monday, july 1, 2002

hi guys ---

we made it to the azores, 14.5 days, with no serious weather
and enough wind so that we even had a bit of diesel fuel left
after motoring when there was no wind.  we are not in port yet, 
will arrive about 6am tomroow morning.  i can already taste the
icecream and cold beer.  have not used the fridge for the
last week as it uses too much electrical power and when we are
sailing we dont get the batteries charged up by the alternator.
the boat has solar panels that charge them up some, but not
enough for the power hungry fridge.

david just yelled fish -- our first.  in hauling it in, it
didnt look very fish-like. turned out to be a big black garbage
bag, empty but with the top tied in a knot as though it had been
a full trash bag that someone threw overboard (a no-no) and then
during its travels had been cut up and emptied.  guess we wont
have that one for dinner.  not sure what we are doing wrong,
fishing-wise but we caught fish in the bahamas and have none 
all the way from florida to bermuda to the azores. even have
lemons left ... anticipating.  each morning there are flying
fish on the deck.  these are little fish with big fins and when
a big fish chases them, they use the fins as wings and launch
themselves from a wave, hoping to stay aloft long enough so
the big fish shops elsewhere for his dinner.  they can "fly" 
for a long way and if the waves are just right, pretty high.
so we end up with a few on the deck of the boat (about 5-6 ft.
off the water) every morning.  i use them as bait for our
fishing efforts the next day.  maybe i should just start
harvesting them, might be more profitable.

a few nites ago the ocean was sailing-perfect -- a moderate
breeze making the boat go 6 or so knots, not big waves, and 
magical phosphorescence in the water.  as the boat glides
thru the water it makes a wave at the bow and another one
in the middle and that middle one was sparkling with a zillion
tiny ocean-lightning-bugs.  it was hypnotizing, as you looked at
it you felt like you were being drawn right into the glittering
wave.  good thing i was strapped in with a safety harness.

had one day of rough seas on the way from bermuda, not as
rough as we had on try #1, but rough enough to remind me
to invent new ways to hang on for various chores.  a hard thing
to do is hug when the boat is rolling around.  a proper hug
takes two arms and then there are two people who are suddenly
not holding on properly and able to be launched across the
room by an errant wave.  one handed hugs just dont cut it,
so i have to design into my boat a designated hugging spot where 
you can wedge yourself in and have two hands available for a 
nice, squishy hug.


----- thursday, july 11

stayed on the island of flores for almost a week.  it was a
wonderful spot, green fields, covered with flowers, friendly
people, small white houses with red tile roofs, and no real
tourist traps.  things are very cheap, big latte is 65 cents,
pint of local beer about 80 cents, meals in restaurants
more like $5 (we did a meal for 6 with 2 bottles of wine for
$6/person).  email was free at the public library, laundry
was free and you couldnt even tip the person who did it for
yuou or they would get fired.  we managed to tip a box of
cookies and that was the right currency.  showers were free
too, but only cold water.  i got very good at taking a lightening
fast shower and rationalizing that my back never got really
dirty so didnt need to get wet.

we did a tour of the island by taxi and several hikes.  the nicest
was a hike down to a beach that involved about 2 miles of a narrow
path along the side of a cliff.  if you went over the cliff its
doubtful that you could have climbed back up.  but we didnt have
to test that theory.  at the bottom were several houses that were
part of a farm that is no longer farmed.  the farm included lots
of local fruits and they are available for whoever wants to
tend them or pick them.  we tried to get some bananas, but they
were all too green when we were there.  the ocean was too rough
to swim in that day, strong undertow.  the water in the harbor
is full of jelly fish so we didnt swim there either.

went to a fish festival in a neighboring town that was put 
on by the local church.   the fishermen from several towns
contributed lots of fish, lots of different kinds.  then
they made a big soup with all the fish, removed the fish from
the broth and served the soup with bread in it and the
fish separately with boiled ptoatoes.  was the best meal
i had on the island, totally yummy fish with an awesome
garlic sauce to put on it.

another highlight of flores was a visit to an old water
mill that had been restored by a family to use as a weekend
house.  it dated from the 1800s and was built of stone mostly
with wood beams and roof.  very nice.  the family had
a 14 year old daughter who i thougth was about 20.
havent seen any sullen teenagers in the azores yet.

sailed from flores to horta on the island of faial.  the
marina here must have about 300 boats in it.  a major
stopping place for boats bound for europe from the US
or the caribbean and also for boats bound for brazil
or the caribbean via the cape verde islands.  never
realized how terrible my geography skills were till i
have to navigate and get them right.

in talking to other people who have been cruising for a
while, it seems the places to go are brazil and cuba.
am adding them to my list and gettng local info about
them whenever i can.  any of you out there want to come 
sail with me and be my crew.  especially necessary for
cuba is someone who is not an american citizen.  US boats
are allowed to go to cuba but not to spend any money there.
so we have to have a non-american aboard who officially 
"spends" all the money.

hugs to all.

-evi