Skipper's Log 31st July 1997 - The Azores Islands

   

   1997 CRUISE TO SPAIN AND THE AZORES

The Azores Islands

3 July		This was our first day on the Azores, Dave Miles and I had sailed here from Bayona, Spain. We had a late start, after catching up with lost sleep!
		After a morning wander through the town, we set to cleaning up the boat. Also cleared the blockage in the electric bilge pump – there was a lot of rubbish down in the bilge that needed cleaning out. We found a walking guide to San Miguel, but the shop was closed. However we had sight of one from the crew of a large aluminium boat from Plymouth. We went to a different place for our evening meal, I had a tuna salad – it was the only thing I fancied from the menu. In the evenings, a large crowd of young folk gather at the marina bar, it seems to be their main meeting place. Punta Delgada has also the only university in the Azores group.
4 July		Got up early and caught a local bus to Sete Cidades, a village inside the crater of the extinct volcano. There are two lakes, lagoa azul, and lagoa verde.  We met a couple from Manchester who arrived by taxi, having missed the bus. Later we met a young German man as we set off uphill to climb to the rim of the crater. It was a long way to Vista do Rei, but worth it for the view. We did get a lift in a forester’s truck some of the way though. At Vista do Rei there was an ice cream van, so we had one each before starting back. The track descended steeply down the crater rim, and soon we came upon our German friend coming up. He was very hot and couldn’t believe we had come so far. We didn’t enlighten him about our lift! The path descended down to the village where there was an extensive picnic area by the lake shore, where we ate our packed lunch. A large group of children came down, with their leaders, to do the same. The local school had loud folk music playing, they were holding some kind of folk holiday or something. We continued round the south side of the lake until we reached the outfall at the western end. We stopped for a break and our German friend caught us up. The tunnel was completed in 1937 as earlier, the village of Sete Cidades had been flooded by rising lake waters after heavy winter rainfall. We walked through the tunnel for over a mile, along the 18” wide raised path, it was pitch black. Luckily we had a couple of torches with us. It seemed very bright when we came out the other end. We walked along the road for a short while before turning down a track on the right which eventually led to the pretty village of Mosteiros. We had a beeer in the café bar where the locals were heavily into cards. There was a lot of shouting and arguing about the game. We had a look at the fishing harbour round the corner where there were many gaily painted fishing boats drawn up on the hard. Some men were repairing boats, others were cutting up fish (tuna) on the harbour wall. Eventually, we wandered back to the square to wait for the bus and watch local life go by. The bus rides are quite colourful. In the morning we were stuck for ages behind a herd of cows which include a bull being led under protest by a farm hand. Loads of horse carts and motorcycle carts laden with milk churns were seen making their way to the collection point. Some were even pulled by donkeys. People came on board with a hoe and a sack, and were dropped off by fields, while others climbed aboard with sacks of potatoes or maize cobs. It has been a day of grand views. From Vista do Rei there was a terrific view into the crater and also out sea to the west.
5 July		After yesterday afternoon’s strenuous walk, we had an easy day exploring the town again. Apart from the modern shopping block on the front, the shops are all little ones. The narrow back streets are all paved with black and white stone sets in intricate patterns.
