THE CAPTAINS' LOG
II. THE SECOND LEG: BERMUDA TO THE AZORES
Trip Report # 7
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 06:00:32 -0400
Hi Everyone:
The last 2 days in Bermuda were filled with preparation - laundry, filling up on propane, getting dinghy fuel and diesel fuel, sending mail and arranging for mail to be forwarded, charging the batteries, filling the water tanks, trying to set up communication nets with other boats enroute to the Azores, and of course, saying goodbye to friends we made here.
The supermarket in Bermuda was well-stocked and had a good supply of fresh produce, though not what one might expect at Harris-Teeter or Publix or Wegmans at home. The prices are variable-sometimes very high, occasionally reasonable, considering that many items must be imported. Four ears of locally grown corn cost $4.69 and a small bunch of local carrots cost $2.29 (can't blame this on the cost of importing food - must be supply/demand). Chicken breasts, boneless, were $4.95 a pound and ground sirloin was $1.95 a pound. Granny Smith apples were $.98ea. Keebler chocolate chip cookies in a 12 oz. bag cost $4.85; however, Chocolate Bourbon cream cookies from the UK were only $2.09 for a similar weight package. There was a good supply of Thai seasonings and products as well as Indian curries and foods. A case of Heinekans beer was $ 32.80 and a 750ml. bottle of South African Sauvignon Blanc was $8.95 on sale, normally about $10.00.
To give you some idea about the prices of other services here: Dinner in a restaurant in Bermuda, including a glass of wine, cost about $45 to $95 per couple. While we were there I went to a hairdresser for a haircut, which cost me $28 (it usually costs me $8 at home - talk about getting clipped). Tom's haircut was $15 (he usually only pays $6 at home). The Sunday New York Times, available at 4pm on Sunday in Bermuda was only $5.75 (I paid $8 in the Bahamas). A half-hour on-line in a cybercafe cost $6 and often they would let us use it for a whole hour for the same price.
We had heard that Bermuda was very expensive and some things were. But we had a wonderful visit and the people we met here were all so friendly, helpful and gracious and that is priceless.
We exited Bermuda through Town Cut at 1:50 pm on June 19 and are now on our way to the Azores. We covered 100 miles our first day in very light wind, finally motoring through the night and most of June 20. Herb Hilgenberger believes that these conditions will continue into Wednesday, when we will get some moderate wind from the southwest. The ocean today looked glassy smooth with a periodic puff of 2-3 kts. of wind that would tantalize us into thinking the wind was up, only to have it dwindle and disappear again. In these conditions, Tom is usually tweaking sails like crazy and trying one light air sail after another until they're all used a couple of times each. But he's become more rational and is moderating his "racing mode" MO. The fact remains though, that we have a trip of 1850 nm with only enough fuel to motor 700nm, so fuel management will be a significant problem.
Pray for good wind-
73s, 88s, love & hugs,
Peg, Tom & Garry
Trip Report #8
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1999 20:00:19 -0400
Hello Everyone:
We are now out from Bermuda 5 days. Our present location is 33 49.9N 54 07.2W and we have 1319 nm to go to arrive at Horta. We have actually sailed 604 nm but have altered the great circle course that we'd plotted prior to leaving Bermuda several times in order to get favorable winds at a fast angle and to avoid some pesky low pressure systems that are out here. On the morning of Tuesday, June 22, we started to get wind over 10 knots from the southeast. We put up the asymmetrical spinnaker and sailed all day, taking it down at sunset, since the wind was building and we did not want to deal with perhaps having to take it down during the night. Since then we have had wind in the 15-20+ range and beautiful sailing.
