha", made of brandy, lemon juice, orange juice and honey, it wasn't that good. Today we are off on a levada walk on one of the oldest levadas. Levadas are "water highways" that carries water from the mountains to the fields. There are a lot of them here and it's possible to walk along most of them. /The Captain