Azores Ashore

Wednesday July 4, 2007
Horta, Azores
Contributed by Esther

At last, a long quiet, calm, restful deep evening of sleep. 

Tuesday, 26th and Wednesday 27th was filled with a mix of activities: walking,
napping, eating, cleaning the boat inside, washing the outside and exploring
Horta.

Thursday 28th all eleven of us from the 3 boats, climbed into two taxis and
toured the island that reminds several of Hawaii.  The last volcanic eruption
was in 1957-8 and displaced many families. Most of those went to the USA. It
also added several more acres of land mass to the island. A light house we saw
used to have two stories with eight windows on each story. Today the same light
house shows only the top of the second story windows.

The population of the island of Fiail today is about 16,000.  People earn their
living from dairy farming and fishing. Cattle are exported to Portugal and
slaughtered there. Cattle are pastured everywhere, tethered and moved twice a
day. Farmers go to the cows in the fields with portable milking machines, and then take the milk to cooperative creameries which specialize in
cheeses. Exported items include processed dairy products, cheese, butter and
milk.  All kinds of vegetables are grown on the island.  There is a wonderful
supermarket.

The steep grassy slopes are divided into small parcels by hedgerows of
hydrangeas. Yes, the flowering shrubs which are in full bloom now.  From a
distance they look like stone fences.  Hydrangeas are every where, not just in
the fields.

Six large modern windmills produce about 20% of the electricity, the remainder
being produced by diesel.

Friday 29th started with a brisk, breezy walk.  Then it was a work day for David
and Dennis.  They spent all morning in the “holy room” changing oil,  re-packing 
stuffing boxes, replacing a bilge pump etc. etc. 

Lowie and I finished the graffiti which Milt started.  Yes graffiti, legal
graffiti.  Each boat arriving in the harbor is encouraged to paint a greeting on
the wall or road that encompasses the marina.  We calculated (roughly) that the painted areas would cover 3 football fields.  The
average size of each sign is 2’ x2’.  It looks like a long patch work quilt.
Each block includes a logo, picture or drawing, boat name, crew names and the
date. Our group decided to paint the Med Bound Flag and add each boat name on a panel to the right.  This is a wonderful tradition which started in 1949.  Milt
started the process by locating a faded beyond recognition spot, which happened to be adjacent to the Nordhavn North Atlantic Rally sign.  He prepared the concrete surface, painted the background, masked, blocked and painted some of the letters.  Lowie and I finished the design, applied a second coat to the letters and added the boat names.  Then when we took the masking tape off,
touched up the bleed through.  A vertical concrete surface is tough but we were
happy with the end result. 

Esther did laundry and baked a mixed berry pie from a bag of frozen berries
found in the bottom of the freezer.  A great find.   David, Lowie and Dannie went shopping.  David lit the BBQ and we enjoyed local beef
and local produce in a tossed salad.    All is well.

Saturday, 30th started early as 10 of the 11 members of the group traveled to
Pico via ferry.  There we were met by a guide and divided into 2 taxis for a
tour of the Island. 

The most distinguishing feature is the 7500’ volcano. This magnificent peak,
often shrouded in clouds, still has a cone instead of the more typical open top. 

The Island of Pico is known for its wine production.  The interesting and
amazing thing about this is that there is practically NO soil on this volcanic
island.  The grapes are grown in very small (some less than 100 square feet)
enclosures made by hand laid volcanic rock walls 4’ high.  Our first glimpse of
this was a small area which we thought was a maze.  Our guide told us that, to
clear space for the vines, the walls were laid up.  A benefit of this is that
the black lava walls absorb heat and radiate heat through the night time.  The grapes are sweeter because of the heat and the dryness due to lack of soil.
This patchwork of small blocks goes on for acres.  It is even more incredible to
think that each of these plots is planted, pruned, sprayed, harvested and
carried “out” manually,  truly hard work.  Thinking about climbing over each 4’
wall every few paces with a heavy load is mind boggling.  Perhaps a “bucket
brigade” is formed, still an impressive agricultural endeavor.

Our guide took us to a winery and to a cheese factory.  Factory is a stretch as
the “cheese” building was perhaps 500 square feet.  There were 4 workers making cheese.  Samples of previous batches were available and delicious.

We were taken to a beautiful forested park with swing sets, picnic tables,
barbeque pits, lovely paths, and an awesome view of the ocean.

This was followed by a “buffet” lunch at a small restaurant with an excellent
view.  The buffet included fish, eel, sausage, beef stew, vegetables, potatoes,
cheese and bread.  Also served was a sherry wine before lunch, wine with lunch, wine after lunch. I tried a sip but
none of them suited me. 

After lunch we took a group picture on the church steps.  A ride up the volcanic
mountainside brought us to a lovely fresh water lake complete with ducks.

Most fascinating was a tour of a whaling museum and the 1970’s movie on the
local whaling industry.  Whaling was abandoned in 1990 as a result of an
international agreement.

The tour concluded with a return ride on the ferry past scenic volcanic rocks.

