24-27th May - Porto das Lajes, Flores 39:22.743N 031:10.195W

Whisper
Noel Dilly
Tue 28 May 2013 20:24
"Porto das Lajes, Flores"

24th May

Sadly, Sandro did not have much time to explore Flores, he needed to get back home to his family and also he is of the age where work is a necessity with the responsibilities of clients to take care of!  We hired a local taxi driver to take us to the nearest Travel Agent in Santa Cruz so that he could book the several necessary flights to return him to his family in Venice.  This task accomplished we had lunch before asking Caesar to take us on a tour of the island. 

Flores is a most beautiful island and we are so pleased that the change of wind directions brought us here.  The climate is very wet, so the island is an abundance of flora and green vegetation.  The roadsides are lined with flowers, red and yellow lilies, orange montbretia, hydrangeas and banks of green ferns.  The cedars and eucalyptus trees grow tall, the hillsides are various shades of vibrant green, the flowers are just beginning to emerge, including the famous hydrangeas.  The topography of the island is very different from other volcanic islands that I have seen, sheer drops of vertical cliffs with many angular plateaus, basaltic columns and many narrow waterfalls cascade down from the steep crags, whilst rolling hills like those of north Wales are broken up into numerous fields by dry stone walls with cattle grazing contentedly on the lush grass.  The summits of the hills are dotted with granite ridges and bare volcanic plugs.

Caesar took us up into the hills to show us three of the islands seven lakes.  These are deep green lakes lying in craters of extinct volcanoes.  Two of them were next to each other, divided by a wide ridge, the water levels were a different height, the highest was watertight whereas the other had underwater cracks allowing  the water to escape and cascade down the exterior of the volcanic rock to the valley below.  Up in the hills the panoramic views were stunning, the silence enhanced by bird song was incredibly tranquil and so peaceful, a wonderful place to unwind.  We were so lucky to see the island on a clear day, more often than not it is shrouded in mist.  We had hoped to take a hike on one of the trails whilst we are here, but because of the torrential rain the island had a few weeks ago, all the trails are closed because of landslides, one of the islands hazards. 

Noel was delighted to be taken to a 16th century working water mill which is powered by a natural small fast flowing stream bringing water directly from the hills.  The mill is a national monument owned by the Azorian Government.  A lady miller is employed to run the mill, a small two roomed cottage, one room for the two sets of grind stones and the second previously used for accommodation and the people of Flores are allowed to bring their corn to be ground either into flour or a courser grain to feed their poultry completely free of charge. 

The island is quite charming and relatively undeveloped, many islanders making a living through farming and stock raising.  We have been very taken by the kindness and generosity of the people.  Caesar offered me the use of his families washing machine.  The baker, who calls at the harbour in his van every day, gave us a free bag of homemade biscuits when we brought our second loaf of bread, then when we brought our third loaf of bread and a bag of biscuits he gave us a free bag of bread rolls!  I now have so much bread I need to find a hungry mariner or feed the ducks before I can support his entrepreneur skills again. 

25th May

We said farewell to Sandro this morning, it has been great to have him on board.  His keen enthusiasm to help in all aspects of sailing has been much appreciated, as has his wonderful Italian culinary skills.  We have enjoyed his company and his good sense of humour, despite the teasing we gave him.  Thank you Sandro - hasta la vista!

We spent the day starting to clean and dry out Whisper.   Our very fast passage here was not without incident - we took on a lot of water!  The anchor chain hawse pipe was the main culprit, the small pipe at the bottom of the anchor locker was clogged up with mud and sand so the water and mud was washing through the forepeak lockers, soaking the cushions on the port side, discovered when I pushed my feet down to the bottom of my sleeping bag.  Also the heads ventilator, which I had closed and thought was tight, was jammed and not shut properly.  As we drove into the seas the water washing over the decks was pouring in the ventilator, soaking the cupboards and contents, showering the occupant, lubricating the loo seat, so that is was impossible to be seated without the seat slipping whenever the boat lurched, which was more than frequent!  Now, as many of you may know, some  marine loos need a vacuum to flush them.  If the seat is not square on the pan it will not work!  Trying to fix a loo seat in a confined, wet and not particularly pleasant lurching and tossing environment, when the bracket falls off and won't sit squarely on the rubber mounting, which is also wet and slippery and sliding on the ceramic bowl and tightening the awkward to reach at the back of the bowl and under the seat wing nuts, it is fair to say that a sense of humour breakdown is not far off.  Next, the ventilator above the galley, was closed tight but leaks when breaking waves crash onto the coach roof, this caused water to run along the headlining, drip onto the cabin sole and .... the chart table!  Despite rags stuffed into ventilators, frequent mopping up and bilge pumping, Whisper was wet through and feeling very damp. 

We worked hard all day, fortunately it was dry allowing us to get cushions,  locker lids and locker contents up on deck to dry.

26th May

Cleaning and drying continued, plus repairs and modifications.  The heads ventilator is now firmly shut!  The anchor chain has been removed from the anchor and a wooden plug has been made and firmly wedged into the hawse pipe with the anchor chain attached to it from below so that it's weight will help keep it in place.  The anchor locker has been cleaned out, all sand and mud removed, so that any water will now flow freely down the pipe into the bilge as designed ( I'd like to suggest a wider diameter pipe to the designer, I could not get the tip of my little finger into the hole it is so ridiculously small).  Noel went up the mast to fix the Sea-Me aerial, he had luckily noticed it wavering about when we were making our passage.  He found that two of the three bolts had vibrated loose! 

27th May

Final drying of quarter berth and more general cleaning inside and wash down of decks, clothes washing and water and diesel tank filling.  After lunch we took a short walk up to the town and had a leisurely afternoon enjoying the warm sunshine after this mornings earlier drizzle. 

Noel's skills were called upon yesterday by a lady single hander, whose gear lever had stuck on her outboard and by a yacht with a crew of six as one of their shrouds had broken and they did not know how to fit a Norseman fitting.  He was able to help them both successfully and returned on board with a beer in his hand!

Yet again a small world! As we prepared for bed, we were delighted to be hailed by three people in a dinghy.  The couple are friends of Harald and Beate, who had emailed them asking them to keep an eye out for us.  They have a cottage in the village and have invited us to use visit them there and offered us the use of their washing machine and shower.  People are so very kind to us.

The harbour which has been quite full over the past few days is now suddenly empty as people move on, some directly to Europe, others to Horta.  There are just five yachts inside the marina tonight and two out in the bay at anchor.  Now that Whisper is ship shape again, we plan to spend a couple of days relaxing and enjoying the island before moving on.  
 

Photographs: "Views of Flores and Volcano Crater Lake"

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image