4th
Report from TANIWANI’s Summer 2002 Cruise:
Today
is Thursday the 11th of July; Taniwani is moored in the Marina of Horta,
alongside another boat.
Our
last and report was sent from somewhere in the Ocean via short wave and we hope
it was received o.k. by everybody. It took another two days for us to reach the
Azores and tie up in the busy Marina of Horta, on the Island of Faial. The wind,
of which we had too much during first part of the passage, was almost missing on
the last two days and we had to help with the engine, to make reasonable
progress through the Azores high-pressure system.
Horta
is the major intersection of many sailing routes and a must to visit for any
passing yacht. Especially from May on, until the middle of July it is almost
overloaded with boats, as many yachts migrate from the Caribbean to the Med or
other places in Europe. Most yachts only stop in Horta and no other place in the
archipelago. A 1995 report says that 1000 yachts visited in that year, it is
probably higher now.
I
estimated about 300 yachts to be in the newly extended Marina when we arrived
and we had to raft up in packets of three boats to fit. Quite a contrast to
hardly seeing any sailboat in Ireland and off course also to Horta 29 years ago,
when I last visited, arriving from Bermuda with my father.
We
are now in Horta for five days and had planned to leave today for some nice
anchorage where we can swim and relax. But now it seems we might get our 3rd
refrigerator fixed for good, by a guy who is building the evaporator from
scratch from just pieces of copper pipe. Quite impressive work and would be hard
to get in other places. So, we will move on tomorrow.
We
did enjoy the time in Horta a lot, went out for dinner several times at a
quarter the price we paid in Ireland, and we explored the island by rental car,
and the young crew enjoyed doing the same with rented scooters.
Leaving
the busy harbor, Faial is more like the expected remote island with not much
tourism, but very nice. Most impressive is the western end of the island, which
grew out of the water as a volcano in 1957. The former end of the island, with a
big lighthouse is now far inland. Slowly some vegetation is creeping in, but the
area still looks a bit like the surface of the moon.
Faial
also has its own crater, the caldeira, with another little crater inside, and
then there is another volcano, just south of the town, barely connected with the
main island. The volcanic origin really shows here.
Beate
checked out the huge local hospital, well equipped and very friendly. They
confirmed that her flight through the cabin had indeed resulted in a broken rib,
which is getting better fast now.
We
are enjoying the warm and mild climate, as a contrast to all the northern waters
we have been sailing in the last years, but there have already been some
complaints that it is too hot here!
Last,
but not least, Peter's Cafe Sport needs to be mentioned. It has been a meeting
point for sailors since Joshua Slocum, and is now run in the thrid generation by
"Peter-Son", he received us very friendly and dug out the logbooks
from 1973 when we last visted with Aventura, returning to Eurpoe from Bermuda.
Peter-Son was 13 then. A copy of the old entry is with the pictures.
Also,
every boat needs to leave a wall painting in Horta, and so did we. Markus made a
fine picture of Taniwani, the fish after which our boat is named. Was not all
complete, so photo will come with the next report.
This
time we will try to catch up with the pictures and the series starts still in
Ireland, with Cow Rock in the early morning hours, just before entering Bantry
Bay. Then some more pictures taken in Ireland and then a few during our passage
to the Azores, all of those taken at better weather in the second half.
Again
dolphins greeted us and they look great in the very clear water of the Azores.
Many picture show the big volcano of neighboring island Pico. Always a great
sight, it is the highest mountain of Portugal.
We
plan to hang out in the Azores for another two weeks before moving on to Madeira
and we will most likely send another update from the Azores.