Terra e Céu Açores (Azorean Earth and Sky)
(picture above is of an Azorean Bull Finch, a Priolo, the rarest landbased bird in Europe. The Priolo was endangered but recently numbers are improving.)
I set up a local group to build community in person to engage with nature here on São Miguel, in the Azores. We are using a Facebook group to coordinate activities click here to join. If you visit then we'll be happy to show you round this beautiful place!
The group description (soon to be also translated into Portuguese) of the group is:
A group of people interested in learning about the undersea, land-based and flying flora and fauna on this island. And wondering at the beauty and majesty of all the stars in the sky too! There is so much beauty here and we think it would be a great pleasure to go with a group of interested people on maybe a weekly basis, with good guides that are experts to guide us and gradually learn all we can about the biological environment here and the astronomical environment out there. Splitting the cost of paying expert guides between us.
This group is a place to coordinate such trips.
Also a place for sharing information about all things natural on our island - photos, identification and information about all forms of nature, gardening/farming ideas, hiking, birdwatching, snorkelling, SCUBA and freediving, swimming holes and thermal baths, nature photography, farmer's markets, beach clean-ups, and maybe cervejarias with lovely views of nature!
The Azores
The Azores is a fabulous place to host international get togethers as we are roughly halfway between Europe and the American continent! Travel to and from the US and Europe is becoming cheaper all the time with budget carriers starting to fly to this island. The Azores is trying to position itself as a sustainable tourism destination "The Azores are the first archipelago in the world to achieve international certification of sustainable destination by an entity accredited by the Global Council for Sustainable Tourism." But visiting (or living) here is very affordable, flights are 300 EUR return to and from Boston and sometimes as cheap as 80 EUR return to and from Lisbon or Porto in Portugal or Stansted in London, UK. There are also flights from Canada. The Azores has unfortunately long been a deprived area, the poorest area in Western Europe and wages are still depressed. This is because it used to be isolated and remote. Cheap flights have only been available for the last 4 or 5 years. So the cost of living here for food, restaurants and accommodation is very reasonable for the quality offered.
A group of people interested in learning about the undersea, land-based and flying flora and fauna on this island. There is so much beauty here and we think it would be a great pleasure to go with a group of interested people on maybe a weekly basis, with good guides that are experts to guide us and gradually learn all we can about the biological environment here. Splitting the cost of paying guides between us.
This group is a place to coordinate such trips.
Also a place for sharing information about all things natural on our island - photos, identification and information about all forms of nature, gardening/farming ideas, hiking, birdwatching, snorkelling, SCUBA and freediving, swimming holes and thermal baths, nature photography, farmer's markets, beach clean-ups, and maybe cervejarias with lovely views of nature!
Feedback
Please let us know what you think of our plans! The best place to do so would be on this Facebook post on our Facebook page. Click below.