If you feel like taking a dip in the ocean, Santa Cruz das Flores has you covered. There are a few coastal pools ready to swim in, protected and safe with concrete steps and platforms.
Apparently it gets busy in the summer months but when I was there it was almost completely empty. There was a German couple who had braved the chilly water, but that was it. Having no one around made it easy to take a few interesting photos of the pools with the black volcanic rock and the the open Atlantic Ocean beyond in juxtaposition with the shiny, metal ladder used by swimmers to carefully introduce themselves to the water.
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