Azores; first few days 2
Ellatrout3
Sat 16 Jun 2012 22:04
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As you know I arrived in the early hours of
Saturday 9th June and went straight to bed. Apparently John had knocked
several times on the boat, got no response and thought I was dead. I slept till
about one then registered with the Marina and got allocated a berth.
Would you believe it if I told you that moored next to me was a 50 foot
Jeanneau, Gwawr, owned by Dr Dennis and Sarah Williams from Pwllheli. What
are the odds of two boats from Pwllheli meeting in the middle of the
Ocean?
Fado
After a very minor sort out I was gathered up in
the evening and taken to a 'Fado'? Fado according to Google means
Fate. Basically it was a free evening at the Town Hall with a bar and
traditional Portuguese food if you wanted it, no obligation to buy. Then local
people entertained us singing two songs each to the accompaniment of three
guitars. It was no karaoke; the standard of singing was very good even
though I did not understand a word of it. It was very dramatic, many of
the songs were obviously laments for Lisbon and the old country or the trials of
the sea. It was mostly sung by beautiful young women with a smattering of
Baritone and base male singers; there was a very good duet by a couple of the
guys. It was not my kind of music but I enjoyed the evening and on the way
out we spoke and bantered with some of the singers who could speak English and
they invited us to come again tomorrow, which we did.
Sunday evening there were new singers and some from
the previous day and part way through the evening we were welcomed in English
from the stage; they obviously appreciated our attendance. At the end of
the evening people were drifting away and we were sat relaxing and finishing our
drinks when one of the organisers came and spoke to us. "Would you honour us
with your company at dinner tonight?" he asked? We looked around and in
the next room there were long tables set out for dinner where all the artists
were assembling. We were given a lovely dinner, as much wine as you could drink
and one of the English speaking girls came and sat with us. She told us all
about Fado, the Islands, where to go, she cold not have been more
helpful. I outlined our appreciation of there hospitality very fully and
she obviously took it all in and translated it and the reception from the room
was tumultuous. Their enthusiasm and hospitality had no bounds, we could
not have been treated better.
We always have a Jester dinner when most of the
boats are in and before the early arrivals start going home, it's this
Sunday. John asked the young lady who sat with us if she would come
and sing for us. She said to herself "Oh! now what shift am I on?", I
work at the airport she explained. "Oh yes that's ok I finish at 10pm, yes I
will come". Not only is she coming but she is bringing the guitarists and
other singers as well to entertain us. What about that??
Jester
Anecdotes
One evening we Jesters were sat together
chatting about the favourite food we put on board for the trip and Nick said
Nutella was a favourite of his. "Yes" I said "I like that I've two or three jars
on board". "Normal size?" said Nick. "Yes" I said puzzled. "I've got
two or three catering size on board, you obviously eat it the economical way "
he said. I looked at him still puzzled. "You spread it on bread to eat
it?" he said. "Yes of course" I said "how do you eat it?" "With a
spoon!"
Moving On
On Monday after the party, all being well,
weather-wise etc, I am going to sail to Horta. It's 90 odd miles so a day
and a night should see me there. For the sailors it looks like there's a
southerly filling during Monday afternoon which should give me my first sail
free on the wind since I left Pwllheli; that will be a great pleasure after all
this time. I shall set off about midday and providing the weather
co-operates I'm planning to go up the 'St Georges Channel' between Pico and Sao
Jorge where I hope to see some whales. If all goes well my next
report should be from the Island of Faial when I'll let you know what I
saw.
Roger/Dad/Poppa
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