I got near to Faial at about 1am yesterday. Faial & Pico are very close & it was not clear where one finished & the other began & as I was going to pass between them it was a relatively important distinctsion. So I wondered aimlessly around until dawn, & then, there they where, one on one side the other on the other! All these islands are volcanic & Pico is dominated by Pico Alta a volanic peak rising to 2351m. I'll try & add a picture (try because I haven't got Teresa's expertise) as it forms the classical concept of a v. cone.
Catsmeow is now snug...well tied up, in the Horta Marina. They allocated me the worst slip in the place. I get jostled by every boat & tide movement, & there are lots of movements, as the slip is next to customs/immigration, the fuel docks & the entrance! I was going to try bribing the dock master for a new consignment, but the comings & goings are so interesting & with a few more lines the movements not too bad, I decided against it. The marina is huge (I swear it's a mile to the "facilities", Which incidently gets locked for siesta & from 10pm - 8am. Gives a new meaning to bladder control), and famous for it's wall paintings done by visiting crew. Usually includes boat name, crew, date & extent of passage. I estimate they occupy several miles of walls (wall being used loosely for although they do cover the harbor walls they also adorn the pavements, trash containers & other flat surfaces). They tell me it ranks 3rd in Europe for the # of annual transient boats, with well over a thousand/yr.
Horta is great ( for a couple of days) but pales in cf. Bermuda. Commerce seems 2nd class & the people somewhat dour & the volcanic ash takes getting used to.
The marina police man tells me his home island of Terceira is much nicer so I might check that out.
Tomorrow I will see if MAYS (Mid Atlantic {& I thought I was nearly there} Yacht Services) can fix the radar dome & supply a new main halyard & then it'll be sailing again. LOL, Mike