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LOG ENTRY DATE: June 28, 2003 Katie arrived at 1630 on Wednesday (June 25), the trip from Ponta Delgado on Sao Miguel (130 miles away) having taken longer than the trip from Boston to Sao Miguel. On the way, though, she was able to see some of the sights of Sao Miguel, which were quite beautiful. Katie also arrived with a 60 pound duffel bag, full of parts for the boat, as well as a new computer for me from the office. Lastly, a "bribe" of Triscuits and Reese's Cups for the guy who works at Mid Atlantic Yacht Services in Horta, who are performing some repairs on the boat... he's from New Hampshire, and apparently those two items are impossible to find in the Azores. It is my hope that the service will improve accordingly. The evening was spent with Hidde and Annebeth, a young Dutch couple who had been circling the Atlantic for the last year, and were heading slowly home. Because they had both sailed extensively through Portugal, Spain, the Med, Madeira, and the Canaries, they were an invaluable source of information for our future travels. We opened up our Royal Cruising Club guides, and they pointed out the places to go, and to avoid. Thursday found us exploring the island, including my 4th trip to the big Caldiera! I am going to apply for a job as a tour guide to the area. After that, an almost full circumnavigation of the island by car, including another visit to the volcano that erupted in 1958. Interestingly, I found that touring with Katie is far different than touring with "the guys"... with the guys, you zoom up to a sight, ogle at it from the car window, and burn rubber towards the next stop. With Katie, we took our time, read the signs, walked around, and generally absorbed a little more. The only thing that was the same was that I still refused to ask directions to anywhere—which prevented us from finding the volcano museum that I would have liked to see. Also, from the high vantage point of the volcano site, we were able to see what several people said were blue whales surfacing about 1/2 mile off the coast. Certainly they were quite large, and their spouts very impressive. Indeed, our "next door neighbors" on the seawall (Hidde and Annebeth)—who went out whale watching—saw blue whales and finback whales, the largest two in existence. Friday was spent hiking along the back roads and trails of an area to the north of Horta. We simply picked out what looked like hiking trails from a guide map, drove the car in that general direction, and then got out to walk when the road more or less ended. What we found was that there is an extensive series of rough roads that criss-cross the lower areas of the island, where farmers put their livestock out in the fields, or where they do some cultivating of crops. The roads cover great distances, up and down over ridges and valleys, and give access to the wonderful hedge rowed fields that form a quilted pattern over the whole island. In the 4 hours we hiked, we saw only two people, a large number of cows, and lots of birds. We were also delighted by the flora of the island, which is just coming into bloom. The hedgerows are comprised in great part by the extremely hardy hydrangeas, which bloom light blue in huge clumps. While Katie and I have been in the tourist role, Tom has been in the boat repair mode, and singlehandedly taken care of several issues: first, he re-threaded the gooseneck bolts with Helicoils, which allowed him to refasten it to the mast. Then, with the banding and banding tool that Tom Woodruff generously lent us (and which Katie lugged across the Atlantic), he further reinforced the repair with two strong straps of stainless steel (pics here and here). He also managed to cure a water leak that had appeared in the bottom of the propane locker, as well as guide the fridge repairman in recharging the engine drive system once the new hose was in place. All in all, a lot of repairs have been accomplished. We returned to the "mother ship" on Friday for a dinner of grilled chicken with Tom, and then closed the night with the inevitable glass of port at the Cafe Sport. As I write this, Katie and I are on a plane to the island of Flores, where we will spend several days hiking. Flores is about 130 miles east of Faial, and we both wanted to see it... it has the reputation of being the prettiest island of the group, renowned for it's hiking trails. |
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