Lajes das Flores (Azores) 39:24.19N 31:13.4W?
Lotus
Fri 1 Jul 2011 18:28
1800 nautical miles and 15 days later, we were anxious
to see land, but our first impression of Flores; the most western island in the
Azores group, was not quite the sight for sore eyes that we'd been expecting,
with big blocks of concrete and a massive crane sat on top of the part
finished sea wall and the numerous freight boxes that were obscuring the
views. Still, we were glad to see land and sat at anchor for about 30
minutes before joining the mad rush of boats trying to grab the last remaining
spaces in the marina that was not quite finished and therefore free. We
managed to get one of the spaces on the wall where we were soon joined by a big
French schooner that tied up alongside us. As nice as the frenchies were,
we decided that we had to move as their boat was rocking side to side so much
that we feared for both our cleats and our ability to get a much needed good
nights sleep. The operation to move the boat was massive as the marina was
now jam packed with boats tied up alongside each other 3/4 deep, but with John
organizing everyone ( about a dozen people were involved) we managed
to maneuver ourselves into a pontoon which had just become vacant and in the
process made friends with all our neighbors. A short walk up the hill and
we sat and had a round of beers; we couldn't believe how cheap the beer was at
only 1 euro a go, they were however the smallest glasses of beer we'd ever had
at around .20 l, hardly enough to wet your mouth!
We stayed in Flores for about 5 days, there wasn't much
to do on the island and it seemed to have a permanent rain cloud over it, but we
couldn't leave as there was no weather window out and the next closest
island was 150nm away.
The highlight of our stay was when we hired a
car from Paula; this Massachusetts born Azorean was running a one woman
cartel on the island, she owned the bar, would organize diesel,
laundry, you name it, she did it. We drove round the whole island visiting
the various lakes, waterfalls and other small towns, unfortunately the
island was covered in low cloud so we didn't get to see it in it's full
glory. |
