Terceira, and then off we go
Moorglade's Voyage
Ted Wilson
Fri 12 Jul 2013 18:31
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The blog has been neglected, while we have been in
Terceira. Terceira, meaning third was so named because it was the third island
to be discovered in the Azores group, coincidentally it was the third
Azorean island we visited and it will be our last as we are now under way,
heading true North with the island, bathed in afternoon sun, receding behind
us.
One reason for the lack of blog is that while the
harbour did offer wifi, and we could connect to it from our slip, most people
could not get to the marina home page, where username and password had to be
entered. Try as I might I was one of the unsuccessful ones. I will put some
pictures up later.
We changed our mind about our destination on
Terceira and arrived in Angra do Heroismo just before nine a.m. on 10th July. We
made a good decision, Angra is the capital city of the Island and historically
the major city of the Azores. Once we had cleared in and parked in
our allocated berth, we headed into town to explore. It is an impressive
town, made a World Heritage site in the late 80s for its buildings, it has a
more sophisticated feel than your normal seaside town, with smart shops and
restaurants. After lunch we headed for the museum housed in an old convent.First
impressions were not good as there was no English to tell us what we were
looking at, but once into the main series of displays there were lots of
interesting artefacts with good interpretation in English from which you could
get a good feel for the political and cultural past of the islands. A new slant
on European history.
The harbour benefitted from the EU funded marina
but, even though it seemed calm at sea still had a gentle swell running. The
facilities were excellent and of course there was the harbour cafe where at most
times you could find groups of cruisers discussing the weather and the least
problematic time to get to varied European destinations. The wind predictions
really have not changed much from when we were in Horta, so our plan is much the
same, buy diesel, we set off with 365 litres, head North to avoid the Portuguese
trades and try to find a way round the areas of high pressure. Time will tell,
but one thing is for sure those Atlantic pilot charts have been wrong about the
wind for both our outbound and return crossings.
Angra proved to be a good place to provision for
what is likely to be quite a long passage, with a supermacardo within walking
distance up the hill and an excellent market for local produce in
town. Richard and I did the non perishable shop yesterday afternoon while John
did all the laundry and we all shopped for the bread fruit and veg this
morning.
We were at the fuel/ checkout pontoon ready for the
after lunch opening. The staff were particularly helpful and guided us round a
possible glitch. They realised that because I had a Kiwi crew if I was heading
for the UK, then we would have to see immigration control involving a two
hour wait, however if I was going to France we were good to go, so they
suggested my destination was Brest. I of course agreed it would be a very good
place to go to.
So here we are back at sea heading home, getting
back into the watch keeping routine, spotting turtles, hoping for an uneventful
passage and most of all hoping for fair winds. Some hope.
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