Story - Azores
Kalandia Web Diary
Bill Peach
Tue 14 Jun 2011 16:11
detours to avoid bad weather and consequently too long with a lot of
motoring in order to shorten the trip and meet deadlines. We are more
fortunate than many in that we have ample fuel capacity on this boat.
Goodness knows how long it would have taken otherwise.
Right now all I want to do is get on a plane and go home. However there is
still another 1200 miles to go and after a couple of days to rest, clean,
restock and do a quick crew change we are off again. I always compare this
to childbirth...if you remembered the pains you wouldn’t do it a second time.
But luckily, afterwards you only remember the good things...like arriving at
your destination. I asked friend Bert, I said “Why do we do this?” and he
replied, “In order to arrive”. It is true, the sense of achievement is
satisfying. It is a shame we won’t have the opportunity to discover the 9
Azores islands but hope to do so in the near future. See! already
forgetting.
That was written yesterday. After a nice meal in a fish restaurant, a
stroll around a very quiet Ponta Delgada and a sleep in a stationary bed I
feel much better.
Realised why the town was so quiet. When we got back to the marina we took a
walk round to a bit which is all concrete and recently developed. It was
full of people in a variety of restaurants and bars there. Those that plan
these developments, they don’t seem to follow through how a course of action
might affect the dynamics of the town as a whole.
We took a day off and drove to Furnas, the volcano at the east end of the
island. The town of Furnas is situated in one of the caldeiras and it
looked like a house has been built on its plug. Every available piece of
land is used for agriculture. There are many herds of cow and bull grazing
very steep slopes. The country is very lush as it seems to rain quite a
lot. They also grow tea here although a very delicate blend. Hydrangeas
and alium grow wild along the verges. People are so nice and friendly. The
cost of living including a wonderful variety of food, is very cheap
On Saturday we bid farewell to our crew member, Dick. How lucky we have
been to have had him on board, as I really could not have helped Bill
through the problems we encountered. So thanks a million Dick. After
midnight on the same day our new crew arrived, the Jones family who live
close by to where we used to live in London. I met Julie on a Day Skipper
course in Dulwich.
14 June
We leave Azores, regretful that we have not had the time to visit the other
islands. The weather window looks favourable. We have watched half the
AZAB racers arrive in port. They have had awful weather and some of them
are still out there with 400 miles still to go. Apparently the conditions
have been quite difficult.
We had a lovely surprise yesterday. A catamaran was aiming for the berth next to us and lo and behold it was Jean-Francois and Francoise of Gala. We had an evening meal with them and reminisence about all the places we had bumped into each other. We will meet again.
At 1325 we rounded S.Miguel, made a heading northwards and set up the twizzlerig arrangement (poled out jib and genoa working in tandem). Next stop Falmouth, or Plymouth.
Some pictures, among others of me trying to untangle the fishing line, Tony helping Bill set up the twizzlerig and Tony's dad Ron setting up a downhaul for the genoa.
