Azores; first few days 2

Ellatrout3
Sat 16 Jun 2012 22:04
As you know I arrived in the early hours of Saturday 9th June and went straight to bed. Apparently John had knocked several times on the boat, got no response and thought I was dead. I slept till about one then registered with the Marina and got allocated a berth.  Would you believe it if I told you that moored next to me was a 50 foot Jeanneau, Gwawr, owned by Dr Dennis and Sarah Williams from Pwllheli.  What are the odds of two boats from Pwllheli meeting in the middle of the Ocean?
 
Fado
 
After a very minor sort out I was gathered up in the evening and taken to a 'Fado'?  Fado according to Google means Fate.  Basically it was a free evening at the Town Hall with a bar and traditional Portuguese food if you wanted it, no obligation to buy. Then local people entertained us singing two songs each to the accompaniment of three guitars.  It was no karaoke; the standard of singing was very good even though I did not understand a word of it.  It was very dramatic, many of the songs were obviously laments for Lisbon and the old country or the trials of the sea.  It was mostly sung by beautiful young women with a smattering of Baritone and base male singers; there was a very good duet by a couple of the guys.  It was not my kind of music but I enjoyed the evening and on the way out we spoke and bantered with some of the singers who could speak English and they invited us to come again tomorrow, which we did.
 
Sunday evening there were new singers and some from the previous day and part way through the evening we were welcomed in English from the stage; they obviously appreciated our attendance.  At the end of the evening people were drifting away and we were sat relaxing and finishing our drinks when one of the organisers came and spoke to us. "Would you honour us with your company at dinner tonight?" he asked?  We looked around and in the next room there were long tables set out for dinner where all the artists were assembling. We were given a lovely dinner, as much wine as you could drink and one of the English speaking girls came and sat with us. She told us all about Fado, the Islands, where to go, she cold not have been more helpful. I outlined our appreciation of there hospitality very fully and she obviously took it all in and translated it and the reception from the room was tumultuous.  Their enthusiasm and hospitality had no bounds, we could not have been treated better.
 
We always have a Jester dinner when most of the boats are in and before the early arrivals start going home, it's this Sunday.  John asked the young lady who sat with us if she would come and sing for us.  She said to herself "Oh! now what shift am I on?", I work at the airport she explained. "Oh yes that's ok I finish at 10pm, yes I will come".  Not only is she coming but she is bringing the guitarists and other singers as well to entertain us. What about that??
 
Jester Anecdotes
 
One evening we Jesters were sat together chatting about the favourite food we put on board for the trip and Nick said Nutella was a favourite of his. "Yes" I said "I like that I've two or three jars on board".  "Normal size?" said Nick. "Yes" I said puzzled.  "I've got two or three catering size on board, you obviously eat it the economical way " he said. I looked at him still puzzled.  "You spread it on bread to eat it?" he said. "Yes of course" I said "how do you eat it?"  "With a spoon!"
 
Moving On
 
On Monday after the party, all being well, weather-wise etc, I am going to sail to Horta.  It's 90 odd miles so a day and a night should see me there.  For the sailors it looks like there's a southerly filling during Monday afternoon which should give me my first sail free on the wind since I left Pwllheli; that will be a great pleasure after all this time.  I shall set off about midday and providing the weather co-operates I'm planning to go up the 'St Georges Channel' between Pico and Sao Jorge where I hope to see some whales. If all goes well my next report should be from the Island of Faial when I'll let you know what I saw.
 
Roger/Dad/Poppa