21 June 1996 St Georges Harbour to Horta, Azores (Day 17)
We motored all the way to Horta. Blue skies, calm seas, light winds – perfect landfall. As we approached the island, we busied ourselves tidying up and, by the time we moored alongside the fuel dock, we were pretty presentable. We were fairly pleased with our 16 day passage although we only averaged 4.8 knots. It was fairly effortless to clear in and, by four o’clock, we were rafted up on the outside of a raft of four. We went out for a stroll and dinner and got a bit drunk!
22 June 1996 Horta, Azores
We got up late and decided to have a quiet day. I spent most of the day trying to sort out the Business Plan and all the information that I’ve compiled during our crossing. The boat on the inside of our raft said that he was going to leave at midday. We hung about waiting for him. He was going, then he wasn’t, then he was. He eventually went at about six o’clock! We all untied and hovered around and then we went in first against the wall because we’re going to be here the longest.
I had an exciting moment when the throttle lever broke off as we re-entered the marina. Fortunately, it broke off in tick over. I panicked a bit and started to rush below to get the mole grips and then decided not to! I managed to manoeuvre us into the slot with a bit of assistance from some blokes on shore – phew!
23 June 1996 Horta, Azores
All the shops are shut, so its another quiet day. Business Plan and clarinet for me. Brett and Craig are having a wonderful time with their gang of friends, Jonathan (11) from “Crystal Star” (UK), and two German boys Marios (9) and Mickey (7). They’ve gone feral again. We demolished 2 litres of fantastic Portuguese wine and then went for a stroll and ended up having a few beers with “Timani” (UK).
24 June 1996 Horta, Azores
Mega hangover. We found out that it’s a Bank Holiday, but it was a nice sunny day so we did some jobs. Glenys got the laundry done. We went out for dinner.
25 June 1996 Horta, Azores
My mum and dad arrive tomorrow, so we spent the day rearranging the boat contents. Rupert and Judy arrived on “Khaya”, so we had a few beers with them. Got drunk and ended up having the old “fall-back” meal of Huevos Rancheros for dinner.
26 June 1996 Horta, Azores
Mum and Dad arrived – we caught a bus and went to meet them. It’s the first time we’ve been outside of Horta. It’s a lovely island, very green and lush. We spent the afternoon sitting on the boat catching up on the gossip. We decided to call today my 40th birthday – it only took about 15 minutes. No cake, the presents that I got from Glenys weren’t even wrapped! We went out for a meal which was very pleasant.
27 June 1996 Horta, Azores
Nice day. I gave my dad the job of cleaning up and painting our gas bottles. I did a few jobs around the boat while Mum and Glenys went shopping. We washed our stinking oilskins. After lunch, I went snorkelling outside the marina wall. No big fish worth spearing and it was cold even with a wetsuit on. We had a couple of strolls and then Glenys conjured up a nice chicken balti with fresh cilantro.
28 June 1996 Horta, Azores
Beautiful day. We did a few jobs in the morning, got two camping gas bottles filled which is enough to get back to the UK. I’m pretty relieved to get those two filled. In the afternoon, we all went to the beach. Glenys and I walked up to the church on the hill and were rewarded with a beautiful view.
In the evening, we were all invited to dinner (on the quay) with “Khaya”. Glenys and I went for a stroll after dinner and got chatting to Richard and Vanessa from “Sterling” (ex “Dream-On”) who, it turns out, are very good friends of Gareth and Fi. We ended up on their boat until well after midnight. Richard’s Dad (Roy Owen), knows someone called Mike Holmes who plays squash in the Tamworth area and said he’d give me his telephone number
29 June 1996 Horta, Azores
Overcast, drizzly day. Glenys, Mum and Dad went for a long walk and I stayed behind to work on my Business Plan – every time I look at it we lose more money! We went out for a buffet dinner which was good.
30 June 1996 Horta, Azores
Miserable morning, so we spent the morning reading, etc. Brett, Craig and Jonathan are working on Lego. Mum and Dad went for a long walk and came back wet through. We had a chilli for dinner and played UNO downstairs.
There’s a great tradition here for yachts to paint a picture on the quay walls and floors to show that they’ve been here - posh graffiti really. There are thousands - some good, some bad. We’ve spent quite a few hours walking around trying to find paintings for boats that we know. Amongst many we’ve found “Marina Em”, “Whisper” and “Beatrice of Dee” - a boat that Gareth and Fi crewed. Glenys has found a small patch of wall to do a painting for Glencora and spent today working on her design.
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