Last day in the Azores
Calema
Fri 9 May 2003 20:15
As we have now been in the Azores for 18 days it
becomes increasingly like home. The people are friendly and generous and eating
and drinking unfeasibly cheap and good quality. Frighteningly we only have 3
weeks before real life beckons so tomorrow we will head north east towards
Camaret in Brittany for our final fix of abroad before we leg it back across the
channel. With 1100 miles to do we would hope for a crossing of less than 10 days
but we will certainly be motoring to start with if this fantastic high stays
where it is.
We have now visited Faial, Pico, Sao Miguel and
Terceira which leaves only 5 islands to visit another time (only 4 for Andrew
who had a solo visit to Sao Jorge). Attempts to visit Flores were constantly
thwarted by Portuguese pilots who can't fly in rain or wind so we changed plan
and went to Sao Miguel instead . Our hosts were obviously founder members of the
Azorean drinking team and were determined to make us suffer gin and tonics
followed by superb (I think) Portuguese wine in their lovely home. The
Azoreans seem to have more affinity with the Brits than the Portuguese so that
worked pretty well! We were proud to be the first into their swimming pool for
the season and thankfully forgot to sign the visitors book.
The normal excesses have been balanced by hiking in
the volcanoes and, latterly, in great weather. We have always been alone and the
use of the word 'footpath' is loosley used but we haven't been properly lost
yet.
We have appeased the weather gods by leaving our
mark (legalised graffiti) on the harbour wall at Horta. Obviously Andrew and I
were only allowed to fill in the easy bits and consequently a fine design has
been left for all to see.
Pico viewed from the rim of the volcano in Faial.
It had a load of snow on the top when we first arrived.
He says he hadn't noticed!
Enough for now. Need to get that last meal ashore
before we start finishing up the canned food mountain we have carried around the
Atlantic. Next report from the ocean.