land on the horizon

From São Miguel there is not a big feeling of being part of an archipelago of 9 islands.

You look to the horizon but most of the time it looks like there is nobody else out there. No other islands around. 

Only water. 

Santa Maria island is the closest one, and it is about 100km far away to the south east. 

Terceira island is about 170km west from São Miguel.

I must admit that I have the habit of ALWAYS looking to the horizon looking for a piece of land.

Sometimes the atmosphere is clean and the visibility is excellent, and suddendly Santa Maria appears in the distance, just in that point where the sky meets the ocean.  

Then we realize that we are not alone in the middle of the ocean.

They say if you see Santa Maria during 3 days in a row, it means that some rain is coming in the following day.

Actually this is an easy statement since it is rare not to have rain for more than 3 days, so obviously storms will arrive soon in any case :P

These photos were taken on the 25th May 2014 from Vila Franca do Campo, São Miguel.

On that day Santa Maria looked very neat and much bigger than usual!