6 July		We got up early today, in order to catch the 7.15 bus to Furnas (via Ribeiro Grande). We followed the path from the town, up and over the rim of the crater of Lagoa da Furnas. On the way down to the lake, we passed by some steaming rocks and further on there was an area of boiling water and mud. Being Sunday, many islanders were already there, having buried their lunch in the coseidos. These are deep holes dug in the warm earth, into which food was lowered in cloth bags, then covered with some wood and topped with warm soil. Apparently it takes about 3 hours to cook a meal this way. We continued our walk anti-clockwise around the lake through dense lush undergrowth of tiger lilies, bamboo and fallen trees. We saw some tree ferns too. Eventually we came to a road which continued round the lake and turned off to the right, through a cutting in the crater rim. We came out into a valley which ran round the peak of Pico do Gaspar, and then up a forest track to a terrific viewpoint overlooking Furnas town, where we stopped for lunch. The track then took us down into the town, passing a mountain stream that was coloured red by the metals in the hills. Here a crop of yams was growing ( as explained to us by the girl in the park entrance). An intricate irrigation system had been laid out so the water flowed gently through the crops at the different levels. Soon we came to the Parque Terra Nostra, which was laid out and planted some 200 years ago by an American botanist, named Hinkley. The park surrounds a splendid stately home, but is open to the public. As well as explaining about the yams, the young woman at the entrance explained to us that the townspeople have their own coseidos in their gardens – there are hot springs everywhere. However in the town, the coseidos are not so hot and can take 6 hours to cook a meat meal. In front of the great house there was a swimming pool, which was fed from the river. The water was luke warm and highly coloured, as were the rocks in the river. Leading from the back of the house, there was a canal feature, with a grotto at each end. We went inside one of them and it was amazing how it had been built of rough stone into a perfect vaulted roof. We left the park and wandered into town, stopping at a café for a beer and coffee to while away the time till the bus came. The return bus ride along the southern route was very entertaining. The driver had a loud horn which he sounded at each blind bend, and swore at anybody who got in his way! He was very skilful at negotiating parked vehicles in the narrow village streets. The views were breathtaking, sweeping vistas of the south coast of the island, with wild hedges of Hydrangea in vivid blue with huge blossoms. There were groves of bananas in the valley sides, tobacco, and loads of sweet corn. Many of the locals who boarded the bus were munching cobs of corn, which seems to be the popular snack around here. We were held up about 20 mins. in one village, near Villa Franca, because of a colourful fiesta procession. A brass band and all the locals were out in the street. When we finally got back to the boat, Dave made another of his beef casseroles. The meat here is good and cheap – less than £1 a pound for big stewing chunks.
7 July		Today we must move on from Punta Delgada, but I must get my laundry back first! It was handed in on Thursday afternoon and should have been ready on Friday afternoon. When I enquired at the marina office on Saturday morning there as no laundry – but you can’t argue with such a charming young lady – she knows how to turn it on! So, here we are on Monday morning, still waiting for my washing – it arrived at 11 am! We filled up the fuel containers – we have used less than 40 ltrs of fuel since leaving Spain. I posted a letter home, and bought a guidebook for the other islands.  I went to clear out , but by the time the marina bill was paid, the immigration and police visited, the customs men had gone home for lunch – come back at 2pm! Finally, our set of stamps was complete, and we got away at 1420. However, the wind had gone round to west! Fortunately, it was only blowing 5kn or less so we just had to motor. The air pressure had been steady for two days – still 1030mb, so no weather change expected.
	1900	We’re leaving Sao Miguel astern, with its evening blanket of cloud descending. The wind has dropped to 1.4kn and we’re motoring on the glassy smooth ocean. It’s hard to believe we’re in the middle of the Atlantic. We saw a few dolphin off the western tip of the island, but they didn’t stay for long. Dave bought more beef this morning and there are wafts of curry floating out into the cockpit. It became a very dark night, but the phosphorescent trails left by the dolphins as they ride our bow wave, was quite fantastic.
8 July	0540	The lights of Angra do Heroismo are in view, but we have a fair way to go yet. When we passed over Banco do Joao de Castro, the sea seemed to be bubbling with phosphorescence. I thought it was fish at the time, but was later told it was seismic activity!
	0840	Dropped anchor in the bay in Angra do Heroismo, there is only one other yacht there – Helles Belles, from California. She is a lovely green hulled yacht of 54ft length. I rowed ashore to visit the garda fiscal with the ship’s papers and got a very friendly and informal reception. We went for a walk around the town, having left the dinghy at the Clube Nautico. On the way back, we climbed to the top of Monte Brazil – quite a steep climb. The city of Angra was devastated by earthquake on 1st January 1980, and there is still plenty of evidence of the destruction. Most of the major buildings have now been rebuilt as they were, including the cathedral which is very plain inside compared with the Roman Catholic churches we visited in Normandy. We met up with the couple from the yacht that anchored during the afternoon – Moon Gazer, a Trintella III. They invited us over for coffee in the evening, they told us about the seismic activity.
