July 19th, position 38º 24,051 N; 28º 24,207W, South of Pico, Azores

Angra do Heroismo is the town were the marina is on Terceira. It's much more a town then Horta and Eline finally got to go out shopping :-) She and Rutger went to explore the town while I took a nap. They were gone for hours and came back loaded with bags..

Rutger wanted to buy some new jeans and Eline helped him together with the lady from the shop. Ha, they made him try on a load of stuff and combined all kind of shirts.. in the end Eline of course also had seen a nice shirt, a dress and the pair of shoes she was looking for for so long...

Anyway, since I wasn't there... it was Rutger who paid for her stuff as well, ha!

That night we had diner at a nice restaurant near the harbor and went for a coffee to the main square It's a real nice and pretty place and a very good marina. After coffee I went back to the boat while Rutger and Eline stayed a bit.

Next morning at around 5.30 I woke up... just in time to see Eline get undressed and go to bed... :-)

They had asked the waitress if she would know a place to go out. She did actually but that was in another town but if they wanted they could join her and a her girlfriend... they wanted to go out too after work.. Of course Rutger and Eline didn't mind to wait a bit... but after work was around 2.30 pm...

Anyway they went to different places ending up at the beach close by the marina and stayed there till sunset :-) They had a great time!

'Next' day we would leave for Horta but not before midnight since Eline very much wanted to sail at night. So we spent the afternoon at the beach, relaxing.. which was in fact our first day at a beach.

Too bad I only had two decent beach towels, meaning I was on the tiniest towel you can think off, lying in the sand for the most part :-(

The water was a bit colder then in the Caribbean let's say very refreshing. Still it was very nice swimming there. It's surprising how little tourists there were, I think we were sort of the only ones while the beach was packed...

That night we would sail around midnight to the South-East point of Pico and then go West along the coast back to Horta, Faial. It would take us most of the night to get down to Pico, getting there early in the morning, the best time and place for that matter, to see whales.

Of course Rutger and Eline had to say goodby to there new friends before leaving, meaning I had the first watch :-o

Eline stayed on deck too though and she was very excited about the night scene. It was a perfect clear night with mare stars she had ever seen. Already in the first half hour she saw 4 shooting stars.. leaving her without wishes :-)

Later that night we were welcomed by some 10 dolphins. This was her first time to see dolphins in the wild and she couldn't stop telling how COOL is was :-)

They stayed with us for at least 15 minutes. Then when they were gone... Eline was too. very tiered and she went to bed. So did I :-)

On my second watch I too saw something new for me: Venus and Jupiter so extremely bright... it was amazing !! Later I woke Eline to watch the sunrise which was beautiful too. At home we of course never get to see the sunset at the beach :-o

After we rounded the SE end of Pico we saw the little boats that take people for whale and dolphin watching so we altered our course a bit. And then suddenly there was this big whale very close by the boat. Just long enough to see it and realize what we saw and then it was gone again. Getting closer to the other boats we saw several more, just relaxing cruising around for a while before disappearing again into the deep. We also got to see lots of dolphins, little ones that really jump out of the water and bigger ones that just swam along side.

In all it was a exciting trip under perfect conditions except for the wind which wasn't there..but who cares, we didn't :-)

July 16th , Porta de Santo Antonio, Terceira, Azores

Last night we arrived at Terceira after a superb day of sailing. Great weather, gentle breeze, no swell..we sailed close hauled for the fist leg to the East end of Sao Jorge and then beam reach to Terceire. Of course we got the gennaker out as well :-)

We arrived at around 9 pm and were welcomed by the marina staff that helped us getting in a berth.

They are all so very friendly here!!

The day before we left Sao Jorge we did a great hike. There are a lot of trails set out and the one we did was from the mountain down to the North coast. The view was amazing and half the Island is covered by Hortensias. We crossed some streams and went down to a beautiful waterfall.

It took us about 4 hrs to walk to the place were the taxi picked us up again.

Then the driver told us about the bull fighting that they had in the other village and he drove us there. They have bull fights all the time, every Sunday at least. It's not really a fight and they don't kill the bull. They let a bull out and the 'brave ones' tease him until he charges and they run away..

The bull is tied onto a rope that's hold by a bunch of guys to keep some control..

Anyway this time the arena was the parking lot. The bull had no grip at all on the concrete and slipped the whole time.. That made it a pathetic spectacle and especially Eline got very upset and angry. I didn't like it either, so we left pretty quick again.

