Vigia da Baleia - São Miguel PR18 SMI

This linear route connects the town of Povoação to the village of Faial da Terra, a connection between the geosites of Caldeira of Povoação and the stream valley of Faial da Terra and Fajã do Calhau. Begin the walk by the road accessing Lomba dos Pós and follow the marks until you find a dirt road, on the right hand side that formerly connected the two villages. Along the way, it is still possible to do sidewalks done in the past by the local population. This shortcut crosses areas of wood overtaken by Australian Cheesewood (pittosporum undulatum) and Japanese Cedar (Cryptomeria japonica).

Arriving to the road, choose the detour on the left hand side, towards Pico dos Bodes, place where there is an intersection between two walks (PR 18 SMI – Vigia da Baleia and PRC 40 SMI – Quatro caminhos do Faial da Terra). In 2007, suffering urban and landscape requalification works, this space offers a panoramic view from Faial da Terra to the town of Vila Franca do Campo. Return by the same way until the road and descend to Faial da Terra, initially by the asphalt and later on by a dirt road accessing pastures and agricultural fields. Here it is very common to see the traditional hedges done with Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens).

This shortcut ends at the regional road, where you should continue to walk until you find a dirt road that goes to an old whale watching tower, place used by the ancients to watch and locate the different cetaceans species. From here, the trail continues in a descendent sense until the center of Faial da Terra, with a view over Fajã do Calhau. Arriving to Faial da Terra, there is a possibility to connect to other points of the island through PRC 40 SMI – Quatro Caminhos do Faial da Terra, PRC 09 SMI – Sanguinho and PR11 SMI – Ribeira do Faial da Terra.