9 July		As we landed by dinghy at the Clube Nautico, we met the skipper of the American yacht, and exchanged experiences. We told him that we had been told of a ‘bullfight’ in Biscois that evening, and he was quite excited by it. He had hired a Renault Espace for his family and offered us a lift back from Biscois if we ended up there. The morning was spent climbing up to the top of the town and entering the gardens at the top by the pyramidal monument. We came down a series of terraces, all planted with exotic flowers, tree ferns, palms etc. and came out by the bandstand at the bottom near the town square. We had lunch at a café.
	1300	We caught a bus which took us out along the cost road to the west to the village of Serretta. We got off there and walked down the track to the lighthouse and then down the steps to the lava strewn shore and impressive vertical cliffs. We had to retrace our steps most of the way to the bus stop before picking up a track to the left which took us further along the coast. There were fine sea views and pasture land and many eucalyptus trees bursting with their red flowers. We saw farers taking the day’s milk on horseback and by mule to the nearest collection point. We eventually came to the road again and walked to the forest park of Mata de Serretta, which had an elaborate picnic area. There, we caught the bus on to Biscois where we had a beer before walking up to the town where the bullfight would take place. We met up with our American friends, so transport back was assured – the last bus had left at 5 pm. A loud bang from a maroon rocket, and the crowd cleared the street, so we followed their example and found a good vantage point. The houses had been barricaded! The bull was let out of its box and we saw he was tethered to a very long rope. This was handled by four men dressed in blouse type white shirts, black hats and grey trousers. The bull had brass caps on the ends of its horns, but they could still do serious damage! The younger men would taunt the bull by waving multi coloured in front of it to make it charge – then run for it! There was no attempt to injure the animal in any way. The bull ran up and down the street, selecting targets and the young men got a chance to show their bravado. We kept well out of the way! There was a mobile café whose speciality was a pork sandwich. This consisted of slices of pork that had been marinaded for 48 hrs and fried on the spot and placed in a bread roll – absolutely delicious, and very popular. We met  a guy who had emigrated to the USA when he was 16 and had come back for a few weeks to retrace his roots. He told us the traditional end to the bullfight was to go to a village outside Angra where there would be a Festa do Espirito Santo. So Jay diverted there on the way back and we were treated to a fine display of horsemanship, dancing and band music. The children were amused by Jay’s Donald duck impressions and were an absolute delight. They spoke little English but were very bright. They had been in the dance group and were dressed in green and white. Just before midnight, Jay said he was ready to leave, but we think the party would go for a few hours longer. This island is full of happy, friendly people and is known in the Azores as the party island.  We got back to the boat in the early hours and Jay gave our dinghy a tow behind his RIB. This had been our best day yet, with loads of action and traditions.
10 July	0830	I rowed ashore with ships papers to clear out of Terceira. The Garda Fiscal was again friendly, and we had a long chat about the island and its people. He said they drink far more beer on this island, but there is never any trouble or stealing. We certainly had felt safe on this island.
	0850	We weighed anchor and motored out of the bay. The cloud level was very low over the island – just a few hundred feet. As we headed for Sâo Jorge, it became very sunny and blistering hot. We saw a couple of spotted dolphin on the way.
	1200	Dave is busy shaving his hair off! It has grown quite long over the six weeks he has been on board. We now haveSâo Jorge in sight. Pico is there too, but covered in cloud.
	2000	Anchored in Velas harbour on the island of Sâo Jorge in 15m depth but still very close to the shore. Moon Gazer was already there. I took the ships papers ashore in the dinghy, but there were no officials about so returned to the boat. There was a large colony of nesting terns in the cliff towering above us – and what a noise they made. Did some stargazing – Scorpio was very clear again.
