Passage to Açores

We left La Caruna on May 1st with high hopes of an easy passage to the Azores (spelled Açores everywhere else in the world). After all, Captain Larry and First Mate Dominique had captured a rainbow the night before our departure. Our plan was to head a bit south from Spain and arc up into the Açores, but after 12 hours of heading due west toward the tip of Spain with nothing but a head wind from the west, we were then unable to turn south. The wind had shifted, due to a low, now coming from due south. So we headed for a more northern route to the islands.




First we had to cross the 4 shipping lanes on the northwest coast of Spain. Two go north and two go south, one each for "dangerous" and "non-dangerous" cargos. Captain Larry had timed our departure from La Caruna so that we would reach the shipping lanes: 1) on his watch; and 2) at night so that the ships would be easier to see with their navigation lights on. There were quite a few ships, but we managed to give them all wide berth ... until just as we were leaving the shipping lanes, Dominique suddenly had to give-way to a rather large whale that passed 10 meters off our bow. Now we can definitely state that we "brake for whales."



Once out of the shipping lanes, we soon entered the first of 2 low pressure areas that greatly affected our trip. As noted earlier, the wind was 20 to 30 knots from the south, so we headed west with the seas getting quite choppy. As we took waves over our bow, sea water began to leak into the boat from what we now think was the air vents in the back of the anchor locker. It wasn´t ever too serious, but had to be dealt with in less than pleasant sailing conditions. At the same time, we lost half of our fresh water in the first 48 hours, when we believe the sea action (though only about 10 feet) "sloshed" tens of gallons out of the water tank vents. We were already on water rationing, so that continued, and we had plenty of bottled water to make it to the Açores--just no baths; so we were all a little gamey after 9 days at sea.

There are no photos from our rough weather sailing because: 1) I did not want to get my camera wet; 2) we were all either too busy or too tired for photos; and 3) truth be told, I was often hanging on to the stern railings giving everything I had to the sea. Larry, Dominique and Alex were perfect gentlemen about it and never made me feel more like a sea sissy than I already did; and I would like to thank them.

In the brief lull between the two lows, we did manage to create some fun with man-overboard drills. Alex spotted a fender drifting in the sea and made casual note of the fact. To which, Larry began shouting "Man Overboard!" and we moved (a bit awkwardly) into action. With Dominique at the helm, Alex at the ready and Larry shouting orders, we managed to rescue the drowning fender. However, Alex would not follow through with mouth-to-mouth resusitation.







We got another chance when I spotted a drowning fishing buoy. This time, with Alex at the helm and Dominique at the ready, we attempted another rescue. After it was clear the poor man overboard would not make it, Captain Larry showed us how a pro does it. Again no volunteers for mouth-to-mouth, but we did end up with two extra bumpers. It was all quite exhausting, however, and the crew took a much need rest. Here is Dominique--completely wiped out from the rescues and Alex recovering on the trampoline, dreaming of his next bilge duty.....








After going through 2 lows with the winds against us, we then had a period of too little wind, and again had to motor. During these respites, Dominique and Alex played competitive chess matches, but always ended up friends. Larry could do his crossword puzzles when he was not pulling double duty as Galley Chef.








As for me, when not on watch, I tried to break all records for most sleeping on an ocean passage--sorry, no photos of that either. We were visited by a couple of whales, many dolphins and a few lost swallows and passed the occasional ship, all of which could easily capture our attention and eased the feeling of being so alone in such a big ocean.






So we ended up on the Island of Faial and the town of Horta on Friday, May 9th. It´s a beautiful island and we can see the volcano on Pico as if it were a short walk away. Faial is known as the blue island because it has so many blue hydrangeas on it. There is a scrimshaw museum dedicated to telling the story of the whaling in this area, and Horta is where Joshua Slocum, in 1895, put in when making his first solo cirumnavigation of the world.

The Marina is interesting for the many paintings left by boats that have past through. Whileat first the paintings look like a lot of graffiti, they tells the story of those brave enough to cross the Atlantic and reminds us all of how nice it is to have the Açores as a resting stop along the way.

Today, Sunday May 11th, I happened across a procession. The tradition here is to decorate the center of the street with flowers and dyed sand. Tomorrow and Tuesday are holidays so I think today´s procession must be the beginning of the celebrations.



We plan to leave tomorrow morning, Monday, May 12th. Again, our intention is to sail a bit south of Bermuda to avoid the lows and arc up to the island in 12 to 14 days.

Talk to you then, in the meantime, Happy Mothers Day to all mothers who read this post.

Best wishes,

Jennifer