Running of the Bulls-Terciera Island, Azores-June 2015

Whenever a town has a festival or party they rent Bulls and run them through the streets.  Somehow this is entertaining.  These bulls are large mean animals.  The local athorities block off a section and let the bulls have free run.  The area we were in was probably a six block area.  They use large semi trailers with boards on the sides and all sorts of barriers.  The timber barrier in this picture is where I hid.  I was behind the barrier and even had an escape route figured in case the bull knocked down the barrier.  In this picture the bulls had not been released and every body was feeling brave.

 OK the bulls are out and everyone is becoming less brave.  Look at the quilts hanging from the balconies across the street.  That is decoration for the festivities.  Also notice that people have their doorways blocked to keep the bulls out.  They were selling beer over the top of the barriers though when the bulls were on the other side of the block.  

 The white bull seems to be zeroing in on our side of the street.  Notice that there are no children just macho dudes who want to play the game. 

 Just to show that this is all real, there was a guy about fifty feet from us that was hit by one of the bulls.  We believe he lived because he raised his hand as the truck took him away.  That took some of the macho away from the rest of the folks.  

  After an hour or so the bulls are pretty sick of running on city streets with people taunting them.  The streams of saliva are clear to the ground and they look like they want to be done with this game.  They are still on the mean side.  Our buddy the white bull is back. 

 Notice how the bull became the king of this mountain.  He cleared off the lawn and everybody who was formerly brave disappeared. 

 I imagine that the guy on the street sign could have held on for hours if he had to.

Passages - 2015 - Chesapeake to England in Three Passages

We  came across the Atlantic in three steps.  Chesapeake to the Caribbean,  Caribbean to the Azores and Azores to England.

We left Hampton Virginia on November 3, 2014 with the Salty Dawg Rally and headed right down the coast.  The issues were where to cross the Gulf Stream and there was some bad weather moving from the Dominican Republic to a point east of Bermuda.  We stayed along the coast until we were about even with Cape Hatteras.  This is not because we were clever but we listened to Chris Parker.  He was our weather router for the rally and had been giving us his expertise to pick a departure date and a route to follow.  About Cape Hatteras we crossed the Gulf Stream.  It was a benign crossing and then we had some wind to sail with.  The picture below is the kind of cloud not to sail under.  The winds will increase and it is raining.

 This picture of Ellie shows the life jackets that we always wear when we are out of the cabin.  At night or in rough weather we snap on with a tether before leaving the cabin. 

 After three or four days the wind quit and the ocean got very calm.  The big boats with lots of fuel motored but we just sat there and read books.  It is pretty rare that the wind quits like this but it does happen.  After a couple of days the wind came back and we were sailing again. 

We did not have the moon on our passage so it was very dark.  Notice though that the Monitor Wind Vane (Helmer ) is steering the boat. 

This is a flash picture of the sails in the dark with rain.  Double reefed main and staysail is steady and slow.  

Traffic is always an issue.  We have an AIS Transmitter so that ships can  see many miles ahead that there is a  sailboat called Serenity many miles ahead.  Occasionally ships get close and it is quite exciting.  If you get as close as this picture it is not good.  

After nineteen days we came into Gorda Sound on the Island of Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands.  We were able to pick a mooring at the Bitter End Yacht Club and sleep for the night.  One of the great moments on a passage is the moment that somebody gets to say land ho.  It is a good moment.  The pictures are of Faial Island in the Azores.  They are not pretty but after twenty two days the island looks good.  

Then as you get closer you can see houses and fields and proof of human habitation.  At this point you are tired but it still feels good to see land.  

The other passages we made were from St John United States Virgin Islands to Faial Island, Azores in twenty two days.  Next was San Miguel Island, Azores to Falmouth, England in twelve days.  The times are slow times but the crew on our boat is old and slow to make up for it. 

A

Climbing Pico Mountain on Pico Island, Azores June 2015

Pico Mountain is 2351 meters (7700 feet) high and the highest mountain in Portugul.  It's most recent eruption was in 1720.  Most of the surface is rock.  It has not had time to erode to other things.

The picture  below is our guide.  His name is Joao (almost like John)  His family went to Canada in the 1950's but returned to the Azores for the quality of life.  Joao gives tours of the island and takes people up the mountain two or three days a week.
 

The mountain is steep as the pictures show.  The cone at the top of the mountain is a bit steeper and rather than  using hiking sticks it is the type of climbing where you need you hands and feet.  As you move up you move on limb at a time.  That means hold on with both hands and move one foot.  Then keep both feet on their holds and move one hand.  Don't slip!!!

This picture has me and Ian and Fiona from the boat Ruffian.  We met them is Hampton, Virginia and again in The Caribbean.  We also met in the Azores and when I asked them if they wanted to climb Pico they said of course.

On top of the mountain you need to take hero pictures.  By that I mean I made it and look at me.Woo Woo.

I was a little too tired to stand on top of the cairn.  It is an official hero picture though.

This a picture of the cone at the top.  Below the left ridge line you see some splashes of color.  That is the party after us climbing the final cone.   We are already back down. 

I talking about the climb afterwards Joao said the the second day would bring the aches and pains.  Usually it is the next day but I did OK through the next three days and the fourth day I could barely walk.  I mean Ellie could not only walk faster than me but but we would set objectives and she would wait for me.  All in all it was a good adventure and I am glad I did it. 

