Azores - Sao Jorge

View from the top of Sao Jorge

Velas on Sao Jorge - July 26 -  27, 2012

Our visit to Sao Jorge started off following the pattern set on other Azorean islands. First drop anchor in the harbor at the town of Velas, and run in on the dink to walk the dogs and check out the marina and town. The next day move into the marina, hose the salt off Starlet, and nose around town visiting shops to replenish perishables.

Olympic Venue

One priority in Velas was to find a café with TV for Friday night’s Olympic opening ceremony. Watching the ceremony over dinner, we realized that this was the first time we had seen TV since leaving Bermuda six weeks prior. The US TV’s on Starlet won’t receive over the air broadcasts in Europe, so we’ve made the transition to getting our news on the web. We still can't get over the low prices here.  Our dinners with a bottle of wine, beer, 2 hot teas and ice cream was about $30 including the three hours of TV. No tax/no tip!

Tour guides - Carolina & Rui - July 28, 2012

Carolina & Rui

In the marina, we continued the constant process of maintaining Starlet, cleaning and waxing the exterior stainless steel. With a good internet connection, we got caught up on correspondence and were even able to stream some of the Olympics live! Late Saturday (after 10:30 – Mark was snoozing!) after Skyping with friends, Jennifer met a young local couple walking the marina docks. They wanted to meet the dogs, then spent a good hour chatting. Carolina was eager to refresh her English, having lived in Rhode Island for 12 years.  Rui, her boyfriend, understood most of the conversation but felt more comfortable using Carolina as a translator. This chance meeting set our visit to Sao Jorge apart from the norm: lucky for us Carolina & Rui took it upon themselves to show us their island and their Azorean lifestyle.

Limpets & Festival - July 29, 2012

The following evening, Carolina & Rui came by to make traditional Azorean limpets for us.  This is a shell fish that grows on rocks, kind of like a miniature abalone. They brought the limpets plus fresh garlic cloves, butter and a red pepper sauce.  Rui, who is attending culinary school, cooked two plates of them for us, then we went to the dock to pry off a couple more to try raw. Limpets are quite salty and chewy, but very good with the sauce, garlic and butter. It's Sunday night and way past our bedtime at 11:00 PM, but we headed out to a festival in Carolina & Rui’s village of Beria. This was a gathering of all ages with kids playing on swing sets and teeter totters, teenagers checking each other out, and adults chatting. Bright lights strung around the schoolyard, a band playing, vendors selling food and beer. We met Rui's Mother and Father at the festival, then dropped by Carolina's home (after midnight!) to meet her parents and pets.

Garden

Island Tour & Festival - July 30, 2012

The next day Carolina & Rui picked us up early to take us on a tour of the east end of the Sao Jorge.  From a high vantage point on the central ridge we could see Faial, Pico and Graciosa. We visited the Parquet Florestal das Sete Fontes (Seven Ponds Park) with a mini zoo that had deer, birds, ducks and a pair of Vietnamese potbellied pigs.  Midday we were invited to Rui's parents house for a heavy lunch.  The main house has four bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and dining room over 2 levels while across the drive they have a small "day house" with a kitchen and dining room plus a sofa and a TV. The houses overlook a huge vegetable garden, with a chicken house and a hog pen behind the garage.  

After an afternoon break on Starlet, Carolina & Rui picked us up that evening to take us to another celebration for the festival. A stage was set up in a parking lot by a dairy field, featuring singers improvising “cantares ao desafio” ballads of social critique. Horse rides for the kids, cotton candy and popcorn. The ever popular beer tent also offered grilled sausages and roast rabbit.  As a fundraiser, you can buy a bag with dozens of rolled up squares of paper.  Everyone works at unrolling them, searching for the lucky squares marked with numbers. Then it’s time to collect the prizes associated with the lucky numbers. Our group ended up with thirteen treasures ranging from perfume to needle work and dishes.

Cheese Factory & Bull on a Rope - July 31, 2012

Haircut

The next day Jennifer visited a hair salon on the main street in Velas.  The owner didn't speak English but they went next door for a translator.  Jennifer was very pleased with the results.  The price . . . 15 Euros. 

 

Unloading milk

Carolina & Rui picked up us early that afternoon to take us to the cooperative cheese factory in Beira for a tour.  It was a large operation with 80 employees in a modern facility, one of 3 cooperatives on the island.  Each cooperative provides the economic base for its village, providing jobs and export income. The member dairy farmers need to deliver their milk twice daily, 365 days a year! At the end of the tour we bought some of the cheese made by each cooperative for a very good price.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures of the factory interior. 

Barricades

Doughnuts

Later we went back to Rui's house to get ready for the Tourada a Corda (Bull on a Rope), to be held in Beira that evening.  Rui’s mother was very busy as a volunteer making 150 donuts for the event. After forming blobs of dough into rings, they are fried, six at a time.  Dipped in sugar and cooled, they were boxed for delivery to the event bar. Just before the Tourada a Corda was to start we walked the main street in Beira inspecting the barricades being installed to protect people & property.     

Professional wranglers were contracted to bring in four bulls that ran the street one at a time for thirty minutes each. Very “brave” men, encouraged by beer, dared to get close but hopefully not too close to the bull. The bulls know their role: chase anyone they have a chance to catch! If that means jumping over a wall to chase someone through a field, so much the better! Thankfully no one was hurt and especially the bulls were not hurt.  It really was a lot more fun than anticipated.  After the Tourada a Corda we walked back to Rui's house for a lovely dinner with soup, a variety of baked meats plus a rice pudding dessert. 