11 July	0700	The wind moved round to the west during the night and the boat is rolling and pitching in the waves that come into the harbour. This is no place to stay!
	0850	Weighed anchor and cleared out of Velas without really going ashore. Two of the fenders we had set out to stop the dinghy rubbing on the topsides had been lost overnight – they must have worked loose. We decided to head back to Terceira, rather than make for Horta, as it was more or less on the way back to Punta Delgada.
	1135	The wind has dropped and visibility down to about half a mile in heavy rain.
	1400	Sâo Jorge island now astern and the weather is clearing up.
	1445	Now able to sail again, so the engine was shut off. The wind stayed with us until we were 5 miles off Angra do Heroismo. We anchore again in the bay, near to the yacht club. We went to the club for our evening meal – it was pan fried beef, and very good.
12 July		A reasonably sunny day. I went ashore in the morning to report to the garda fiscal – no problem, also obtained clearance to depart tomorrow morning. We went into town and bought an Azores courtesy flag (blue and white with a buzzard and nine stars.
	1300	After lunch we caught a bus to Praia do Vitoria and saw the beginnings of a new marina there. We shopped for presents – bought some hand woven tablecloths, made on Sâo Jorge. The presence of the American airbase was evident, with the planes coming overhead to land. There are also far more souvenir shops in Praia do Vitorio.
	1840	We caught the bus back to Angra and were caught up in a wedding convoy of hooting cars. We went over to the Clube Nautico for a meal – fish tonight – not as good as the beef.
13 July	1000	Weighed anchor and sailed out of Angra do Heroismo under full sail and in bright sunshine. The water was so clear in the bay,  we could see our anchor buried in 5m of water. We took a southerly route to avoid Banco do Joâo de Castro with its seismic activity. In the evening, a good sailing wind came form the NW and we were making good speed. Some large black dolphins came by, and we saw a couple of turtles. In the afternoon, I took a sextant fix of sun and moon together. When plotted, it was agreed nicely with the GPS. Dave took the 2100 – 0100 watch, and we did some more stargazing.
14 July		There was a very bright moon during the night Later it went down and it became pitch black with very bright stars. I took the watch from 0100 – 0730, when we tied up at Punta Delgada. We waited at the reception berth from 0720 until 0900 before we could clear in. The formalities took about a half hour even  though we had been there very recently. It doesn’t pay to go direct to the marina berth outside office hours. We saw what happened to one American skipper who did just that – he was marched off by armed policemen for interrogation very early the next morning. We spent the morning catching up on sleep. In the afternoon, we bought some gas – from a paint shop! I would never had found it but for a local that told me where to look. The air pressure has been high at 1034mb since yesterday morning, the famous Azores high at last. On our return, the marina at Punta Delgada was much busier than when we left. There were many French yacht and I saw only one other red ensign – a catamaran named Hot Toddy from Plymouth. We were moored among the local sports fishing boats which have rather short pontoons.
15 July		The day was spent around the boat, refuelled, did the washing, etc. Dave went off on his own to Ribeira and I went shopping for food.  In the evening, John arrived from Lisbon, his original flight having been cancelled.
16 July		Cleared John in as extra crew with the authorities and then we took a taxi to Siete Cidades. We climbed up the forest track to Vista do Rei and then walked round the rim and down to Siete Cidades village. We stopped at a cafè for cold drinks while we waited for the bus back to Punta Delgada. John and I took a walk around the town while Dave prepared an evening meal. We had a lot to talk about, as we had been colleagues before taking early retirement.
17 July		We cleared out with the authorities, and collected the laundry. At 1210 we departed Punta Delgada in a brisk SW4 and sailed westwards towards Horta. It was  a wet and cloudy day.
18 July		Dave took the 1200 to 0400 watch and I did 0400 to 0800. John stayed up all night, as he was still acclimatising to the motion. About 0200 it started to drizzle and by 0600 it was really wet. The sea conditions became choppy, on top of the normal swell, so beating was uncomfortable. As we neared the island of Pico, we decided to run along its northern shore to keep in its lee. This took away the motion, but also the wind so we motored a while. It meant that John could have a few hours proper rest down below.