The first 2 days with light winds gave us a chance to get oriented on the boat and to develop a routine. Group dynamics within a crew on a boat are as interesting as they are anywhere and require as much thought as in the workplace or any social setting where work needs to get done. For instance, when setting up watch schedules, we took into account that 2 of us are good "short nappers" and 1 of us is not. Peg can't sleep right after eating, Garry can, and Tom can't stay awake after eating. Therefore, Peg takes the 9-12 midnight watch; Tom takes the 12 midnight to 3am watch; and Garry is on duty 3am to 6am. So, we all get a stretch of 6 hours sleep, during which we are not disturbed, unless the person on watch needs help. And then we will all usually get a short nap during the day. We made a group decision to maintain this schedule every day, thinking that the regularity of it would help each of us sleep better. We also decided that we would check every few days to see if it is still satisfactory for each of us. Another example: if something needs to be done requiring teamwork, Garry finds it helpful to get an overview of the whole project, including what the end product should look like and what his role in it will be. Tom and I have worked together so long that we don't have to talk about what we're doing and forget that other people aren't privy to our little mind-reading techniques. So, now we review the process before we do something, like jibing the spinnaker, so we all know what everyone will be doing. We are fortunate to have our friend, Garry, with us. He's a very easy-going person, will do anything that needs to be done, is eager to learn new things, approaches the trip with enthusiasm, and has a great sense of humor - he's just fun to be with and an ideal crew member.
We have been dragging a line behind the boat for most of the 5 days. On the first day, we got a hit by a fairly large fish, but he "got away" and we haven't had a nibble since. There have got to be some hungry or dumb (after all, what self-respecting fish would fall for a big hook with what looks like a neon pink or chartreuse grass skirt on it) out here! Speaking of fish, on Day 3, Garry woke me a little early for my watch saying, "Peg - get up -whales!" And indeed we were sailing through a pod of large fish - 12 feet and more - but we were unable to identify the type of whale. They came near the boat, blowing frequently. Several appeared to be sleeping on top of the water, they were a very dark gray almost black on the back (and they were not dolphins).
73s, 88s, love & hugs,
Peg, Tom & Garry (who had nothing to do with writing the nice things we said about him at the end of paragraph 2)
Trip Report #9
Date: 6/26/99 12:02:15 PM
Hi Y'all:
We have now been out from Bermuda exactly 1 week. We are at 34 00N 44 17W and we have traveled 878 nm from Bermuda. Only 972 nm to go to the Azores. We feel like we're on the superhighway to the Azores, ticking off the 170+ mile days as we have been these last few days.
Garry is not a landlubber. He raced with us for many years and went with us offshore from the Bahamas to Beaufort NC. But this is his (and our) first really long offshore cruise and I thought it might be interesting to get his perspective on passage-making as a way to spend the first and only 1 month long vacation he has ever had in his life. He has the following impressions:
1. The worst thing about passage-making is the sameness of the passing landscape - he's at the point now that the sight of a flying fish or a piece of flotsam is an exciting event.
2. He is amazed at the amount of time we spend on weather - getting weather fax and satellite photos, analyzing the information, checking into weather nets and talking to other boats about weather. I heard him say to Tom last night, "If you're going to talk about weather some more, I'm going to find something else to do".
3. He gets enough sleep but does not feel fully rested. And he is dreaming more when he does sleep and remembering the dreams (something we note, also, and must have something to do with the quality or amount of REM sleep).
4. He loves being able to do e-mail on the boat and stay in touch with his family and friends. He also likes the fact that we are Ham Radio licensed and so were able to arrange for him to talk with his wife with the help of a ham operator we know in Rochester (friend Frank WB2DZF).
5. He likes being able to take a freshwater shower in the cockpit and the fact that our watermaker enables us to have plenty of water.
6. He likes the night time on the water. It's cool, balmy, very pleasant after the heat of the sun and there is no better place to watch stars - and we've had a waxing moon with us.
7. He likes the food, is truly amazed that we (the royal we) can cook on the boat, and he thinks having a good cook on board is extremely important on a passage.
8. He appreciates the peacefulness - away from the pressures of his business and many projects.
9. He likes the sense of anticipation, that what we have now will change and there will be a new challenge, some other problems to work out. I thought he would be anticipating arrival at Horta, but he has mixed feelings about that. He likes being out here, so arrival means the end of this whole experience; on the other hand, he's as eager to see the Azores as we are.
Till next time,
Peg, Tom & Garry
Trip Report #10
Date: 6/28/99 12:02:47 PM
Hi Everybody:
We are exactly 9 days out of Bermuda and our position is 34 46N 41 15W. We have traveled 1177 nm and have 546 nm to go to get to Flores, the first island we'll sight in the Azores Archepaelego, or 673 nm to Horta, on the island of Faial. We are trying to make a decision now about whether to stop at Flores first. Since we are making such good time and Garry has the time, we'd like to stop and explore Flores before going on to Horta. More will be revealed.