Bulls can go everywhere

Back at the marina, we said good bye to Carolina & Rui.  Besides providing us with this unique look at Azorean life, they sent us off with a huge basket of potatoes and fresh eggs. The whole time they wouldn’t allow us to even put fuel in the car, and we had to fight to pay for a beer or coffee!  

On to Terceira - August 1, 2012

Before leaving the next morning, we had a quick catch up session with Bob and Janice from Tsamaya, a couple we had previously met in both Flores and Horta.  We then set off on a calm 52 nm run to Angra do Heroismo on the next Azore Island, Terceira.  On the way we passed by southeast Sao Jorge - the high central ridge and the prevailing winds create a very isolated and lush area.

Link to Azores - Sao jorge photo album 

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Azores - Pico

Harbor view from Lajes do Pico

Pico beckons
From the harbor at Horta, Pico dominates the horizon. Sunrise over Pico, sunset lighting Pico up. When we went whalewatching from Horta, we found them just south of Pico. Wine from Pico is featured on the menus throughout the Azores. So visiting Pico became a natural thing to do...

Ferry to Madalena - July 17, 2012
Madalena is the major town to the NW on Pico. Starlet wasn't welcome - the harbor isn't ready for yachts. So we grabbed the ferry from Horta for the half hour run over. The town was bustling with groups of noticeably younger tourists wandering around. Lots of cafes sprawling out on the sidewalk overlooking the whalewatching and dive boats in the harbor. The harbor itself is being improved with an additional breakwater under construction and rumors of a yacht marina in a couple of years.



We lucked out on our visit to the wine cooperative, just south in town. The first person we met was Maria, the enologist for the operation (we had to ask too - it means winemaker). She took the time to give us a personal tour. Owned by local vineyards, they pool the grapes to be processed into about 8 different wines. Red and white, upper end and mid grade, Maria directs the fermenting, ageing in American oak casks and bottling for distribution. The personal attention and relaxed pace made this our best winery visit ever.

When asked for a lunch recommendation, Maria suggested Marisqueira Ancoradouro, on the water a couple of blocks down. Hard to find since there isn't a sign and it is hidden behind a house, but a very nice place. We enjoyed one of our best meals so far in the Azores.

Heading back to the Madalena harbor, we passed by a campground provided for backpackers. This was a very nice facility with showers and a picnic area with grill. Apparently the Azores are a popular place for European students to spend their summers. In addition to the harbor, there is a lot of construction in town. Roads and sidewalks are being rebuilt, and buildings refurbished.

Downtown Madalena was a flurry of activity. A major festival was starting the next day. Blocks of tents were being set up for all kind of booths. No problem going thirsty - there will be a beer tap about every 15 feet!


Starlet to Lajes do Pico - June 21 -  26, 2012

It was time to leave Horta behind. Chuck, our neighbor in the Horta marina came along for the boat ride to Lajes do Pico, the major town on the SE of Pico. The day was sunny and calm - perfect for whale watching. On the way we purposefully eased out south of Pico to the area we had seen sperm whales during last week's whalewatching trip. We had a nice encounter with a pod of Risso's dolphin, but it seems the larger whales (and whalewatching boats) have moved on.

We anchored in the bay outside the Lajes marina, dropped the dink, then Chuck and Mark checked out the marina. This one is similar to the marina at Flores: small and in nice condition with modern floating docks. But no room for Starlet! Chuck caught the bus to Madalena. From there he'll take the ferry back to Horta.

The historic whaling town has re-created itself as a center of whale watching. Six large RIB's make as many as 3 whale watching trips each day. There's the Museu do Baleeiros and whale mosaics in the stone sidewalks. The large number of tourists support more outdoor cafes than the much larger town of Horta.

A fast (and free) WIFI connection gave us a chance to catch up with friends and family through Skype.


After a long Sunday morning walk through town with the dogs, the calm seas brought on by the Azores high tempted us to run out and search for the sperm whales.  In a fourteen mile loop we just saw two more dolphins.  Back in the harbor we noticed that a slip was available (but after anchoring and dropping the dink...), so we moved Starlet to the slip and plugged in.  With the light wind and sunny skies, this was the first time since we've been in the Azores that it was warm enough to make us want A/C.


We ran into four Danish divers over dinner who have been diving around the world together since 2002.  From Pico they had been diving on the Princess Alice Bank 42 miles offshore focusing on sharks and Mobula rays, a close relative of Manta rays.  We shared stories about favorite dive locations for close to two hours. They were curious about Bermuda, we filled them in. We were curious about the Red Sea and Malta, they filled us in.


A low pressure system was came through bringing more wind & rain. So with a fast internet connection in Lajes, we decided it was time to set up a real blog for Starlet's journeys. It took a couple of days to get organized, but you're looking at the results!

The morning we left for the next island to the north, Sao Jorge, we were passed by a couple of whalewatching boats heading out. We eased Starlet out to see if we could use them to guide us to the sperm whales. We did see some spouts, but the whales were soon covered with up to 5 of the commercial boats. No room for Starlet in that mix!

Link to Azores - Pico photo album


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