Tour of Faial Island Azores June 2015

Horta on Faial Island is the usual Port of Entry on the Azores.  We tried to go to Flores but the wind switched to Northeast and the Harbormaster kicked all the boats out of the Harbor.  So the choice became Horta.  Faial as well as all of the islands of the Azores is very clean and orderly.  Every house and farm is so well kept that you begin to look for something out of place but is is not there.  There are a lot of parks or vistas that allow you to enjoy the countryside.  These three pictures show a nice valley that was one of the last valleys on Faial because it doesn't have access to the sea.

The Portuguese began settling the Azores in 1432.  The early settlers were from Portugal but later immagrants were from France and Belgum and all over Europe.  They all are Portuguese now and the islands are part of Portugal.

The islands of the Azores are very agricultural but they have had to specialize.  For example oranges can be grown in Portugal and shipped to the Azores cheaper then they can be grown locally.  The main agricultural products are cheese and sausages.  Every island has several cheeses.  Linguica and Chorizo are my favorite sausages.

Across the road from the viewpoint looks up toward a town that has access to the sea.   Again it is very orderly and well kept.

 The picture is looking toward Horta and the Port.  Serenity. our boat, is tied up behind the far breakwater.

In the clouds you can see the Island of Pico.  It is the tallest mountain in Portugal.   I climbed it which is the subject of another post.

Below is the western end of

Painting the boat name on the Breakwater Faial Island, Azores June 2015

When you go To Horta on the island of Faial, Azores superstition has it that you must paint the name of your boat on the breakwater to keep your Karma in good shape.  Boats have been lost that left no name on the breakwater.  The protocol is you must find a space that you cannot read and then you can paint over it.  There are no unpainted spaces.   It was fun.   I was given some paint by Micheal and Mattheus from a German boat Rosinante and then I went to the Chinese hardware store and bought more paint and some brushes and solvents.   Ready to go I thought.  First I painted the space white and let it dry.   The next morning after coffee I came out with my paints and somebody was painting in my little white rectangle.  I expressed my disapproval, the guy apologized and cleaned up his mess and I was ready to start. 

This is definitely amateur and freehand but it shows the cutter rig, the double reefed main, the Monitor Windvane (Helmer) and the names of the crew.  Notice the water bottles behind Ellie.  When you are done painting for the day you put the bottles at the corners of your art and tape in between (blue tape of course) so that not too many people step on your art.

 

Ellie didn't get to paint but that was a good thing.  The Chinese paint thinner mad my hands numb for a few months. 

Check out the other boat names. 

Serenity in Horta Chilling and getting ready to tour the Azores.  One really fun thing happened as we were checking out with immagration.  The official asked us if we knew anybody  from the Azores.  We explained that Ellie's Grandfather was from San Miguel Island and the guy just lit up and we went through the particulars. 

Just to show that there are people with artistic talent that paint their boat names in Horta I have included some of the painting of some of our dockmates Rosinante and White Witch.

Spa Creek sailing school Spa Creek Annapolis Maryland Chesapeake Bay August 2014

The Sailing School at Spa Creek teaches kids to sail before they can read the instructions or worry about details.  In this picture the  boat is pulling the four dinghys behind.  This is the first step where they teach the kids to control the boat with the rudder. 

 The instructors pull the boats around for days until the kids know how to steer the boat.  It is fun to watch.  At first the different boats wander back and forth but the kids learn fast. 

 My guess is that these kids are from six to eight years old. 

 At that age they learn pretty fast how to steer a boat.

 The next step is to add a sail to the boat and learn to sail.  The boats with the striped sail are the rookie sailors.  We spent many hours watching the kids learn to sail.  The instructors used the mooring bouys as objectives for the sailors.  For example they would tell the class to go to bouy 57 and some of the kids would head there.  Other kids would point their boats into the wind and the boats would have sails aback and out of control.  The instructors would patiently tell them that they were pointed in the no go zone.  They helped to get sailing again and point at the bouy. 

 Since two or more sailboats constitutes a race, as soon as some of the kids figured out how it works they were racing and having fun and learning how to sail.

 I think that this picture shows that they all learned something.   In the first days of striped sails the boats would be all over the mooring field and this picture shows a tight group.  The next step is white sails and more races. 

The picture with St Mary's Church and High School has a good story with it.  The church was founded by Charles Carol who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independance.   He was the longest lived signer of that document and also the only Catholic.  Annapolis was the Capitol of the U.S. so Mr Carol started this church and was later an Archbishop of the Catholic Church.

 

Spa Creek Annapolis, Maryland August 2014

Spa Creek in Annapolis is one of the nicest places we have anchored or moored our boat.  It is protected from the weather and has all the city stuff close at hand.   It also has the best chandlery we have found in our travels.  It is called Fawcetts and is the chandlery that others should study and emulate.  As you can  see from the pictures it is a very nice part of town.   Look carefuly at the two large trees in the right of the picture as well as the nice pilings keeping the lawn in place.

The next picture is the same place at high tide with a strong southerly wind blowing.   The first picture didn't have the park bench because it was taken in.   In the years to come Annapolis will need to be raised some.

 Any way you look at it this is a nice part of a nice town.

Every place that a road terminates at the creek is a place where you can tie up your dinghy and go ashore.  There are quite a few of these places and sometimes even with docks.  Annapolis is a boater's town.  There are more boats than people since people from the back country need a place to keep their boats.

There is an inlet to the center of the town which is called Ego Alley.  When you have a 50 foot boat like the on the in the left of the picture you light up a cigar and cruise your boat slowly into Ego Alley.  It is not a through waterway so at the end you turn your magnificent craft around without hitting anybody and cruise back out.  I needed to also cruise this place so that is me in the rowboat.