Horta…

 38:31.53N 28:37.30W

29^th June 2015

11,108 Miles Since leaving Ramsgate by log.

            It is raining heavens hard as Norma would say and we are going sailing…yey! Jen has volunteered to do the Horta blog so I will not take up too much space. As soon as we can get our refilled gas bottles back from Mid Atlantic Yacht Supplies (1500 this afternoon) we will be heading out and next stop good old blighty. The low pressure system has given its worst and is now sitting about 70 miles to the North of us which means we should be able to hang onto its coat tails for the first couple of days and get a good start on the journey. After that there is another system coming across on Thursday but if my cunning plan works out we will be on the eastern fringes of that and so it will also give us a push up towards Biscay. All being well we should be back in the UK in 10-12 days and back in Ramsgate by the 18^th of July. With that in mind if anyone is in the RTYC bar on Saturday the 18^th mines a crème de menthe and Tizer as Del boy would say. Tommy and Sue Foster, our ever supportive support team, back in base camp Ramsgate will have the most up to date details of our expected arrival if you need an update on progress.

Hello to everyone!

Wow what a fantastic islands to visit. Now we find ourselves in  Horta, which is the sailing centre stop off. We have found everything we need here, gas, diesel, hot showers and a great bar!

The first day we all explored Horta. Norma was very happy to find some shops and returned with floral trainers, I agreed they were really cute and a bargain too! Adam, Willem and myself went on a hunt for the beach (seeing if it would beat the one in Bermuda) and came across a beautiful beached cove. On one side there was the town and on the other a high volcanic mound, with only plants and a path leading to a small white church. So we crossed the beach, I dipped my feet in the sea and told Adam that it was lovely and warm, so he followed me, and he made a small grunt when he found it was freezing! The view from the mid point was so stunning (I’ve been teased for saying ‘Amazing’ and I’m expanding my vocabulary now!)

The great thing about this trip, which I didn’t expect is having the opportunity to make lots of friends. I thought it would be limited to the crew on Spectra, but we are on a circuit and we find ourselves bumping into the same people in a variety of different locations. You end up experiencing new things together and this quickly makes you strike up strong friendships. Everyone has a story and conversation is always fun, interesting and informative. Sharing information, learning about great places in the world to visit. We made good friends with the group from the Catamaran, the family from the US, and now we have a new Australian buddy, Peter. He has a very funny sense of humour, if you can understand him with his very strong accent.

The local bar has had live music every night and honestly all of us were won over by last nights act. An acoustic guitarist with an incredible voice, he played worldwide known songs, but was adding in jokes in Portuguese. Apparently his Dad is a famous Portuguese artist. We wished we could understand the jokes!

Paul commented that he wished he could get all his family and friends to experience what we did last night and we all agreed.

Adam, Steve, Willem, Peter and myself took the ferry yesterday to Pico where the volcano is. The last eruption was 1718, which destroyed a church and half a village. We took a tour around, we learnt about the island, the whaling, the people, the structure and enjoyed the beauty. It was a fab day out, unfortunately these clouds are following us around so we didn’t get to see the top of the volcano.

Last night we had an hour of pool. Two teams, Jen and Adamant and Norma and Paul. Adamant had beginners luck plus he was sober so that was in his favour. I definetly chose the right team member and we won against Paurma 2:1. As you may know Paul is a bad loser and he was still convinced he won the last game and was upset when we reminded him that wasn’t the case! I might add, only 5 minutes after the game ended.

Willem has made friends with another Dutch man also called Peter and has decided to jump ship. Peter was travelling solo, but when he was hit with bad weather for three days, with no sleep and commented on hallucinating he didn’t want to continue his next leg to Southampton alone. Actually Norma has been quite worried that Adamant would be stolen by the Australian Peter and jokes flied around that I would be taken by the Catarman. So we are back to Five, still all the way to Ramsgate.