We spotted more whales this morning and we believe that they are pilot whales. As I write this we are sailing under spinnaker, wind southwest 15-20 kts, and moving through a school of tuna. Not one is attracted to any one of the 3 lines we are dragging and Tom and Garry are going bonkers!
This morning, over our breakfast of egg-beater vegetable omelets with homemade bread, we remarked that we were all feeling very well -- not a trace of queasiness and feeling pretty rested. We have been fortunate in not having had too many bumps, bruises, aching muscles or other of the usual discomforts. Before we left on this trip, our physician helped us put together a medical kit that would be useful in most first aid/medical crises we might find ourselves facing. We feel very prepared in this area -- we can treat mal de mer, wounds, burns, infections, rehydrate people, splint fractured or injured limbs, suture up minor wounds, treat allergic reactions, provide significant pain relief, etc. Our dentist provided us with medications and a kit to treat dental problems, such as a loss of a crown, infection, sore gums, etc. Tom took a CPR course before we left, so we are both familiar with this procedure. We have email contact with our physician, SSB and Ham radio contact with emergency medical advice and assistance services, and medical reference material aboard the boat.
So far, none of this has been required. The only problems we have had are seasickness (minor, required no medication), oven burn (minor, didn't require any silver sulfadiazine cream), and minor cuts and abrasions. We had some sore muscles initially that came from: 1) continually bracing ourselves as the boat moves, 2) moving our bodies continually as it works to keep us facing upright, working very much as the gimbaled stove and compass do, 3) fatigue and 4) the tension of worrying about whether that low pressure system or some other adverse condition is going to hit us (this particularly affects neck and shoulder muscles).
We hope never to have to use any of the medical supplies that we have brought on board and never to face the problems we've so carefully prepared ourselves for. So far, so good.
73s, 88s, love & hugs,
Peg, Tom, and Garry
Trip Report # 11
Date: 7/1/99 12:03:22 PM
Hi Everyone:
We are exactly 11 days out from Bermuda and our location is 36 42.8N 35 47.1W. We have traveled 1458 nm, have decided to stop at Flores, and have 270 nm to go! We are going to go to Porto das Lajes, a protected harbor on the southeast coast of Flores, where new marina facilities have been built. Tom has started a mid-atlantic cruisers net on SSB radio, where boats get together every morning to exchange weather info and are now also exchanging info about the harbors at Flores and Horta. This is such a neat way to travel - talking with other boats as we go and sharing the whole adventure.
I was checking our stores this morning and found that we have enough food to continue on for a few months. When I provisioned the boat for this trip, I put together a month's worth of menus for all three meals, then listed every item I would need to make those meals and determined the total quantity that would be needed on board. I then doubled that amount and added a few special things. So, we have plenty. The only thing we ran out of is maple syrup. I'm not a pancake devotee, but the crew is and I really underestimated the amount of syrup needed to adequately cover a stack. If the cruise were longer, we would also run out of fresh vegetables. As it is, though, we still have tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, carrots, celery, cabbage, squash, butternut squash, onions , potatoes, and a bit of lettuce, all in good shape. And we have quite a stash of frozen and canned vegetables stowed away.
Tom laughed when I brought 30 rolls of toilet paper on board (that's all I had room for), but we have only 12 left. We stored 40 rolls of paper towels in various places around the boat and we have 10 left. We use them as mop-up cloths, napkins, kleenex tissues and a whole bunch every time the oil is changed. We also stored 18 boxes of Kleenex and haven't used one. I am modifying our list of necessary stores as we sail through this cruising adventure. I continue to be impressed with the storage capacity of the boat.
Our ETA in Flores is Friday around noon, 13 days after we left Bermuda. We are expected to have a prefrontal passage tonight and passage of the main cold front tomorrow with higher winds and perhaps some showers and squalls. We're sailing wing and wing now, dead downwind, moving at 6+ knots, and if we have to turn on the motor on Friday morning to head straight for Flores against north or northeast winds, we can, since we have an abundance of fuel remaining.