Sunday, July 1st, after gathering for a group photo, we all focused on different
tasks.  Grateful that departure was postponed until Tuesday, each of us focused
on our own priorities.  For Dennis and me it was waiting for a visit from Horta
residents who are acquaintances of friends of ours from Florida.  We had a
delightful visit and received a broad view of life on the island of Faial.  They
have been living here for 11 years.   The “small world” aspect of this visit is
that this couple also knew the owners of Bluewater.

Monday July 2nd, was spent in preparation for departure.  Dennis and I walked to the Farmer’s Market and purchased fruit. Later, Lowie, Judy (Bluewater) and I
walked to the supermarket, completed provisioning and shared a cab back to the boat.  Wonderful bread is baked on the island so I did not bake bread, leaving that for a calm day on the passage.  There is something very energizing in the aroma of fresh backed bread, brownies or pies.  Dennis and David did blue jobs. 

Chicken and meatloaf were baked should rough weather prevent us from cooking underway.  Laundry was completed.  A dinner of pasta, seldom cooked underway, was enjoyed.

At dinner, Lowie shared that she loves the thrill of arriving in a port and the
excitement of leaving and heading to another, truly the spirit of a sailor.

Tomorrow we depart at 9:00 AM for Gibraltar, 1123 nautical miles away. 
Actually, the weather router has encouraged us to alter our course for best
conditions, increasing the distance to 1145 nautical miles.  Our leader has stated it will take 7.2 days traveling
at 6.6knots.  The course takes us through “whale watching” territory, and we are
hopeful of a sighting.  We will let you know. 

        

Thursday June 28, 2007
Horta, Azores
Contributed by David
 
We did a day tour of Faial today with stop for lunch including pitchers of local red wine that tasted like Passover wine to me--but Lowie just kept pouring it down--to suffer latter. The tour included a visit to the site of a volcanic eruption in 1957-8 which added to the western part of the island and destroyed many of the homes there and to the north. We visited a cheese factory and bought 24 quarts of box milk and 54 small containers of chocolate milk in snack size boxes. Esther bought some cheese which didn't motivate us. We are doing the island of Pico on Sat. which makes a different type of cheese and if we like it we will buy a 5 Kilo wheel. Drove up to the top of the Caldera in the clouds--somewhat reminded us of Bali but the fields were terraced for cattle rather than rice.
 
 Ya know how Rachael Ray does $40.00 a day. She did an episode on Bermuda and we ate at the same pub. Ya might get breakfast for $40--way over priced. On the other hand Lowie and I together could get by on $20/day here. We stopped at a local joint called Jack Pote and had 2 bowls of hot carrot soup and split a long baguette grilled with cheese, ham and tomato for E4.20. Dannie was with us so we ate at an out side table--our type of joint. Last night we split a dinner at an upscale place (upscale for doodles anyway) where they served a platter of raw tuna, squid, chicken, beef, pork and shrimp with 2 salad /veggie plates and 2 bowls of french fries. We each had a very hot rectangular lava stone to cook our own food and they renewed the lava stone mid meal--that was a splurge meal at E22. Now I really went the stretch and after a walk we split a cake bowl filled with soft serve and hot fudge for E2.00.
 
Lowie, Dannie and I walked a good distance to the hypermercado up a long hill--Lowie faded out but I continued and she eventually made it to to the store as I was leaving. I walked out with 2 big bags of fruit--apples, oranges, a coconut, mango, nectarines and half bbq chicken and a bag of fried potato sticks E13--we sat on the lawn by the store and ate the chicken and potato sticks then washed it down with a fanta orange soda--life in the fast lane with doodles
 
We are tied up to a concrete wall with fenders holding the boat off. We were advised to place fenders on the outside of the boat in anticipation of another boat rafting to us. After 2 nights alone--tonight I came back to a cat tied to our port side and held in place by our port cleats--just the way they do it here. The other 2 Nordhavns also have boats rafted to them.
 
Doodles dawg is getting lots of walks around town--narrow street and very narrow side walks.

 

Tuesday June 26, 2007
Horta, Azores
Contributed by Lowie

We made it! Twelve good days at sea and then we saw land! I am currently
sitting in the office of our maritime agent using his computer. I left my
reading glasses on the boat but I want to thank everyone for the birthday
greetings.

Horta, Azores is beautiful. I am currently looking at the mountain, Pico,
which is often covered by clouds. The islands are volcanic and the cliffs as
we approached are black and majestic. Last night we took our first off boat
meal in 12 days. We went to the Sport Cafe. In the world of cruisers this is
mecca. if your are at this cafe you have just crossed an ocean1

Dannie is thrilled to sniff grass again. She started to sniff land out at
least 30 miles. I am happy that we had a very uneventful crossing but felt
no great urgency to be on land. I expected the ground to sway as it has
before on trips but we seem fine. Horta is filled with all accents. Last
night at dinner David and I were the only Americans. Not uncomfortable. We
plan on touring the islands as soon as our energy returns... the night
watches are the toughest part of the trip.

Anyway, I might not be able to return individual e mails so please know that
this blog is collective hug! If there are days with no new blog entry it
simply means our sat phone is glitching. In our life there are many
glitches! PS- look on your maps for the dot called the Azores-- they are
still 1000 miles from Gibralta.