Faial

Hi everyone,

We spent a week anchored in Horta harbour on the island of Faial.  Horta was the starting point for the OCC 70th anniversary Macaronesia cruise in company.  We met the crews of SVs Caballito da Mar IX, Coromandel, Metzi and Photon Infinity soon after arriving.  The others arrived around the same time as us, but from the Canaries, Azores and Europe.  We spent a great week exploring the town and island together.

Zen Again in Horta Harbour

A focal point for sailors in Horta is the famous Peter's Sport Cafe.  There's a long relationship between the cafe owners and the OCC so we were made very welcome.

The Cafe

View over the marina and harbour towards Pico

A get-together at Peter's

One day we taxied up to the Botanical Gardens.  Interesting place with lots to see including many orchids.

From the Gardens we walked back to Horta.  A park in town had several Black Swans which reminded us of home.

Black Swans in Horta park

Another day we did a half-day minibus tour of Faial, briefly seeing most of the key spots around the island.

Cruisers in Company

View of Horta from the North

Caldera

Selfie!

View down a river gorge on the North coast

Old lighthouse partly buried by 1950s eruption at Ponta dos Capelinhos

Ponta dos Capelinhos

Towards the end of our stay we had the 'official launch' dinner for the cruise.  It was of course at Peter's Cafe Sport.  We had a great dinner with Jose shouting us the first round of drinks and giving each boat a 'show bag' with postcards, burgee and a bottle of Peter's gin.  A great night.  We gave Jose a well-used OCC burgee from our last two year's cruising.

Dinner at Peter's

Zen Again OCC burgee on the wall at Peter's

A Great Night!

The following day we walked around Monte da Guia to Porto Pim where there's a nice black sand swimming beach and several cafes.

View from Monte da Guia

Porto Pim

On our final day in Faial the cruising gang taxied up to the Caldera to walk the rim.  We were very lucky with the weather and had a great walk.

We're so glad we decided to do an Atlantic Circuit to revisit the Azores and Canaries.  Doing it with the OCC cruise in company has made it even more fun, and we're just getting started!

Flores to Horta

Hi everyone,

We had a great 130nm passage from Lajes in Flores to Horta in Faial.  Mostly sunny skies with nearby rain showers on departure and around midnight.  We had 10-15 knots of WSW all day and until 0200 at night.  Then the wind died after a brief shower so we motored the rest of the way.

Under full sail

Here are the usual plots...

Track

Arrival

Graphs

Two other boats left Flores within an hour or two of us.  One was a largish catamaran and the other a Boreal 49 monohull.  We beat them both to Horta.  Zen Again loves a 10-15 knot reach!  This was a rare occasion when we carried full sail.  Great 26 hour passage.

Farewell Flores

Along the way we noticed the AIS range was unusually long.  We could see boats in Horta harbour from over 60nm away...

60nm+ AIS range

With possible overnight rain showers forecast we reefed the main for the night.  Zen Again was still doing 6+ knots under full yankee and single-reefed main.  But after midnight and a brief shower the wind died and the motor got a run.

First reef for the night

Early morning approach to Faial

Approaching Horta

Preparing to anchor

It was great to make landfall in Horta again.  Our previous visit was in 2016 on our way to the UK.  We loved it so much we decided to do our current North Atlantic circuit.

Zen Again in Horta with Pico in background

We're joining an OCC cruise in company here which will tour the Macaronesian Islands (Azores, Madeira & Canaries - who knew?).  This will keep us busy for the next two months.

Within an hour of arriving we were cleared-in for 90 days in the Schengen Zone  Neither St Pierre nor Flores are in Schengen.  We may fly to the UK for a few weeks after the OCC cruise to extend our Schengen departure into December for our next Atlantic crossing.

The Harbour Master noted that this is the first year he's had visitors anchored in the harbour in late-August.  Normally they've departed eastward.  A marina spot would cost us E20/night and it's half that at anchor.  We may treat ourselves to a couple of nights in the marina to join the other OCC boats.

Trust all's well where you are!

Flores

Hi everyone,

We've now been in Flores for five days.  The first three were spent cleaning up Zen Again after our passage from St Pierre and reorganising for warm weather cruising.  We reprovisioned, rewatered, refilled the diesel tanks from jerries, cleaned on deck and below, and serviced the engine.  The Club Navale's a great spot for an evening beer.

Exploring Flores

We spent day four exploring the local town of Lajes.  It's a short walk up a steep hill.  There's an impressive small church, a nice park, several small supermarkets, a hardware store, an ATM and several restaurants.  A neat and tidy little town.

Lajes Harbour

Lajes Church

Westernmost town in Europe

Pastel de Nata!

On day five we took an all-day tour of the island with Mystic Tours.  What a spectacular island this is.  We'll let the photos do the talking...

North coast with Corvo in the distance

North coast

Moss on the upper hill slopes

Lakes

Invasive ginger plants everywhere

Lakes in the clouds

Lakes in the sun

South coast volcanic 'beach'

Heading for the south coast waterfall

Waterfall with swimming pool

Up the track to the waterfalls

Climbing

Spectacular waterfalls and lake

West coast

Back at the lakes

South coast

We're so glad we stopped in Flores.  We hope the other Azores islands prove to be equally spectacular!