73s, 88s, love & hugs,
Peg, Tom & Garry
Trip Report #13
Date: 7/4/99 5:10:36 PM
Boa Tarde:
We are here in Bali Hai, I mean Horta. We arrived yesterday, July 3, at 12:30 pm, local time, which just happens to coincide with UTC. We arrived at the reception quay in time to raft with the 3 boats we've been in contact with since Bermuda. It was great to finally meet the people on board - Gunnar, Andrew and Jan on Sandra,from Sweden, and Tom, Debbie and Derrick aboard Nanette, from Kentucky. The procedure was to register with the Marina Office, then check with the Capitania, the customs official, and the Gardia Fiscal. We had no choice about anchoring versus going into the Marina. We were assigned a spot in the Marina. We're rafted, as is everyone else, and we are the fourth and last boat out on the raft.
There is a spirit of camaraderie in the Marina that is hard to describe. It is almost like the feeling around the docks or in the clubhouse after a challenging race in a big regatta. Everyone is full of talk about their experiences getting here, congratulating themselves and each other. The walls of the marina are covered with brightly-colored paintings done by visiting yachtsmen. Legend has it that it is bad luck to leave Horta without leaving a pictorial record of a yacht's visit. So many of them are very well done, revealing a lot of artistic talent among yachtsmen. We are now in the throes of designing our contribution and finding a blank space on the wall. None of us have any talent in this area, so this will not be an easy undertaking.
Last night we walked around this charming town to soak up a bit of the flavor. We stopped at Peter's Cafe Sport overlooking the harbor. The owners have a long tradition (at least 3 generations) of welcoming visiting sailors and providing services. Our mail will arrive here although there is none yet. All of the people are friendly and helpful and usually speak some English. Tonight we went to dinner at Estalagem, the best restaurant here in Horta, located within an old fortress overlooking the harbor, to pay off our debt to Garry and for our own enjoyment. With appetizers, entree, wine, dessert and coffee, the bill was 11,450$00, in escuodos, or $57 dollars. The marina here costs $9.60 per day including water and power!
Quite different from Bermuda.
73s, 88s, love & hugs,
Peg, Tom & Garry
Trip Report #14
Date: 7/24/99 8:02:13 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Hi Everybody:
Nine hundred and fifty-five yachts have visited Horta so far this year, according to statistics kept by the port authorities. Most of the boats come from Great Britain (30%), France (24%), USA (9%),Germany (7%), Holland (5%), Sweden and mainland Portugal (3% each), Canada, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and Norway (approx. 2% each), and smaller numbers from almost all the countries of the world. During our stay we were rafted next to boats from Germany, Scotland, France, Canada, England and the US. This does seem to be the "crossroads of the Atlantic".
We stayed in Horta for 17 days and enjoyed every one of them. We love the weather here. Most days have been sunny and hot during the day with very little humidity (about 75%, little by North Carolina summertime standards), and cool at night, sleeping under a light blanket. It has rained a few times, mostly short-lived showers. There are often clouds in the mountains that come and go, revealing the peaks of dormant volcanoes or covering them up.
While Garry was still with us, we rented motorbikes ($20/day) and rode all around the island. We went up to the volcano at Capelhinos, which erupted in 1957 and stayed active for more than a year, adding about 2.4 square kilometers of land in the form of volcanic ash to the island of Faial. It is still very impressive, quiescent, but huge, with large areas of black, barren landscape and rock formations. Traveling through the island on the side opposite to Horta was beautiful, rural, with farm fields outlined by hedgerows of blue hydrangea and roads lined with hydrangeas and lilies of all types. And of course there was the view of the ocean from everywhere. In this rural area, we came upon farmers riding sidesaddle on donkeys, using them for transportation and to move milk cans and wine casks and other materials. We also saw farmers driving cattle to be milked. They use mobile milking machines, capable of milking 6 cows, moving them to the field. The cows are milked in the field and the milk cans are then left at the side of the road to be picked up and taken to the dairy for processing. We saw carts being drawn by teams of oxen, with loads of produce. It was picturesque and a scene from another time.