	1600	We were near the NW end of Pico and the wind went round to NW. This meant we had a  fast sail down the Faial Channel to Horta. We tied up alongside at 1815. Contrary to what others had told us, we cleared through the officialdom quite quickly, and were allocated a pontoon berth. We went out for a meal, and ended up at O’Lima’s, where the food was good but the surroundings pretty dismal. We made the mistake of ordering the Pico red wine – it came in a jug and was awful!
19 July		We decided to do something about the leaking water tank today, and went to Mid Atlantic Yacht Services for help. They looked into getting a new liner sent from Lisbon, but it would take over a week. The Lisbon branch was closed for the weekend. We went back to the boat and removed the liner  from the outer cover. We found a slit along the edge of the bag. If we could find someone with a heat welder, this could be fixed, so we took the bag with to MAYS, but no joy. They did suggest however that we clamp two pieces of plywood either side of the slit, sealed with sikaflex. So, we went back to the boat, sawed up some plywood and did just that. Howeverwe also found four small punctures – these were sealed with Avon repair kit patches and taped over with Sellotape X. It was left to cure. We looked in at Loja de Peter, where they had loads of souvenir items for sale then checked out Peter’s Café Sport. Later that evening we returned to the Café Sport for our evening meal – steaks done in mushroom sauce – very good too. As we walked down to Peter’s, the moon rose just to the side of Pico Grande – a spectacular sight. In the café we fell in with an East German couple who were on holiday and John was able to practise his German – It sounded pretty good to me.
20 July		No buses today! So we took a taxi to the start point of the Caldera rim walk( cost 2500 escudos for 6 miles) We climbed up to the radio station where we met the cloud coming up from the other side. The altitude at this point was 1043 metres. We followed the path around the rim and back to the start point. The rim is very precipitous, the crater bottom at 470 metres looked very wet in places and there was a secondary crater within the main one. The crater floor is inaccessible but there is a tunnel through the rim at 920 metres giving access to an observation platform inside the rim. The cloud below us shut out most of the views to seaward, and the other islands. We didn’t even see Pico! As we reached the end of the circle, it cleared towards Sâo Jorge, and we had a glimpse of Graciosa. We walked a short distance along a winding road, edged on both sides with thick hedges of Hydrangea, just coming into flower. Soon we turned onto a gravel track which skirted the around the side of the mountain and eventually dropped into Flamengos valley. We had a lift from a local farmer in his pickup truck for a couple of miles into the village. The walk from there down to Horta was very rural and downhill most of the way. We were glad to see the first café. Later the water tank was refitted in the bilge  but left unfilled overnight. That evening we went to Capote’s Restaurant where we had a mixed fish platter for three – a variety of whole fish served with vegetables – very good too.
21 July		We have filled the water tank today, and it appears to be holding. We settled our small bill at the Mid Atlantic Yacht Services, and returned the sealant gun we had loaned from them. We went round to the officials and got clearance to leave Horta.
	1113	Left Horta and were under sail in a light breeze just outside the entrance. We sailed for 3 hrs before the wind died in the Sâo Jorge Channel, so we motored the rest of the way to Velas.
	1530	Anchored in Velas harbour and visited the garda fiscal by dinghy. Again they were closed so a further visit necessary tomorrow morning. Later in the evening, we rowed ashore and had a meal in the Flor Jardin café, which served a good meal.