Normally they do this on a field or in the streets, like here in Terceira. Everytime you here a canon, it means a bull is out in the streets and here that's pretty much the whole time, even at 8 am this morning :-o

Anyway, today we'll explore the village a bit and check on what we want to do tomorrow.

July 13th Velas, Sao Jorge, Azores

Today we sailed to Velas on Sao Jorge, a trip of 35 Nm.

For some reason I woke up later then usual and the weather wasn't that nice. However when we left Horta at around 10:30 the sun was out again and we had a nice breeze.

After an hour or so the wind dropped and when we were down to 2 kts we had to start the engine. Not for long though, an hour later the wind picked up again :-)

By the time we got to Sao Jorge the weather had changed again. Dark thick clouds and visibility had dropped so much that we couldn't see the Island. Only when we we less the 2 Nm from the rocks we could see the Island.

Velas has a vary small marina with even smell berths. The harbor master was very friendly and very helpful but the birth he showed me was not wide enough.. We tried but we just didn't fit....

Anyway we ended up alongside a 55 ft Swan :-)

In all the people over here are very friendly indeed and it's a real pleasure to visit these Islands

They are all different but very beautiful...

Anyway, after I had checked in the clouds were mostly gone and the sun was shining again.

We walked around a bit and when I got back to the boat, Rutger and Eline went over to the supermarket to get the onions we forgot yesterday. They came back all excited... and called me to come on deck. It was amazing, a rainbow so close that the boat seemed just under it...

If the weather is good tomorrow, we plan to do the most famous hike on the Island. Then on Sunday we'll leave for Terceira

Horta July 12th

Titel July 11th Back in Horta, Azores

Last night we arrived in Horta again. The flight was ok but it still took us a whole day. Especially Eline didn't enjoy it very much, she doesn't like flying, too boring and too much waiting.

It turned out to be a real disaster for her... when we finally arrived, her suitcase was missing..

For a 17 year old.. that's about the worst thing that can happen. On top of that, the weather was not as good as in the brochure :-o

It took her some time but in the end she was okay[ish] again.

We had dinner at Internacional and that was real good. Afterwards Rutger and Eline went for a walk and we had another drink before going to bed.

This morning the weather was really fine and sunny. First thing we did after breakfast was go get some stuff for Eline and when she found a nice dress she was happy again. Then we had some things to do on the boat. Rutger had already done most of the cleaning when I was shopping with Eline. Then the bilge pump turned out dead .. it's not even a year old. Anyway we fixed it, replaced the also diseased inverter for a new one. I also had ordered a new unit for the fuel inlet since the cap went overboard mid Atlantic. Rutger tried the cap first and we were very lucky: it fitted, so we didn't have to replace the whole unit :-)

This afternoon we found a nice spot to put our painting and did some preparations in making it nice and white. Tomorrow we'll try and finish it.

Jean Pierre, who looked after the boat, told me that Teceira would be a nice island to visit. There's a lot going around, so he says. It's only a 12 hr sail so it's worth going there and if we're lucky we'll see some whales on the way.

Anyway that will be the plan for Friday, tomorrow we'll explore Faial.

In the mean time, I hope very much Eline's suitcase will turn up. Usually it does the next day they told us. We'll know in an hour or so... fingers crossed.

Rijswijk, June 23rd, late...

It took some time but... I added a few pics to the ocean updates.
If it works out, I'll try and upload some video's too .. tomorrow that is :-)

Thursday, June, 21st ,Rijswijk Netherlands

After a long day traveling we're back to base...

We had a long stop over at Lisboa, so we took the bus and went downtown for a few hours.

 For me the only place so far I went before on my to the Caribbean. A bit strange, but still nice even though, to my recollection, it was a bit warmer last November :-o

We all have to try and pick up 'normal' life again. In many ways, this trip wasn't just a vacation.

Being on the ocean for 16 days, covering almost 2100 Nm's on a small boat with 4 different personalities that are there for different reasons and hardly know each other is an adventure:-)

It all worked out great though and for me it's another unique experience which I share with people that are very dear to me.

I'm very lucky anyway because I'm still not there.. Next month the final leg, back to Scheveningen, is still waiting. I guess then it will be way harder to adjust to normal life again. So if anyone has any tips to share, please let me know :-)