Asteroid - Hi from Azores -6th June 2012

Well we made it. Asteroid crossed the finish line at 2030hrs (local time)
on Saturday 26th May - total time taken 10 days and four and a half hours.

The trip across was, on reflection, a good one. Cooking meals, apart from
two or three days, proved to be possible. And sleep - well there was the
potential for a good sleep for everyone but unfortunately we were on the
one tack for a lot of the time and it depended on what side of the boat
your berth was on as to whether you actually got a good sleep. Thank God
for lee-cloths - without these I would have been either sleeping on the
floor or squashing Jack! The sight of land on the last day was very
welcome - even though the Azores were covered in a black cloud with the
accompanying rain and wind they looked absolutely beautiful. We crossed
the finish line and then made our way into the harbour. Unfortunately the
wind had really picked up and after a disasterous attempt to tie up on the
commercial dock where the wind blowing us off combined with the hugh
rubber and chain fenders on the dock made getting securly tied up
impossible. So the skipper made the decision to anchor for the night -
leaving two of our crew, Billy and Rodger, on the dock. Ciaran (ARC)
kindly escorted them through the wind and rain to the customs dock where
they waited to see if anyone would be able to bring them back to Asteroid.
Not lucky in this course of action they took the only other thing to do
and went to Peters Sports Bar which is the first stop for all sailors when
they reach Horta. There they were treated royally with plenty of people
to buy them drinks and discuss the merits of walking through the wind and
rain with only shorts, t-shirts, socks (Rodger) and bare feet (Billy).
Emilija kindly let them sleep on board that night and they rejoined us
when we tied up on the marina wall the next day. They get great mileage
from that story! In the meantime inbetween worrying as to whether they
were okay, Brian and Manfred broke out the cigars and we had an enjoyable
drink to celebrate our arrival.

It is now time to go and we are doing the last minute preparations. Since
arriving we have had an absolutely wonderful time. Ciaran and Lyall from
the ARC were fantastic in their help with boat stuff, organising social
activities and just making sure everyone had a good time and went away
with good memories of the Azores. We, along with a few other boats,
decided not to join the cruise of the Azores. Primarily because our
chartplotter decided to pack it in while crossing from Bermuda and we had
to get that fixed and also the cruise would add another 200 miles on to
our trip back to Ireland. So we bid goodbye to our new friends on
Saturday.

We also met up with Express Crusader with whom we have had many enjoyable
days/evenings over the last six months or so. Jack was thrilled as he had
another opportunity to play with Inez, Martin and Tomas again. Rosita
also arrived in Horta and it was good to see Charles and Penny again.

Our time in Horta has been spent cleaning and fixing the boat stuff,
enjoying evenings out in Peters Bar, the "Hot Rocks" restaurant where you
cook your own food on lava rocks heated to 500 degrees! Ciaran and Lyall
also organised a bus tour of the island which was fascinating - we visited
the scene of the most recent volcanic eruption in 1957/58 - stunning to
see what the aftermath was with the lighthouse now a good bit inshore
surrounded by volcanic ash/sand as far as the eye could see! Jack
collected a couple of lava rocks which I am sure he will have a good time
showing around when he gets back to Ireland. The prize giving ceremony
was held on Thursday 31st May at a cocktail reception hosted by the
Minister for Tourism. We were presented with two sets of Crocs for our
two "shoeless" abandoned crew members!

The Azores are a beautiful set of islands but we only had a chance to see
two of them, Faia, which is where Horta is situated, and Pico. We took
the ferry to Pico and hired a car for the day. It is a bit bigger than
Faial and has an active volcano - you can drive approximately three
quarters the day up and so we enjoyed coffee/hot chocolate up a volcano -
not something you do everyday! The scenery reminded me of Ireland but a
bit more green. The soil is obviously very rich with the volcanic input
and there are inumerous types of trees, bushes and a huge amount of
rhodedandrum bushes (apologies for the spelling) which we were told
provide an enormous flower show when they bloom - it must be absolutely
beautiful. The greenery mixed with the dark black of the volcanic rocks
scattered everywhere is a beautiful feast for the eyes.

The people are very friendly and very happy to try to help - English and
Portugese are two very, very different languages and it was fun sometimes
trying to get understood.

Shopping and eating out are good experiences. Prices particularly for
restaurants and coffee shops were much less than Ireland or the UK and the
food is extremely good.

So now we leave for the final part of our journey so hopefully this time
next week we will be in County Cork somewhere, probably Schull, enjoying a
pint of Guinness!

Talk to you then
Loretto