The Azores
Horta marina is always full at this time of year, so we anchored in the harbour for three days before we could move into the marina. Checking in was a very pleasant experience after the Caribbean. Now that we’ve experienced them all, I can announce that Jolly Harbour won the “least friendly” prize. The only hassle with the Azores is that yachts have to check in and out of each island separately but this turns out to be a very simple process which is handled by the marina offices. The Azores are right in the middle of a popular spot for whales to congregate and that of course means whaling was a major industry here in the 19th century. The whaling museum on Faial was well worth a visit. Amazing to think that whale oil was the dominant fuel for lighting 200 years ago. Just as well replacements were introduced soon after that or we’d never see whales in the wild now. Hmmm...! We rented a car, had a lovely walk around the caldera in the middle of the island (with Richard, Ally and Armen from Adastrina) and visited the site of the most recent eruption at the western end in 1957, when the lighthouse was partly submerged in ash.
Two more things visiting yachties simply must do are to visit Peter’s bar and record your visit on any available piece of concrete around the harbour. Literally every bit of concrete has been used and in time re-used. We found a patch of recently re-rendered wall for ours, with space around it for Adastrina, Telemachus and Galatea (later).
Etiquette with tenders is to allow the owner to tie the painter onto a dock or yacht, rather than taking responsibility for someone else’s dinghy. After discussing this ashore one evening I was pleased to see Jane tying the painter onto Infinity when we got back. Come the morning however, it was no longer there. No trace. Could it have been stolen? Unlikely here and there were plenty of more attractive targets in the anchorage. We looked along the rocky shoreline to leeward but couldn’t see a wrecked dinghy there. Our only hope was that it had come untied and drifted the right side of the breakwater and ended up in the ferry dock. Well fortunately that’s exactly what had happened and there was no damage at all. How lucky was that! The island of Pico is a short ferry ride from Faial and contains Portugal’s highest mountain. It also has some lovely countryside and one or two underground caves or grottos, one of which we found.
The vineyards on Pico are novel, being riddled with low stone walls to keep the wind and salt off the vines.
Cheese is a major export from the Azores and we wanted to visit a cheese factory on Pico but after driving a long way to the mark on the map we found the locals in the village had no idea where the cheese factory might be, so we gave up. Our friends Armand and Caroline on Soulsister were a couple of days behind us on the passage and arrived with no means of propulsion. Fishing net around the propeller, bad fuel in the engine and a broken control lever! They contacted us as we were going to bed and I was happy to guide them in just after 1am, leaving them to drop the sails and lower the anchor in a suitable spot. All I could do with the 3.5HP outboard on our dinghy was to try to pull them backwards to straighten the anchor chain as there wasn’t enough windage on the hull for them to do it. It seemed to work. It’s nice to be able to help friends in need, and to join them in their arrival celebrations! After waving goodbye to Toby, we sailed across to the port of Vejas on Sao Jorge. We were caught out by a thunderstorm on the way but fortunately the lightning avoided us. We arrived to see a spectacular waterfall and crumbing hillside due to the thunderstorm but more entertaining still was the amazing call of the Corey’s Shearwaters just after nightfall. Hilarious sounds like a troop of monkeys mocking from above. Vejas is a delightful spot although there just aren’t enough visitors to justify cafes and interesting shops.
Sao Jorge is the main cheese-producing island and we were able to have a tour of the main factory. Very interesting. 500 football-sized cheeses are made there every day and they are processing and maturing around sixty thousand in the factory at any one time. Sao Jorge cheese and Pico wine makes a lovely combination! The walks on all these islands are very well documented, maintained and signposted. We sampled a couple on Sao Jorge and they were beautiful. Jane also tried out another natural pool on the coast where she was able to swim her 25m lengths in calm water. On a side road on the far side of the island we somehow bumped into Armand and Caroline again, who had come over to do some walking themselves, so of course we had dinner with them that evening.
Our next stop was the port of Angra on the island of Terceira. We didn’t see much of this island but we did enjoy a nice meal at the Captain’s Table restaurant, a favourite spot for yachties and recommended to us by Rui. With time running out, we headed back to Horta to pick up our next crew but with just 8 or 9 knots of wind behind us we ended up motoring most of the way on an overnighter. Galatea had finally arrived, after a very long trip from Bermuda in which they had almost run out of fuel. It was lovely to meet up with Andrew and Muriel, Anthony, Chris and Victoria. Quite a reunion of the Cowes mountain biking group! Derek, Tim and Kim all arrived over the next three days and we provisioned, fuelled up and checked out of the Azores. Next stop, Cowes! Giles |
