3 July - Arrival in Horta

Elemiah's Atlantic Adventure
Ian Cole and Rosemary Bointon
Fri 4 Jul 2008 16:10
We have arrived in Horta!


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We motored directly there as we wanted to arrive early this morning so that we could get our VAT paid. We were duly inspected and we have now paid and officially imported Elemiah into the European Union.

We are busy doing all the jobs that we had listed during the journey.

The Raymarine engineer has been and fixed our autopilot which means that we don't have to hand steer all the time - that will make the night watches easier. Roger has worked on the steering so we are hoping that it will be a lot easier to use as we sail on to Portugal.

Clive the engineer recommended a great place up in the hills and we took a taxi out there. The island of Faial (where we are) is luxuriantly green. The fields are broken up with tall hedges of a bamboo like plant. Each house seems to have its own cow, many with a little calf, in the field behind. The views across to Pico, the next island, are fantastic. We looked out east to where we are going to go and the ocean was calm and sparkling in the evening sun. For once though, I am glad that I am not out on it.

When we arrived at the restaurant, it was a little slice of heaven. Two Germans run a beautiful little restaurant surrounded by flowers, bamboos and trees. The house drops away to two outdoor rooms, covered by wooden beams and boxed in by the tall bamboos. Steps lead to another room and then onto the bed of a stream with huge round boulders and an abundance of beautiful foliage. It was all simply decorated but absolutely delightful and the hosts were too. They had at least 3 cats and a golden retriever called Felix, and they liked to participate in the evening as well. The food was marvellous. Going out there and being in the midst of such green was like balm on the soul.

When we came back into Horta, we fell into bed and slept the whole night through - what bliss.

Rosemary and Ian