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Hydrangea hedges in July line country roads on most of the Azorean islands


We found the Portugese islands of the Azores to be absolutely stunning. Nine islands formed by volcanic eruptions and upthrusted tectonic plates 800 miles off the coast of Portugal with a unique subtropical climate. We spent a total of thirteen weeks there and explored five of the nine islands. We began writing this blog from the anchorage of the historic port of Angra do Heroismo on the island of Terceira where Columbus stopped in several times, Drake attacked in 1587, Cortez, Cabot and Vasco da Gama left from to "discover" the new world, and the city was a strong resistance to the Spanish occupation in the 1500’s – hence the name "Herismo". The city was designated as a world heritage site by the United Nations in 1980, and it has been proudly restored and renovated to its former glory.
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Landfall at Faial after 30 days at sea was very welcome (see the blog on the Atlantic crossing). Horta is the port that most yachts stop at to replenish and recover, and most unfortunately (for them) do not stay long, nor visit other islands. Horta is 'Party City" and Peter's Cafe Sport is the venue. Chinook tied up at the reception dock for the first night as the small anchorage was full and we could not get a slip in the marina until the next day. The beer at Peter's Cafe was inexpensive Portugese Sagres on tap and after 30 days of abstaining we certainly wet out dry throats along with the crews of several other boats we had chatted with on the short wave radio at sea.
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First impressions of the Azores included the friendliness of the people, the cleanliness of the town and the European "old-style" buildings. Volcanic rock is the traditional construction material and the old houses with their two feet-thick stone walls are sturdy as well as pretty. Most buildings are white stuccoed on the outside and plastered on the inside and without exception have corrugated tile roofs – all terracotta orange. There is much renovation and construction in progress, with old houses being reconstructed and refurbished and two new hotels in the town almost completed, one of which was sacrilegiously built inside the walls of a 17th century fort.
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Chinook in the Horta Marina
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Although not a large island, Faial has a lot to offer both the tourist as well as yachties. Needing the services of Ralf the local sailmaker we were pleasantlty surprised to find him inexpensive and thorough. Mid Atlantic Yacht Services has a small chandlery, repair services and a good bookswap – important after 30 days at sea. There is a large new supermarket on the outskirts of town where we purchased el cheapo bicycles (65 Euros) the intention being to see the islands leisurely and painfully. A local market square where vendors sell their home-grown fruits and vegetables, eggs, cheeses, sausages, jams - was a daily stop, and the fresh fish stall behind the market always had a good selection. Two good butcher shops nearby have excellent beef and pork. Both internet cafes in town provided fast connections.
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Renting a van for a day with other yachties we toured the volcanic crater - the Caldeira (most islands have a caldeira or two), the site of the 1957-58 volcanic eruption. We also stopped at a beach, a botanical garden, a national park, and will never admit to becoming lost on unnamed, narrow, hydrangea lined back roads with contented cows posing for photos. Local cheeses, tasty thick-crusted Portugese bread and wine was our lunch.
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Curing cheeses on San Jorge
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The Portugese language was the first real difficulty here for us. It is "akin" to Spanish, but a distant kin. Debby has a very good grasp of Spanish and I "got by" in the D.R., but Portugese is so full of "sh" sounds (every c, z, g and s) - that was truly foreign. Many words are different to Spanish also. Our saving was that many locals speak English - particularly younger people, and we have met many returned ex-pats who have spent working years in North America and have come back to visit or resetttle. The radio stations play a lot of British and North American songs. The very friendly people always made a real effort to help us understand and improve our Portugese. With the European Cup (soccer) being hosted by Portugal and the Portugese team reaching the finals, language barriers fell with the exhuberance at the bars and restaurants - if you cheered for Portugal.
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It was good in some ways to be back in marinas for the first time in over two years. $10 CAD - $13 NZD a day included water, electricity and showers - and a deal for paying for a month in advance. It was an international community ; North Americans were in the minority for a change - many English, French, German, Dutch boats and even a Kiwi and Aussie boat. We met many new people all with their interesting tales of crossing oceans. It is a long-standing tradition (and bad luck not to) for a visiting yacht to paint a sign on the marina wall. As you can imagine there are now literally thousands of boat signs. Of course we added ours.