22 July		We cleared in with the authorities first thing, then caught a taxi to Serra do Tapo, stopping at some viewpoints on the way. Then, we set off on a path through high pasture, climbing for a while then dropping down a beautiful hillside to Faja do Caldeira. We saw cows and goats grazing – and had to move some of them in order to get by. On the coast we came upon an almost abandoned village. Someone still puts flowers in the church though. We climbed the bell tower and looked out over the lava beds extending to the sea. We passed two ore deserted villages in this isolated part of the island before coming to Faja dos Cubres. Here, an enterprising young lady was selling cold drinks at the side of the church. Judging by the drums of empties, she was doing a good trade. From there was a road that climbed steeply round a series of hairpin bends and before we reached the top, the clouds moved in and we were thoroughly wetted. In the village of Norte Pequeno we stopped for a beer in the café and just as we finished, our taxi arrived to collect us. This had been a good walk. The taxi driver stopped at Norte Grande so we could visit a cheese factory. We saw the whole produces from milk to matured cheeses. There were hundreds of cheeses maturing on the shelves. We sampled a few, and bought a kilo for the boat. The taxi then took us back to Velas via Rosais. We ate on board tonight – Dave made corned beef hash in disgust!
23 July		Had a haircut at the local barber’s, an interesting experience waiting for the three in front of me to be done. They were the crew of the inter island ship who were all in for a shave. Afterwards, we took the same cab as yesterday and were dropped off at Sete Fontes, where there is a bit of a park. We walked along gravel tracks for just over an hour to Faro de Rosais, where there was an impressive lighthouse complex. However, it had long been abandoned after the structure was badly damaged by earthquake. It seems to have been a self-contained community with four family units. The walk back to Rosais was along gravel tracks was rather uninteresting, and we were glad to see the taxi coming to collect us outside Rosais. In the evening, we went back to the Flor de Jardin where we had another good meal. As we rowed back to the boat, we saw the other Rival 32 we had seen in Horta. They had moved to the quay though as the wind increased and the boat started pitching. The wind dropped later and we had a good night at anchor.
24 July		After clearing out with the Garda Fiscal we set sail for Madalena in a SE4 which held for some 3 hrs. After that, it headed us and just off the coast of Pico, died out completely. We motored the last hour into Madalena. We took papers ashore, but even at 4 pm there was no one about. We went out in the evening and had a meal at a café, again very good food and some reasonable Pico red wine. There is a festival on this week and we listened to a band in the town centre, also a group of girls playing guitars, and accordions. The leader did some amazing routines with her tambourine. We met the crew from “ the Dove”, a charter boat that was ‘resting’.
25 July		Today, I managed to track down the Garda Fiscal in the ship repair yard and cleared in very informally. After a drink at a café, we took a taxi some 10km to Furna de Frei Matas. This is a vault like gallery, created bythe gases from cooling lava. Then we walked back towards Madalena, mainly on gravel tracks through small fields and many stone walls to a park at Quinta das Rosas, where there were picnic areas and many exotic plants. We then continued down narrow lanes past tiny orchards in the lava stone. We saw lemons, oranges, passion fruit, pears, apples and peaches, as well as vines which seemed to grow out of the rocks. Eventually we dropped into Madalena where we had a look at the church – a lot of gold leaf about here. We rowed back to the boat and rested for a few hours.
	2100	Went ashore to eat and join the festivities. A brass band started the night off, followed by a group playing traditional music, accompanied by guitars, mandoline, accordion and drums. It was very good, and some of the audience started dancing in the street. Later, on the temporary stage near the harbour, a mainland group put on a show- rock music. The presentation was very slick and professional, they must have been a top line group – not that I know anything about Portuguese bands.
26 July	0130	Rowed back to ‘Restless’ with the loud music still playing. It was after 2 am before it finished.
	0930	Eventually got up for breakfast, a dull morning, with some swell entering the harbour. Pico was completely hidden in cloud down to about 1000ft
	1130	The local yacht club boat came out to invite us to join their regatta tomorrow. We duly went ashore and handed nin the entry form plus 3000 escudos. Thereafter, we wandered a bit around the town and rowed back to the boat to change for the evening festivities.
	2000	The band started early, a rather highbrow programme for the locals, and they didn’t show much appreciation. The band played well enough though. We hd our evening meal in the musical society tent, where we had pork chops with chips! We didn’t fancy the raw limpets and were warned off the bifanas by someone who had just had one. After the band, the bandstand was taken over by a folk group who performed a series of circle dances. After this we went back to the harbour where a folk band was setting up. They had a singer guitarist centre stage and electric fiddle, accordion and bass guitar. I was impressed by this performance, which lasted into the early hours.
