The Azores, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, is an archipelago of nine volcanic islands and a cluster of islets. The islands are in three main groups. These are Flores and Corvo to the west; Graciosa, Terceira, Sao Jorge, Pico and Faial in the center; Sao Miguel, Santa Maria and the Formigas islets to the east. The islands are characterized by dramatic landscapes, fishing villages, green pastures and hedgerows of blue hydrangeas and lots of cows. We were told that the cows out number the humans in many parts of the Azores. Sao Miguel, the largest has lake filled calderas, Pico has the 2,351m Mt Pico and is known for its vineyards. You can still see the cows (bulls?) run the streets in Terceira.
After an eventful 14 day crossing from Bermuda, Sea Dog arrived in Horta, on the island of Faial, in fine fashion. I won't bore you with the details of the crossing as they are pretty well documented on our Predictwind tracking page which can be viewed here:
https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SeaDog
I will share with you some of the highlights and photos that did not make the tracking page.
During our passage from Bermuda, some of the other boats were reporting their fishing succes. They would post pictures of their catch with crew members lying besides the fish to give an idea of the size. One of the more memorable fish was a Yellowfin tuna caught by the crew of the catamaran Abundance.
Well not to be outdone by a catamaran, I displayed our own catch along with the requisite photo. Note, while we did not actually catch this whopper, it caught us, stranded by one of the many waves crashing over Sea Dog during out passage.
During the passage, to keep herself entertained, Michele started a series of cartoons. One of the series involved cruisers (Michele and I) vs racers (Michelle and Keith). Here are a couple of snippets. Hopefully I can get Michele to post more of her cartoons. They were quite entertaining.
In this cartoon, every time Michelle and Keith adjusted the sails on watch, it was super loud down below, especially in the aft berth where we were trying to rest/sleep off watch. To trim (adjust) the sails you grind in and/or let out the sheets (lines to the sails) for maximum sail performance. Lets just say SeaDog was trimmed for maximum performance.
Here we find Michelle and Keith starting to understand there is something more than discussing wind angles and adjusting sails. I particularly like how Michele portrayed me, she nailed it.
Many of the boats, along with Sea Dog had Starlink, the satellite internet service by SpaceX (thanks Elon Musk). It was a game changer for offshore passage making. We had access to incredibly fast and reliable internet in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Note, offshore use is not cheap, it cost $2 per gigabyte. It does not sound like a lot, but it adds up quickly if one is streaming Netflix (which we did not do). We used it to check out weather routing and forecasting apps on a daily basis. We also used it to communicate via WhatsApps with the other boats in the Arc Europe 2023 fleet that were similarly equipped with Starlink. At first, we were using it to report our position and the conditions we were seeing to each other, but that grew old fast as we could see each other on the Yellowbrick tracking app that each boat was equipped with via Arc Europe. One of the boats suggested a limerick challenge to pass the time, which caught my attention. I have included several of the more memorable limericks below. Each limerick is preceded by the name of the boat.
Vaughanderlust
On Vaughanderlust, they held tight
As the waves crashed with all their might
Though delayed on their trip
Their hope never did slip
To Horta they're sailing day and night
Longstory
Longstory ventured to Horta
She sailed halfway there, sorta
The asym was torn
The main halyard shorn
Yet still she will make it to port-a
Longstory
Motoring on a sea of glass
Longstory was getting low on gas
Rally mates lent a hand
So she could make it to land
To Abundance, you're first in class
Sea Dog
There was a young sailor in Horta
Who knew his way town sorta
While he had no cash to his name
He could run a good game
Till he found the next boat out of porta
Longstory
Autopilots in war with Poseidon
He never will face the horizon
In high seas like now
He swings right around
So we're calling him crazy Ivan
Sea Dog
There was a young man named Chad
Who thought himself quite the lad
With a charming quick witted flair
And a flick of his long lustrous hair
He would drive all the girls mad
Abundance
There was once a sailor quite spry
Who cast out his rod with a sigh
He caught loads of fish
Fulfilling his wish
And he was completely depleted by nigh
Landho, the final approach to the Azores. It was a much welcomed sight. Fourteen days offshore, at 5 to15 degrees of heel takes its toll. We were all really looking forward to getting ashore.
We arrived on the afternoon of May 31, 2023, Michelle Deribles birthday. On Michele's last watch she prepared the salon of Sea Dog with a birthday greeting for Michelle, and readied the bottle of Veuve Clicquot to celebrate our arrival in Horta, Falal
Blue tape, the glasses are secure while still offshore.
Peters Cafe Sport, which you may remember being described in an earlier blog post, "Michelle, the police want to talk with you", was in our sight,
While the marina in Horta is a good size, there were a lot of boats in town and it was packed. We were rafted three boats deep on one of the marina walls.
We were lucky to get good views of Mt Pico on the neighboring island of Pico, a large dormant volcano. The last time Pico erupted was December 1720. Pico is know as Ilha Preta (“Black Island”).
Some members of the Arc Europe fleet hiked to the top of Mt Pico.
Once in town, I went in search of a new cell phone. I broke mine on the passage from Bermuda, second time in less than one year! First time was last August on our trip to Maine. While searching I came across a section of town under repair. Most of the side walks and some of the streets are beautiful hand laid cobble stone. You can see below the labor involved with building these surfaces. Remember what these side walks looks like, they come into play in a future blog...
Further into town I came across a pretty little park with a couple of black swans. I have heard of black swans, but have never seen one. They are actually quite pretty.
The following day Arc Europe sponsored a half day bus tour of Faial. One of the highlights of the tour was the cheese factory. It was a small shop on the side of the highway with large fields between it and the cliffs of the coast. The fields were dotted with the milk (to cheese) producing cows. The cheese was incredible, five inch rounds, that when cut into produced a creamy wonderful tangy cheese. Each round was 6 euro, what a deal!!
The next stop on the tour were the Varadouro natural swimming pools. These swimming pools are located on the western side of Faial with a wonderful panorama over the Castelo Branco Mount. The swimming areas are comprised of cement pools built into the black basaltic rocks that were formed with the solidification of the lava as it flowed into ocean. The pools interconnected with cement walking paths and various view points to watch the ocean and waves. The pools are fed by the ocean surge and breaking waves of the Atlantic Ocean. It is a beautiful spot with the dark rugged volcanic rocks standing strong against the blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
Since the bus tour was just a couple of hours, we took a few photos and were whisked away to our next stop, Vulcão dos Capelinhos, a volcano known for its huge 1957 eruption, with a museum in an old lighthouse & scenic hiking trails. This is located on the western tip of Faial, on the other side of the island from Horta. This volcanic eruption led to many of the Azorean people moving away from the Azores and relocating in other parts of the world.
Nova Iorque (New York). We sailed a long way to get here!
Farol (Lighthouse) da Ponta dos Capelinhos
Unfortunately due to weather we were not able visit one of the main attractions on Faial,
Caldeira do Cabeço Gordo, a large caldera in the center of the island. It was shrouded in fog and we were told it would be cold, windy with no visibility. Oh well, next time...
On the drive back to Horta, we passed some amazing views of the country side with lots of blue hydrangea everywhere.
Our last stop of the tour was at an overlook with views of the harbor and marina in Horta. A fun tour was had by all. We saw lots of interesting and beautiful sights. We definitely could spend more time exploring the island of Faial.
Harbor in the foreground is the ferry terminal
Stay tuned, there is more... Next up "The Crossing: Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel Azores"