We took a ferry (cost $2.50 per ticket, one-way) to the island of Pico, which boasts the highest mountain in the Azores, 2,351 meters high (about 7500 ft). We took a taxi with an English-speaking guide around the island (cost $15 for 5 hours), stopping at a whaling museum, a cheese factory, a vineyard and several churches and small towns. Pico wine is made from grapes grown in lava rock-covered fields. The rocks heated by the sun during the day help to produce some very flavorful grapes and light, fruity wines. I liked the vinho branco (white wine), but the vinho tinto (red wine) did not appeal to me.
Horta is a good place for cruising sailors to find some of the services they need. There are two ways of getting laundry done. There is a laundry service that will pick up and deliver your clean laundry to the boat. I elected to do my laundry using the marina's facilities. One has to be prepared to spend the day here, so I took a book with me. The marina has 4 washing machines and 1 large dryer. And it is a very busy place. There is an attendant who keeps things moving along and if you are not there when your washing is done, she will put it in the dryer, take it out of the dryer and place it all, unfolded, in a large plastic bucket for you. The cost of washing and drying a large load here was $5.70.
The Midatlantic Yacht Service is a good place to have things fixed. We needed an alternator fixed and the seal on the backstay hydraulics fixed and they were done well, in a minimum amount of time, but for a fairly stiff price (good, fast or cheap: pick 2). The staff there are wonderful and go out of their way to help you. Tom needed hydraulic fluid and Malcolm, the owner, drove him all over the city to find it. MidAtlantic Yacht Service will also receive and hold mail for cruisers. Mail can also be held for yachts in transit at the Post Office (Correio) in Horta or at Peter Cafe Sport.
Internet access is available at a cyber-club, Cyber-Azores, on the main business street, the Rua Serpa Pinto. Tom spent several days hiking up there to be the first one in line when it opened at 9 a.m. If he got there any later than that, the machines were occupied by club members, mostly school children, usually playing games and loud music. The language on the computer for directions, etc., was Portuguese, and the keyboard was slightly different, but he was able to send and receive files and pictures without major problems.
For groceries, there is a well-stocked, modern supermarket, the Modelo, on Rua Principe Albert de Monaco and assorted local mercados along many of the streets, which sell convenience store items as well as bread, cheese and vegetables. The fish counter in Modelo was well-stocked with many different kinds of fish, most of them unfamiliar to me. I recognized the tuna, grouper,and salmon, but no others. And it was rather startling to see huge Moray eels laid out on the ice for just that special meal. People told me that they were delicious and we will take their word for it. The best thing is the local central market, every day but Sunday from 8-12, where farmers come to sell produce, fish, cheese, bread and flowers. The prices are very good and the products fresh and delicious.
We went to many restaurants, all good, all inexpensive. O Barrao was a more formal restaurant, where three of us ate several courses for $38. We found that the restaurants where most of the local people ate, like the Capitolio and O Limo (our favorite), served wonderful food (we usually had fish of some sort) and that the meals, with appetizer, entre, wine, dessert and espresso, cost about $11 for the two of us! Needless to say, we ate out quite often.
We could not leave Horta without painting our names and boat name on the wall. We finally settled on a fairly straight-forward approach - just the names in red, white and blue, the colors on our boat, and our hailing port and date of visit. However, we think we have the distinction of being the first boat in Horta to include a URL for a home page in a painting. Many of the paintings depict the story of the crew's voyage. Since we completely lack that kind of artistic ability, we thought we could tell our story in this thoroughly modern way. It was only a matter of time.
We left Horta on July 20 and our plan is to see some of the other islands before we leave for Europe. Our next destination is Sao Jorge.
Until then - Adeus.
73s, 88s, love & hugs,
Peg & Tom
Trip Report #15
Date: 8/8/99 9:03:53 PM
Hi, Everybody:
We left Horta on a warm, sunny day and motorsailed between Faial and Pico. Once we got away from the islands, the breeze picked up and we had nice sail for the rest of the day, close-reaching at 6 knots, to the island of Sao Jorge. We picked up a mooring in the harbor at Velas, where we caught up with friends Jim & Sandy on Erin O'Lyrr. The moorings there had recently been serviced and people have reported no problems using them -- and they were free.
The islands in the archipelago are all somewhat similar to each other, yet each has characteristics that make it distinctive, so we wanted to visit as many as we could. Sao Jorge is a very long, mountainous island with sheer cliffs and spectacular views on its north side. We took a guided taxi ride around the island and stopped at a botanical park and a cheese factory. We bought a huge wheel of Sao Jorge cheese, which has a sharp cheddar-like taste and consistency that is different from the milder cheeses of the other islands (we shared the wheel with fellow cruisers).
