A famous tradition which yachtsmen coming here love is claiming a piece of wall, pavement or footpath to leave a memento of the yacht in the form of a painting to mark the visit.


Our experience arriving in Horta was very different to the information we'd had back in Providenciales that under CovID19 restrictions we would be allowed just 48 hours for rest, refuelling, filling water tanks and taking on provisions if needed,with only those yachts needing repairs, or with crew requiring medical attention, allowed to stay longer.

Indeed the welcome was warm and restrictions on our length of stay never mentioned when we reported in after anchoring. We were so grateful for this respite as the weather remained unsuitable for moving on. It was not clear whether things had changed due to Atlantic weather conditions or pressure from Peter Cafe Sport and other local businesses or perhaps it was felt that such strictures were unnecessary as all yacht arrivals had already been at sea for longer than the accepted 14 day quarantine periods being introduced by many islands further west and countries everywhere. There were a lot of boats in harbour escaping tough weather and many more on their way. Only two ports were open, Horta and Ponta Delgada much further south on Sao Miguel and rather better for yachts making for Gibraltar, Morocco, the Mediterranean and other more southerly ports.

The numbers were building up in Horta harbour and anchoring was becoming congested with new arrivals every day. One of the issues with the harbour is that the part with shallower water, which tends to be preferred for ease of anchoring, is littered with old anchors and heavy old chains which can foul yachts' anchors and so trap them there. Word gets around but not everyone becomes aware. Whilst we were there a French yacht was caught, they had checked out and started lifting their anchor to leave, we saw them going round in circles. They dived down with snorkels and found their anchor to be caught on a massive chain. A message came over the VHF appealing for diving gear which was offered but the Harbour Master intervened informing them that only professional divers were allowed to work in the harbour and gave them a phone number, however, it was a bank holiday and they would have to wait until next day. This caused some angst as they were packed up and ready to go, it was about 4 to 5 metres deep and cold but the snorkellers went down again in relays spending most of the morning freeing their anchor before they could set off. They had our sympathy, It happened to us once many years ago in Bayona, Spain when we got caught on a thick hawser, it is extremely frustrating.

No-one was allowed ashore or to ride about in their dinghy no matter how long they had been in harbour and the guys from Peter Cafe Sport were working late into the evening and sometimes at night to ensure the yachts had provisions and other essential resources. We all had to keep our VHF radios tuned to the port channel for announcements and communication with the port officers. On our fourth day at anchor it was announced that yacht crews could be tested for Corona virus and if negative would be moved into the marina and allowed ashore as well. This was joyous news as the weather was still unsuitable to leave for the north east. For the port it would enable the harbour to be cleared to some extent so there would be room for new arrivals thus making the anchorage safer for all.

Yachts with children on board were tested first, there were just 6 of those which concluded the first day so we imagined this was going to take a long time and as fairly recent arrivals we would be well down on the list. We were all informed that each morning yachts would be called up if they were on the day's list and test results would take about 2 days at which point boats would again be called up and informed by marina staff. There was still a flurry of boats calling up on VHF to find out when they would be tested. Incredibly some got a bit stroppy trying to prioritise themselves as they had been there a long time or had bored teenagers on board, friends in Horta they wanted to visit or other reasons. These crews were directed to the Maritime Police who were managing the testing process with the Health Authority and who quietly continued with their plans. There was a little continued pestering of the marina staff until the Port Captain came onto the air waves advising that if particular yacht crews were not satisfied with the arrangements they were at liberty to prepare their boats and depart for their next port of call. The process carried on more or less peacefully but there were still plenty of calls to the marina in the mornings asking, "Are we on the test list today?" The officers concerned remained polite and patient throughout.

It was in fact quite difficult to work out how boats were being prioritised but the Health Authority started to test 60 people per day which seemed extremely efficient. We felt a bit embarrassed, as relative newbies, when we were called up on the second morning. We thought that after the children they must be prioritising the elders as I (Lorraine) was certainly one of if not the eldest amongst the crews; we knew this as skippers had to give crews' ages along with their other credentials as they reported in via the harbour radio channel on arrival. We never did find out the criteria but swallowed our embarrassment and were glad to be getting on with it. We duly appeared at the testing site and had swabs stuck way up our noses and into the throat then amazingly within 24 hours had our results. We were pronounced clear of the virus and could proceed into the rapidly filling marina. This we did via the fuel dock where we replaced the 240 litres of diesel we had used up on the windless days of our crossing and topped up our similarly dry water tanks. Marvelous!

All but the smaller yachts were rafted up against the wall in the marina. We were directed to raft up against Cinnabar a Spanish yacht with David and Anna who were making their way home to Barcelona. Friendly and helpful they secured our mooring lines to their boat and we doubled up with ropes to the harbour wall. This put us in a raft of three with them in the middle, the boat on the inside was an abandoned Beneteau Oceanis 473, it had been badly damaged having lost its guard wires, pushpit and various other deck fittings and was starting to deteriorate from lack of attention. Later on we discovered that this yacht had been a drug smuggling boat boarded and confiscated by the Maritime Police with crew arrested. It will probably be auctioned off eventually, that is what happened to one caught and taken to Southwold on the Suffolk coast some years ago. A little later on we became a raft of four when Dutch yacht Karma with Marco and Karin came alongside us. Unfortunately they had damage to both their autopilot and wind vane steering gear so they had needed to hand steer for the last 150 miles to Horta from Martinique, exhausting stuff. They were waiting for delivery of spare parts and a new crew member as Karin had had enough and was flying back to Holland instead.

On our first visit to Horta in 1982 there was no marina, boats either anchored or rafted up against the outer harbour wall and it got a little rough in poor weather as the harbour was so open, however, it was far less congested then.

The Azores are famous for their whaling tradition and where the marina has been built used to be where the whaling boats where hauled looking extremely colourful in their bright paint waiting to be launched. We saw these boats as the industry was drawing to its close, these days they are used for racing but the best place to see them now is in some of the whaling museums found throughout the islands.

The other famous tradition which yachtsmen coming here love is claiming a piece of wall, pavement or footpath to leave a memento of the yacht in the form of a painting to mark the visit. There are literally thousands of these in Horta now done in and around the marina, the tradition started on the outer harbour wall. It is difficult to get access to walk along that wall now but it is where we did our painting in 1982 between the steady downpours of rain that we had.

They have become bigger and much more sophisticated now and the practise has spread to other places more recently such as Porto Santo, also Portuguese. New arrivals in Horta have difficulty finding a space for their artwork. We found one from an Australian boat called Blue Heeler that we got to know during our circumnavigation. They came to Horta in 2018 en route to Europe and are currently sitting out CovID restrictions in the UK, they were pleased to get our email saying we had seen their painting and to hear what is happening in Horta.

As well as providing a colourful and sociable interlude the marina enabled us to get sorted out after our 27 days a sea and 6 days at anchor. Getting our copious amounts of laundry done was wonderful especially as once loaded the process is taken over by the woman who works there and we just had to go back to collect it washed and dried. Shoreside showers another plus then the shopping. We discovered the small market with home grown and market garden produce of very good quality. Getting to the supermarket was a reasonable walk, it is large with plenty of choice and will be good for replenishing our stores before we leave for home. Best of all though was visiting Peter Cafe Sport, having an excellent lunch at the restaurant there and visiting the shop area. All of this I hasten to add, apart from eating and drinking, was done using masks; even though there has been no CovID here since March the locals all carry masks and wear them in shops and other public places as well as observing social distancing so we felt very safe here. A good place to be at this time.

Chris hired a car for a couple of days so our next venture was to re-explore the island and update ourselves on Faial.