Land Ho!
Well we did it, we crossed the Atlantic. Well we crossed part of it anyway. Everyone is still in good spirits and we didn’t have any major upsets so we are calling the trip a success. Although we barely have any sail slides left (the tags that keep the sail in the mast) as they mostly broke when we reefed the sail (tied it down in sections to make it smaller when it is very windy). The main still worked surprisingly well but we will have to look at having them replaced once we get to an Island that has a sailmaker – Probably Horta. We are in the marina in Lajes on Flores, the most westerly Island. We sailed in last night around 9:30 pm Azores time but no one was around. We tied up to an empty dock, had a celebratory drink and something to eat, and headed to bed for the night. It was great to sleep for the whole night again! And it was nice not to be moving – everything seems so silent. As Daniel remarked, it’s strange not to feel like you are lying in the bathtub with your head under water for a change. This morning when we woke up we looked around for someone, anyone who could help us sort out how we check in and after some asking around we found the Marina master. He says that he can arrange for us to check in on Monday so for right now we are wandering around the island illegally, technically, but they don’t seem to think much of it. We plan to rent a car tomorrow to explore the island and check out some of the beautiful waterfalls and lakes before Daniel heads out on Monday back to Toronto. Oh and the boat is an absolute mess so at some point someone will have to do some serious cleaning. For those of you who have expressed concern about the bad weather that is coming our way or if you hear about bad weather on the news, don’t worry it’s not actually coming our way. There is a hurricane warning for the eastern and middle Islands but we are out of its path as we are on the west section of islands. The bad weather is supposed to hit Sunday night or Monday and we will wait it out safe and sound on beautiful Flores.