27 July	0150	Rowed back to the boat, the encores were still going on as we clambered aboard.
	0740	Got up for the big race! Another three yachts had arrived overnight and more arrived during the morning.
	0900	The race started on time and we had about 10kn of wind, all went well. The local racing boats were guaranteed to win against the heavily laden cruising yachts, and the race was won by a trimaran from Horta. We finished midfield and were quite happy with that. After we returned to our mooring, it turned very wet and miserable. As the race finished at 1030, we had a long wait for the social part which started at 1430. We boarded the coach provided by the organisers, and were taken first to the Co-operative winery. There we sampled some of the new Pico wines and local cheese. As we left, each boat was presented with a pack of three bottles of wine, 2 of Basalto and 1 of Terres da Lava. These are new wines which have been re-introduced to Pico within the the last five years. The Pico aperitif wine was really good, but is not yet accredited and will not be for sale until November. Next, we drove along the southern side of the island to Lajes, where we had free entry to the whaling museum. Afterwards, we had a free beer/ ice cream / crisps etc. at the Moby Dick bar opposite.The coach then continued round the eastern end of the island and along the north coast to Sto. Amaro, where we visited a craft school and museum. The museum was a small cottage, complete with kitchen range and wood oven. There were displays of weaving, straw hat making, broaches made from fish scales etc. The lady in the display room was very kind, and gave us little gifts. I took a picture of her with John and Dave and promised to send her a copy. Continuing along the coast, we came to the old whaling factory St Roque, but by then it was after 7 pm and it had closed. We carried on to Madalena where we all trooped off to the Clube Nautico, where we had a slap up meal of oven baked tuna/potato casserole and local wine. Presentations followed with trophies for swimming, dinghy racing, motor boat racing and our race. The overall winner was ‘Calabar’, a Canadian Bristol 41.’ Funny Valentine’ came second, her Dutch skipper was so moved at getting a trophy that he spent the rest of the night getting drunk! The leader of the under 9m water length was the local Horta racing boat, who obviously had expected to be overall winner – he was disappointed.  Honey Bear came second – a Warrior III from Plymouth, (we followed her in). Later in the evening or rather early next day, there was a tremendous firework display on the harbour wall.
28 July		Went ashore and bought some fishing lures. Then we set sail for Horta, arriving there at 1245. It was a cracking sail as we had F5 wind on the beam – Just right for a Rival 32. After clearing in, the others went for a walk and I stayed on board and did some washing. We were moored opposite ‘Calabar’.
29 July		A wet morning – it poured down. We called in at Peter’s Café Sport and bought some of their polo shirts to take home for presents. We took gas bottles to be refilled at Mid Atlantic Yacht Services and sent off our last cards. Moongazer left this afternoon. We had another meal at O’Lima’s, but the meat was rather tough – we avoided the wine and stuck to beer. Later we sat outside the marina café with the couple from ‘Windfarthing’.
30 July		Finished the washing, including tea towels, but it got wet and windy around lunchtime. The engine oil was topped up and the bilge pump filter cleaned. We regreased the heads outlet seacock as it was getting rather stiff. We rammed a wooden dowel inform the outside first, to stem the flow. Listened in on the Ham net this morning. We heard that the weather in Scotland was atrocious, with 45kn winds. We went up to the Primavera supermarket in the afternoon and stocked up with food. We were given a lift back to the marina in the supermarket van.  Collected the re-filled gas bottles and ordered a synoptic chart printed for tomorrow morning.  Dave started his wall painting this afternoon, and in the evening we went to Capote’s for a slap up meal of grilled fish.
31 July		Got up early, collected the synoptic charts, and the outlook is good. Dave continued with the painting on the sea wall. Topped up with water and fuel, climbed the mast for a general check, and cleared out with the marina office and garda fiscal. Topped up with meat and bread and had our last shower.
	1435	Left Horta and set sail for England.