Alfredo - the whaler - shows in his eyes the joy when we tell him that there is possibility of reactivating the whales vigias. The brightness, the vivacity of his look tell what is in his soul, and bring back the memories of images and feelings which were kept for so long. At first he doubts about the invitation and he seams that he doesn’t believe that he will take his binoculars to watch the horizon searching for cetaceans: sperm whales and dolphins. He sees himself in a vigia, in his stool turning the binoculars from East to West, from Faial da Terra to Ferraria, or from Feteiras to Ponta da Bretanha or from here to Ribeirinha, or even from Ponta da Bretanha to Fenais da Ajuda.
He remembers the vigias in which he worked since he was 23 years old, when he finished the military service in India. Alfredo - the whaler - is a man who knows plenty of whaling stories and his knowledge is made from experience that is why he is respected by the other whalers: he was one of the best “vigias” of São Miguel. He accepts to return to the vigia and watch the whales again. Nowadays he is one of the whalers in activity in the vigias of Água de Pau and Ajuda da Bretanha. Soon he will be able to watch in the vigias of Várzea , Ribeirinha and Capelas.
These are the five vigias that Futurismo is recovering with the cooperation of the local power. Next year we will have another watcher which will allowed to cover the North and South coast of São Miguel. We also will promote the Itinerary of Vigias, which is a invitation to visit the past, a trip where you can enjoy the beautiful landscapes and watch the cetaceans through the binoculars. Alfredo - the whaler - is filled with enthusiasm with this new way of understanding the whales and dolphins. He believes in this project with the same faith as former times. He is willing to teach his art to the young people and to transmit his experience, a way of maintaining the past and to keep alive the Whaling History in São Miguel. You should visit the vigia of Água de Pau, you will see that you will not regret...Maybe you will understand the whalers unique way of watching the sperm whales.
Some have resisted through time, others have disappeared from the landscape without a trace. Nobody worried in keeping alive the “whale vigias”. Nevertheless, they are a cultural patrimony of the Azores, and they are a genuine evidence of whaling knowing that the cultural treasure of a people increases by its past, the “FUTURISMO” created a plan to recover the whale “vigias” in São Miguel in cooperation with the local authority.
This work seeks to protect those buildings that are placed in strategic and high places in the island. We also intend to restore those “vigias” to support the whale and dolphins watching. The Água de Pau vigia is now working and covering all the south coast of São Miguel. At the north coast is has been reactivated the vigia of Ajuda da Bretanha. Nowadays the vigia of Várzea is being rebuild. In 1997 the vigias of Morro das Capelas and Ribeirinha will be functioning, then it will be possible to make an Itinerary of Vigias, a true invitation to those who want to know better the whaling history and to enjoy the beautiful landscapes.
The recovering of those vigias will allow to Futurismo- Whale Watching- to maintain two boats in a permanent activity, one in the north coast of São Miguel and the other one in the south coast.