Horta- Monday 11th May

Lowena
Michael & Amanda Dyer
Tue 2 Jun 2009 06:44
After studying the weather forecasts and outlook for several days, Ed
decided to leave for the homeward leg back to the West Country.
We saw him off and then caught the 1000 ferry to Pico. It was a
beautiful day, the nicest so far. The ferry lands in Madelena, the
capital and we then took a taxi out to Porto do Calhou and walked the
coast path for 12 KM back to Madelena. The scenery was spectacular and
so green. The wild spring flowers sprinkled colour everywhere. We
walked through the vineyards, lots of small enclosures with volcanic
rock walls. We strayed into one to admire some sculptures made from
igneous lumps and an old man with a thickened neck came out of his
shack to greet us. We apologised for trespassing. He brought out some
of his wine for us to try. (He had obviously heard about me) He then
filled our water bottle with wine and would take no reparation.
We had lunch back in Madelena and caught the last ferry back to Horta.
The next few days were spent preparing to leave and watching the
weather. We met a German lady in Peter's who had been dismasted on the
trip from the West Indies. She pointed out there were two other boats
also dismasted. We went to look at them and thought how lucky we are to
have a well-found boat.