From the Azores to Portugal

We left Vila da Praia da Vitoria, Terceria at 12pm on 20th July to travel some 864 nautical miles to Portimao, Portugal where we hope to leave S'Ours before heading back to England.

This is our third crossing and by far the worst.  It seems therough seas are here to stay. 

On 24th July we heard from Matthew that Charlotte had gone into labour,  Our first Granddaughter was born at 13:05 on 25th July weighing in at a health 8lbs 15ozs.  Looking forward to meeting her in the very near future.

At one time during the passage we thought we might be visiting North Africa instead of Portugal.  Very hard work trying to make our course.

27th July and we are in sight of  Portugal at last.  We managed to drop anchor at 3am on 28th July just off the beach at Ferragudo - total trip 4070 nautical miles. 

Both crawled into bed for a much earned rest, so pleased that the journey back to Europe is over and we can get S'Ours put to bed in the yard for 6 months or so whilst we go home to sort out our affairs and meet up with family and friends. 

Our thoughts are with our sailing friends that are still out there battling their way across - hope you all make it safe and sound.

A couple of days later we were very pleased to see Rio Luna come into the anchorage - welcome to Europe.

Horta and Terceria, The Azores

We said our goodbyes to Lajes and did an overnight sail to Horta.  We  arrived around midday after a reasonably fair sail.  After docking against the Customs dock and booking in with Customs etc. we then found a place alongside the main wall which was quite crowded.  

Most boats were rafted 2 and 3 deep and we had to raft up alongside a motor boat for a couple of days before they headed out and we were able to tie up alongside the wall.  Makes life much easier not having to climb over someone else's boat everytime you want to go ashore.

We search for and found our old logo from 2002 which was much faded.  As luck would have it we were given 3 tins of paint so only had to buy 1 new one and Geoff was soon hard at work renewing it.  

Richard and Viv (aboard "Sea Change", now in England) were in Horta in 2007 and painted their logo very near to ours, so we emailed them the photo of their logo which is still in very good order. 

Horta hasn't changed very much in the last 7 years, the bread/cake/teashop is still in the same place and their bread and cakes are still just as delicious.  Ralph Holz the sail repair guy is still in business and still at a reasonable charge with a good turnaround for any job that you give him.

18th July - With all business concluded in Horta we are now bound for the island of Terceria which will be our last port of call before heading to Europe.

When we arrived we had a quick look around the harbour of Angra do Horisimo before deciding that the anchorage was very small and the marina was to crowded for us.  It was only another couple of hours sailing around the end of the island to the harbour of La Praia Vitoria which we found to have an excellent anchorage.

We caught the local bus back along the coast for a sightseeing day in the town of Angra where we met up with Tracey on Rio Luna, had a wonderful private tour around the fort which is still in use today and caught the last but one bus back to La Praia Vitoria.

We have found the Azorian islands to be very diverse, people so friendly and really can't recommend them enough to anyone. 

They will be one of the highlights of our life aboard that's for sure.