Even though we had a most relaxing time while in Horta, we still worked on the boat. As this was our initial European port, Phil was busy in the beginning converting some of our boat systems to European standards such as our electrical and water connections. Also, it was necessary to get the items fixed which had caused us problems on our passage from Bermuda to the Azores. Our first week in Horta the parts were ordered to fix our self-steering vane, and a week later those parts arrived and Phil fixed the vane. Phil designed a new chain stripper for our anchor windlass, had it fabricated at a local shop, and then reinstalled it on the windlass. It now works better than before. Our email modem was sent off to Germany to be repaired. It was fixed the same day it arrived in Germany, just a week after mailing, and then took four weeks to be returned to the Azores arriving just five days before we departed for Portugal. Also, our Sumbrella protective covering attached to the outside of our roller-reefing jib had started to unravel while at sea and it was re-sewn at a local sail shop.
During our stay we rented a car for a day with another cruising couple and explored the island of Faial. As Faial was only 67 square miles in area, it didn�t take long to travel around the island. From different viewpoints we overlooked beautiful pastoral scenes. Whitewashed houses with reddish-orange tile roofs dotted the landscape. On Faial fields were separated by hedges, and on the northern side of the island these fields were hedged by hydrangeas. As the soil on Faial was acidic, these hydrangeas were blue in color. In July when the hydrangeas were in bloom, a mass of blue could be seen dividing the fields and lining the roadsides. It was quite spectacular. |
