Last night we arrived in Horta again. The flight was ok but it still took us a whole day. Especially Eline didn't enjoy it very much, she doesn't like flying, too boring and too much waiting. It turned out to be a real disaster for her... when we finally arrived, her suitcase was missing..

For a 17 year old.. that's about the worst thing that can happen. On top of that, the weather was not as good as in the brochure :-o It took her some time but in the end she was okay-ish again.

We had dinner at Internacional and that was real good. Afterwards Rutger and Eline went for a walk and we had another drink before going to bed.

This morning the weather was really fine and sunny. First thing we did after breakfast was go get some stuff for Eline and when she found a nice dress she was happy again. Then we had some things to do on the boat. Rutger had already done most of the cleaning when I was shopping with Eline.

Then the bilge pump turned out dead .. it's not even a year old. Anyway we fixed it, replaced the also diseased inverter for a new one. The new unit for the fuel inlet also had come in. Rutger tried the cap first and we were very lucky: it fitted, so we didn't have to replace the whole unit :-)

This afternoon we found a nice spot to put our put our mural painting and did some preparations in making it nice and white. Tomorrow we'll finish it.

Jean Pierre, who had looked after the boat while we were away, told me that Terceira would be a nice island to visit. There's a lot going around, so he says. It's only a 12 hr. sail so it's worth going there and if we're lucky we'll see some whales on the way. Anyway that will be the plan for Friday, tomorrow we'll explore Faial.

In the meantime, I hope very much Eline's suitcase will turn up. Usually it does the next day they told us… fingers crossed.

Yeee!, Eline's suitcase did came in. I got the call from the airport. The suitcase had arrived and they would send it with a cab to the marina. Eline was very happy and made sure we all knew :-) for the rest of the evening. I must admit.. the night before, when we went for dinner I asked her if she didn't want to change.. oops.. she got over it eventually but it's much nicer to see her happy.

Today we rented a car and went up to Caldeira, the volcano crater we didn't see the other time. Today however the weather was perfect and the view amazing. We walked around a bit and then drove to some other place on the coast and had lunch in a small restaurant. It was a real nice place and the price was also very okay: € 15  for the 3 of us.. That's a place to remember, also the car I rented was half the price we paid the other time..

On our way back to the boat, we drove by the supermarket and got some stuff for the trip I got some very useful tips and the plan is now to leave for Sao Jorge tomorrow. Then from Sao Jorge to Terceira, Pico and back to Faial. The weather is supposed to stay fine as the Azores high has kicked in and seems to stay until September.

Having the car, we also took the gennaker to the sail maker, who was back in business again after his heart surgery. He hummed for some time looking at the ripped sail but agreed it would be worth it to fix it. Well anyway, he told me he would see this as a nice job to get back in the routine and would go easy on the price.

If all goes well we'll be back at Faial the 19th when Marc is flying in. We then have time enough to redo our put mural painting... that didn't go too well so far :-(

We ended the day at Pete's were we had dinner and changed flags :-) So now the YSY flag and the flag of Scheveningen is flying at Pete's. Dinner was quite funny in ordering.. Rutger and I ordered a steak and Eline a small steak. Then the waiter asked how we wanted our steak.. Rutger and I both said medium. Looking at Eline he asked: medium.. no, small she said... yes, but medium? No, small... Yes I know, but do you want it medium? NO, SMALL !! with the look of what don't you understand ?!?!
Too funny, eventually it was clear what he meant