Sao Miguel is the largest and most populous island of the Azores covering 290 square miles and 140,000 citizens, relative to outer islands which can have only a few thousand. The island is composed on two volcanic massifs, and has many calderas, lakes, caverns, and hot springs to explore. While there are natural wonders to explore, Sao Miguel also has many cultural highlights as well, I visited beaches and art openings, museums and restaurants and barely scratched the surface and hope to return.

I am partial to small remote places, so Graciosa was a delight. When I landed at the airport, there was no evidence of taxis, so an islander picking up her aunt from California gave me a lift into town. They told me stories of Graciosa of many years ago before tourists started coming. The largest town of Santa Cruz da Graciosa is a beautiful, whitewashed town strung along a seawall and wrapped around a sleepy town square.

Terceira interested me largely because of Angra do Heroismo, which is a UNESCO World Heritage City, as it was a key hub for global sailing vessels in the Golden Age of Exploration. Paved with mosaic cobbles of black and white lava rock surrounding a beautiful and well-fortified harbor full of multi colored fish, the city does not disappoint.

The Azores are an autonomous region of Portugal, made up of 9 volcanic islands located in the mid-Atlantic.
I visited in the fall of 2022 flying into Terceira (site of a Unesco World heritage port city Angra do Heroismo), then on to Graciosa (the second smallest island,) then to Faial and lastly the largest island in the archipelago, Sao Miguel. What islands you will like best really depend on what you are looking to do, and everyone has their own favorites. But if you like nature and good food you will like all the islands.

My visit to Squirrel Island last year was a brief one, but all the sweeter for the limited time. Spending summer weekends on this island outside of time, with dear friends who have become chosen family, sharing in their traditions over the years, has become one of my own. And the memories are deeply precious. Now we all remember a few of us already gone, the memories are that much dearer.

Squirrel Island in Boothbay Harbor is an island outside of time, where the fog rolls in slowly and sea sounds and ferry times sound time time, everything moves at the pace of foot traffic, and folks greet each other with stories of their life since last summer, the cottage they are staying in and whom they know - how we are all connected.