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 :-)

Horta June 19th

At last, the sun is back :-)



The world looks very different now and way better to remember for our last days at Horta !

Monday, June 18th Horta Fayal

Still raining... never thought off so much fresh water for free, no need to rinse the boat :-)

We got the paint to put our mural on the wall but with this kind off weather there's no chance it will last for more then a day. I guess this will be a project for Rutger and Eline when we come back in July.

Last night we had a great time watching the match at Internacionale, the local pub. Bruno had our table ready, in the middle of all dressed up Portuguese.. I brought my Dutch flag and my fog horn, just in case...

It was an exciting and fun match to watch! Especially the first 20 minutes :-)

Since none of us is really really into football, we didn't mind that they won eventually, and it was a great match to watch.

After the match we had some drinks and Eline had to buy Bruno and the rest of the staff a drink :-o

Today more rain … so we did some jobs on the boat, adjusting the belt tension, putting some new rivets in the boom rail and the vang. The inverter also broke down but they can't fix it over here...

Tomorrow we planned to go on a whale watch trip. However.. when we checked later, the trip was canceled because of the bad weather... another thing left to do coming back in July :-*

Anyway, it still is a nice place to be but we all are quite curious how it'll look when the sun is shining