Grown Ups Gap Year

We did an overnight sail to Terceira Island (Ilha Terceira) from Sao Jorge to ensure we arrived in the daylight. Our destination was the marina at Praia da Vitória. This is known to be the cheapest in the Azores but is also a good departure place from the Azores to the UK. The sail took us initially north of Sao Jorge passing the lght house we had cycled to on Ponta da Rosais. From here we then had a good point of sail and better winds out of the wind shadow of Sao Jorge to Terceira passing the whole length of Soa Jorge on the Eastern side of the island having offshore views of some of the places we had visited.

As daylight arrived we reached Terceira taking until 11AM to arrive at the marina as we had light and fickle winds down the west coast in the wind shadow of the island however we did manage to see a fin whale which was surprisingly close inshore as we passed Angra do Heroísmo, the capital of the island. One thing we did notice was the larger number of houses in view as we sailed by shown by the fact the population for the island is approaching 60,000 for nearly Seven times Sao Jorge. Another wonderful thing on the sail was the fin whale that came within 50m of Mirage. Close enough to see but not too close to cause concern. The whale was only 300m off of the coast but the water here was still over 300m deep. We also saw a couple of pods of dolphins but they were not really interested in us as they had obviously detected a shoal of fish as there suddenly was a feeding frenzy with the dolphins jumping clear of the water to stun the fish. There was also an aerial attack on the fish from birds so they didn't stand a chance.

With a perfect final tack we sailed into the harbour before motoring to the marina and securing ourselves to the arrivals pontoon. We were met by friends we had last seen in Porto Santo (Wig and Caroline on Wayward) who came to give us a hand with our lines. We had hoped to surprise everybody we knew at the marina by coming unannounced however they spotted us moving on AIS. Once secure we visited the marina office for clearing in. We have to clear in and out of each of the individual islands in the Azores but fortunately at no cost.

Once booked in we moved to a finger pontoon and had a hand from our great friends from Zephyr who we had actually managed to surprise when turning up at the marina. The remainder of the day was spent organising Mirage and giving her a wash as well as a short nap to catch up on our missing sleep after we had caught up with all our other friends. The Moody Bunch were back together for one last time of Zephyr, Gitane and Mirage and along with Thom on Fathom and Wig and Caroline on Wayward who made up the full team.

Our first walk in Terceira was behind the marina and needed a climb up 286 steps to a monument that overlooked the harbour and marina. This was a very popular walk as there were many local families also up at the top, but some had driven to the car park near by! The monument was home to the local amateur radio club which unfortunately was closed due to COVID-19. We walked back down just in time to meet with Caroline and Wig, and their hire car for a whistle stop tour of the island on our second day with a circumnavigation of the island by road but stopping at plenty of places on our way around. One immediate thing we noticed was the more colourful churches and civic building that rather than just white with black trim more common in Sao Jorge now had many different colours of trim. The island is very green and the lower land is made of a patchwork of small fields either having cows in them or maize to feed the cattle. There are 6 main volcanoes on the island but throughout the island there are plenty of smaller vents in the fields. All of the volcanoes are covered in plants, either fields or forests, as there has been no volcanic activity on the island for a very long time. Angra was hit by a major earthquake on 1 January 1980 that did considerable damage to the city's historic centre as well as many other locations on the island of Terceira.

One of the hikes we did during the day took us to a small lake that sits in the crater of a volcano, however with lack of use this year the path was very overgrown and we didn't manage to walk all around it but the climb was as challenging, although shorter, than Pico. The lake was a very vibrant blue which could have been to do with chemicals leaching from the volcano lava.

Using the bus we spent a day in the capital Angra do Heroismo. Angra, as it is known, is a UNESCO world heritage site with narrow streets lined with old houses and shops and is one of the three capital cities of the Azores. Founded in 1478, it is the most historical city in the Azores and was once even the capital of Portugal. It gained World Heritage site status in 1983. Angra is based around the harbour and has a large extinct volcanic area to protect it from the sea called Monte Brasil. Monte Brasil was also used to build a fort and gun batteries right through to World War 2 (British guns) and provided a great walk to the top. With limited time in the city we didn't explore the nature trails but the views from the top were fantastic both out to sea and over the city. At the top of Monte Brasil there is a large pic-nic area complete with many BBQ stations all clean and very much in use. This is something the Portuguese do very well both on these islands and everywhere else in Portugal we have visited. As with Sao Jorge there was a small area with different animals in large runs such as deer, birds, macaws, pet rabbits etc. to keep young children entertained whilst there. We walked around the harbour and through the streets and had lunch with a couple we had met in Sao Jorge (Sanne and Jasper) in the botanical gardens. Unfortunately the majority of public cultural places are all closed due to COVID-19 stopping us visiting museums, the forts etc. The centre of the UNESCO area is a main street leading towards a square near to the bay and off of this main street were others all with the old properties. The majority of these are of course now shops, cafes or restaurants but there are houses in some of the roads. One house was bristling with aerials and whilst I was looking at them I was spotted by the owner and of course we both started talking amateur radio speak much to Sally's glee! The bus took 45 minutes each way and took us through different villages giving us a chance to see more of the island.

We have managed to cycle whilst in Terceira and followed the coast from Praia towards Angra but only about half of the way taking us to the most south easterly point of the island and where we had sailed passed. There are no beaches however every village we cycled through has an artificial beach with steps into the sea or a pool made using the local volcanic stone. Some of the villages we had gone through with the bus but other closer to the sea were all new. Most of the beaches were busy with children and families as I guess the schools have finished and many people who work in the tourist industry are probably still not working as places are closed by law or not opened due to lack of tourists. We cycled through different type of farm land and we have seen grape vines for the first time since Pico, but like Sao Jorge most of the fields are for cows or for growing maize for feed for the cows.

Our final full day on Terceira was spent getting Mirage ready for sea, cooking food and doing the final washing of the clothes however we did also manage to spend a bit of time on the beach and swimming in the sea. This was the third time in the water but the other two were Mirage related to clean the hull and propeller and shaft to remove any small trace of fouling to ensure Mirage flies home! We also of course had our final swim in the sea and the obligatory ice cream!

We have enjoyed our time in Terceira but we always knew it was going to be a short stay as we came here first of all to say goodbye to the other boats we had met during this adventure but also to get ourselves ready for the sail back. We barely scratched the surface of this island and could have easily spent a month here as the others nearly had. However that does give us an excuse to return to see the island again in the future.

We are hoping our passage will take us around 11/12 days to Falmouth so will be back to the UK early August. We will try to give short updates to the blog as we sail home as well as keeping our position updated daily.