Oyster News 52 - Oyster Yachts

We drove anticlockwise round the island, visiting a number
of coastal villages, checking out landings, etc. as yachties
do. Valcao dos Capelinos is well worth a visit. An eruption,
starting in the sea in 1957 and lasting a year, added 2.4
square kilometres to the western tip of the island, near the
village of Capelo. The lighthouse was surrounded by ash to the
depth of the first floor and found itself about 1 kilometre from the
end of the new western extremity of the island. The light was
abandoned, fell into disrepair and a new one built.
The Caldeira, the crater in Faial’s inactive volcano, is fairly spectacular,
which is 1.45 kilometres in circumference and 400 metres deep. The rim is about
1000 metres above sea level. Cabeço Gordo is the highest point at 1043 metres, a
short distance to the south. The day of our visit was overcast and windy, so the view of
Horta and Pico were not as spectacular as they might have been.
We all wished we could have spent more time around the Azores, exploring all nine main
islands. The people are friendly and if the other islands are only half as beautiful as Faial
they’d still be well worth the visit. Trying to explain a two-month stopover during a delivery
trip would have been tricky and, I felt, unlikely to be viewed with enthusiasm as a
contributing factor to my long-term employment at Oyster Marine.
HORTA TO DARTMOUTH
We completed clearing out formalities on Monday, 9th of June, with the intention of leaving
early on Tuesday the 10th. We eventually left at 1000, in the rain, Jo having completed the
essential wall painting.
What wind there was, was coming from the west accompanied by a three metre swell.
We motored with the main up, north of Sao Jorge then to the south of Grasioca and the
open sea.
Whales were sighted almost every day. Some sightings were spouts, some flukes and some
fairly amazing close ups. At about 0630 on Friday 13th of June (yes, Friday the 13th), at
least four large whales came very close to the boat, one of which was longer than the boat!
I stopped the engine and called down below "WHALES, BIG TIME!". No response. I didn’t
want to miss a single moment of their visit so I banged on Jo’s hatch. She came bounding
out of the companionway, thinking she had slept in for breakfast, to be stunned for a
moment by the presence of our visitors. It’s hard not to feel overwhelmed by these
magnificent creatures. They seemed to be interested in this strange floating object and
stayed around for about 20 minutes, moving off after their curiosity had been satisfied.
Still no sign of Mike and Jeff. They both slept through, a whale being less than 5 metres
from the boat!
The following few days were relatively uneventful, a ship passed fairly close on the evening
of the 12th of June. We assumed he saw us, but you can never be sure.
Sailing by day, MPS and main, motor sailing at night when the wind died. Portuguese
men-of-war jellyfish started appearing in greater numbers. At one point they were like a light
50 www.oystermarine.com