Santa Maria

We were early this year to head for the Azores, 7 weeks earlier than last year. On the other hand, early June is the time when the first boats return from the very popular Atlantic circle to the Caribbean and back. It is said that about 1000 yachts come via this route through the Azores every year. That, however doesn't change the fact, that the weather isn't really settled in the islands at this time, and rain and westerlies are still prevailing. The reason why the bulk of the boats comes in that early in the season, is that in the Caribbean that Hurricane season starts and it is usually time to leave there in mid May.

For us, cruising this side of the Atlantic, it is wiser to stay south in the Canaries or the Cape Verdes before heading for the Azores in late July. But this year we singed up for the Rally Bayona, which starts in early August and thus we need to leave the Azores in late July.

It is also easier to sail the Azores from west to east, and that is why last year we sailed straight to Flores, the westernmost island. Now in early June, this wasn't so easy, as the lows are still tracking at fairly low latitude and it would be head winds most of the way.

Even sailing to Santa Maria, at the south-eastern end of the Azores, required us to sail first westwards for two days until the north easterly winds die, and the almost straight north, close hauled westerly winds. While the direct distance fromLa Palma to Santa Maria is 620 miles, we had to sail 710 miles, which isn't so bad given the conditions. It took us four and a half days and we arrived in the well known marina after dark, on June 7.

We went straight to a berth that we had been in before, and were quite astonished to see the harbor master that late in the night taking our lines and telling us at the same time that we will have to move the morning to a smaller berth further in, as he was expecting part of the ARC-Europe fleet with several bigger boats.

Next morning we moved with fairly strong wind blowing in to the marina, which is never ideal for maneuvering, but with our bow-thruster we thought we should be fine in the narrow confines of the marina further in. The surprise came when we tried to turn into the berth we had picked. Just at that moment our bow-thruster decided to not work towards starboard, the direction we needed to bring the bow into the wind. We quickly turned the other way and picked another berth and managed to get in without any serious problems. Thanks to the deck crew, who had set up docking lines on both sides, just in case. The electrical problem was then solved in 10 minutes, a corroded contact in the steering column.

In the third picture you can see Taniwani as the left-most boat, all the way in on the middle pontoon. It was actually a nice spot, much quieter then all the way out towards the fishing dock, where the big tuna boats keep running their generators all need to circulate the bait tanks. The down side however was rather poor WiFi reception.

THe ARC-fllet had joined a local regatta, down from Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel and it finally was just 8 ARC boats and 4 local boats. Still, the little marina was fuller than we ever saw it before and the little Village of Port Vila arranged various performances for the entertainment of their visitors. See for example the drummers in the second picture. The gang left after a day and Port Vila was back to its usual tranquil life style. And we eventually moved out again, to get a better WiFi connection.

As always we took a car for a day and toured the little island. It is easy to see about every corner during a day, driving less than a hundred kilometers. But it is always a nice tour and the advantage of being early in the year, is that the island is still lush green and the waterfall in the east still has some water purring down the narrow chimney it had cut in thousands of years. Santa Maria is a lot drier and warmer than Flores on the other end of the chain, some 300 miles to the Northwest.

We drove by the little hospital that helped Harald last year, but chose to skip it this year. We definitely avoided swimming in the bay, but it seems that the sewer problem, that caused Harald's prostate infection, might soon be under control: The eastern part of the village, that seeming drained some sewage into the river is now is now getting a new sewer system. See picture 5 for that.

We spent about a week in Santa Maria, waiting for favorable winds to go westwards, but they didn't appear. When it seemed we would be better of further north, we moved on to Ponta Delgada on the big island of Sao Miguel. Ponta Delgada as such is not our favorite, but the excellent market there is definitely worth a short stop. That's not saying that the island isn't nice, rather the opposite. Sao Miguel has a lot to offer and it takes a few days by car to just see the best places. We had driven around on Sao Miguel a few times before and just thought we skip this part this time around.

We left Ponta Delgada bound for Velas on Sao Jorge on Sunday, June 17. More about Sao Jorge in the next episode.