The waters around these islands are full of the dreaded Portuguese man of war jelly fish

 

This picture was taken from a picnic spot above the town.  The commercial breakwater

can be seen on the left and the inner one protecting the marina in the centre.  This is one of the very few

all weather ports for yachts in this archipelago.

 

In two separate explosions the island increased in size in 1957/8  The land in this photo

was not there until then and is now the western end of  Faial.  Apparently over half of

the new land has since eroded back into sea so the extent of the eruption can be judged.

The whole history of these islands, both social and economic, has been dominated by such eruptions.

Large migrations to the USA in particular having taken place over the last 150 years.

 

This is a photo of the Caldeira that marks the summit and centre of Faial.  The walk round the top

is 8 km which gives an idea of its size.  There are no public paths down into the centre and descent is banned.

We did not do the walk round the top as the usual thick cloud was covering the path for most of the time.

 

Playing games with the delay timer on my camera.  This is taken at the picnic spot above Horta

where we went with our German friends off Noa to watch the sunset and enjoy some nibbles and a bottle or two of wine.

We have been together with Noa and her crew, on and off, since Madagascar and much enjoy their company.

 

We have been amazed at how cold it is, here at 38 degrees north.  To show that we are

not becoming tropical softies I show the view which met us a couple of mornings ago.

The summit of Pico covered in snow in late May.

 

The wall of the marina and just about every flat surface in the harbour is covered in

the daubing of those yachts who have passed through.  We saw the efforts of many friends.

On rather a rough bit of concrete we added our own.  The last time we had done this

was on the atoll of Cocos Keeling in the Indian Ocean.  I wonder which one will last longest.

We will never find out.

 

Finally a picture of the old town of Horta.  Nearly all the streets are cobbled so the

cars make a lot of the sort of noise I associate with Maigret films in Paris.  All the pavements

are decorated and much effort and time is still being expended on this as new road/pavement works

still are the same.

 

All good things have to come to an end and with some effort and the goodwill of our neighbours we extracted ourselves from the raft up against the

marina wall and motored off in a calm to the island of Sao Jorge.

 

Happy times

 

David