Graciosa is a very rural, quiet, lovely island of rolling hills and large tracts of farm land. We anchored in the harbor at Praia and shared a taxi to travel into the main town of Santa Cruz. There we visited the Museo de Graciosa, which included an extended tour of an ethnographic museum, a home furnished in traditional style with antiques and memorabilia of the region, farm buildings where antique tools and equipment related to the culture of wine were displayed, a whaling museum, and a tour through a windmill that had been restored to authentic standards by a local carpenter. All of this very interesting tour cost $1.00 US for each of us. A highlight of our visit to Graciosa was a trip to Caldeira, where we hiked into a crater formed in the center of an old volcano. A tunnel down into the crater, about 100 meters deep, opens up into an immense volcanic grotto with vaulted ceilings and a deep lake filled with cold sulfur water (although when we saw it, it was bubbling, steaming and looked hot -- and didn't smell very good). After leaving the caldera, we hiked back to Praia, about a 40 minute walk downhill, which gave us a good closeup look at the local flora and fauna.
The island of Terceira is the location of the Military Command of the Azores, an American Air Force base and a NATO base. It has a large international airport and four-lane highways across the island, and still manages to maintain a rural European ambience. Terceira has very nice beaches and we anchored off a particularly nice beach at Praia da Vitoria. The main towns of Terceira, Angra de Heroismo and Praia da Vitoria, are large towns with good shopping opportunities and good services. Tom found a cyber-club, designed to teach member children how to use computers and give them the opportunity to use them, where he was able to get internet access for unlimited time and he was not charged for it.
Sao Miguel is the largest and most eastern of the island group. Ponta Delgada is a good-sized city, more sophisticated in appearance than any other place in the Azores. Again, we toured the island by taxi and explored a botanical garden and many beautiful churches, some dating back to the 16th century; swam in a warm pool formed by a cascading waterfall that was as warm as a shower; marveled at the Lagoa Azul and the Lagoa Verde; went to a restaurant that served food that had been cooked in hot underground springs; and really enjoyed the Carlos Machado museum.
We went to several festivals on the islands. They take place frequently during the summer and are very well attended. There is always music which is performed by various groups, ranging from musicians in traditional costumes playing traditional instruments to marching bands to rock bands. Often there will be a religious pageant or parade, and always food. The festivals seem to start late in the evening, well after the sun goes down, and last pretty late. Sometimes the festivals go on for several days and the town prepares for it by stringing colored lights, painting buildings, sweeping streets, setting up concession stands, and planting flowers along the streets. We also went to an agricultural fair in Horta, which is much like our state fairs. Prize animals were shown, there was a horse and a dog show, cheeses and wines were judged (we got to vote for our favorite, too), and of course, there was lots of food and music. Some of the islands include a bullfight, usually in the street, with local boys and men playing the part of bullfighter to a bull whose horns are covered. In these bullfights, unlike those in Spain, the bull is never killed.
Every town has a park (or several) where people, usually whole families, gather at night, even if there is no festival. People here seem to like to stroll in the cool air after sunset and meet their neighbors, families and friends. It's a very nice custom and we got to meet and talk with many Azorean families this way.
We had very little trouble communicating here, in spite of the fact that we only have a Portuguese phrase book to help us. In practically every setting there is someone who speaks English. The schools here teach English to students starting in early grades. Often other languages, French and German, are taught as well. Many of the people here have lived in the USA for a time, usually in Massachusetts (Azoreans were well-known for their whaling skills and were recruited in large numbers for whaling crews in New England) or the Modesto area in California, and have returned to the island where most of their family still live. Many choose to remain in the States but continue to visit here.
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Azores. The Azorean people really go out of their way to be friendly and helpful and the beauty of these islands is unforgettable. But we will be leaving today, August 8, to go to our next adventure in Atlantic Spain. Our next port will be Villa Garcia in the Ria de Arosa, south of Cape Finesterre.
73s, 88s, Love & Hugs,
Peg & Tom
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Page Created: June 20, 1999.