Flores N39:19 W30:44
Millybrown
Mark Hillmann
Tue 26 May 2009 11:50
|
No blog for 3 days - tut tut
Too much to do, people to meet: Paul and Miles (son
and nephew) and we never found wi-fi.
The arrival in Flores was at Lajes, the harbour for
this island. We were a little early, so the sails came down for an
hour and a half before dawn, then a gentle arrival as the light came
up. Dawn is a good time, with the cocks starting to crow and no-one
around. I tidied the boat and went to sleep.
When I got up the customs and police came and
cleared me and I went shopping. Not as easy as it sounds, as the shops are
not well marked and I could find nothing open. So I gave up, went into a
bar and asked: I was promptly given a lift a few hundred yards higher up the
hill and bought fruit and bread.
Can you see a crane behind the yacht?
The local fishing boats all live on land and are launched each time they go
out. They are right: In calm weather it may be OK but this is no
harbour in an onshore wind.
Flores is distinctive with walls in black volcanic
stone and very white cement. There are flowers and vegetables, bushes and
trees growing everywhere on the fertile volcanic soil.
The church may have a dramatic facade but is a
simple rectangular building behind. The houses are all bright white paint,
curly tile roofs and colourful gardens.
We hired a car for the day and went round the
island. There were trees growing on almost vertical
slopes and shallower green caldera as
well as ones with deep blue black
water and rugged volcanic rock around them.
|