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The nearby island of Pico is the newest (geologically) and has a near-perfect volcanic cone at the north end which rises 3500 metres (7600 feet) asl. The anchorage is not well protected, but the half hour ferry ride costs only E2.80. The hike to the top takes about three hours from the park entrance, and with friends and packed lunches, slipping and sliding, crawling and stumbling, on an unbelievably cloudless and clear day, we could see the other four islands of the central group from the summit. Pico is otherwise known for its inexpensive but drinkable red wines in the huge five-litre jugs and we found space aboard for some of those (one at a time). We only visited the island twice, a pity.
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Climbing Pico on a georgeous day
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Sao Jorge. Deciding to splurge and take our bikes over on the ferry and hotel it for a night (again because of a small less-protected anchorage) we did just that. The cheese factory was on the way to northern lighthouse, and the 25 kilometers we biked the first day were felt the next. Sao Jorge is the most mountainous island and the roads must have been planned by a roller-coaster designer. We dined on local fish that night which unfortunately went right through us the next day, cutting our cycling short and necessitating a second (recovery) night in the hotel.
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Next island, a 10 hour day sail to the tiny Graciosa, the first to be discovered (1450) - previuosly uninhabited. It has a protected anchorage in all but easterly winds (no marina) which was small, deep and busy with the local fishermen, with only a few other visiting yachts. Another very pretty island, and the least mountainous of them all - perfect for bicycles. And we cycled the island - up to its Caldeira and down into the crater - twice. At the bottom of this caldeira is a cave (the Furna do Enxofre)100 metres deep with boiling sulphurous mud pools and a lake (the lake now inaccessable because of poisonous fumes). Did that. The beach on the coast on the side of the Caldeira boasts a natural hot pool which turned out to be warm water bubbling up through the sand into the cold sea water. An interesting phenomenon, but not as warm for our bones for our liking.
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Graciosa is known for its white wines. We found a small winery, Casa de Conde, which makes a "fair" white (E3.00), an aperitife (E7.00), and distills a brandy (E9.00) from an ancient wood-fired still. Purchasing a bottle of each after a short guided tour, the backpacks much heavier, we biked back through the first Azorean chartered town, Santa Cruz. Three chapels (the oldest dating back to the 15th century) are built around a volcanic crater rim above that town, with the local bull fighting ring in the crater. A huff and puff on the bikes, but worth it. Old Flemish-style windmills (see photo) dot the countryside, all in disuse and disrepair, some now being refurbished as houses.
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The Running of the Bulls
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The island of Terceira was another day sail from Graciosa, and we spent two weeks there, anchoring for a few days, but then sheltering in the brand spanking new (inexpensive) marina with the approach of bad weather. It is rather ironic that we had spent two seasons in the hurricane zone of the Atlantic with no threat of even a tropical storm, and then the Azores was threatened by the approach of Hurricane "Danielle". She did peter out however before getting too near The weather here was warm (20 – 25 C) and sunny almost every day.
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As luck would have it there was a huge festival in the other major city, Praia (45 minute bus ride away), and we saw a "running of the bulls" event – could almost touch the bull from our high perch at one point, but opted not to tempt the bull into chasing us, a "rock concert" with the Moody Blues – that great 70’s British group (remember "Knights in White Satin"), visited yet another winery in Biscoitos (a grape growing area), biked a lot, swam in the cool ocean and visited many historic buildings in this very historic city. One of the highlights for us was a visit to caves formed by volcanic action millions of years ago, then to the nearby fumeroles (escaping steam heated by hot rocks deep underground). .
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Fumeroles - trying not to breathe the fumes...
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The last island we visited was San Miguel – and we think we saved the best for last. An over night sail from Terceira (92 nm) to the largest island, and the most "developed", visited (by tourists – although not many), More magnificent scenery combined with interesting places such boiling mud and hot thermal pools (yes, we soaked our weary bones in the pools), pineapple and tea plantations, botanical gardens with exotic and indigenous flora, wild coastlines, plus many modern conveniences that the other islands lacked. One highlight here was putting our bikes in the trunk of a taxi and taking them up to a crater lake 3500 feet above sea level, hiking the lake, then coasting the 11 kilometers down the road all the way back to the town. Halfway down, we observed the two geothermal power stations and we soaked in the warm pool under the naturally hot waterfall.
Many of the visits and activities we do with other cruisers. Sharing taxis, renting cars, or simply getting in a bus together as a group and taking off for a day makes for an inexpensive and fun day. Joe and Michele on Peregrine, Greg and Danielle on Mary Madeleine, and Eric and Carlene on Island Time were our main companions. We met many other interesting and experienced yachties there also who we will keep in contact with and will look forward to meeting up with the future
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Caldeira at Sete Cididades, San Miguel

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