Flores 2 – Return to Santa Cruz

 

The main Harbour at Santa Cruz

Artist's impression of Harbour after works are completed

I started writing this on the 14^th June on a grey drizzly day. It’s now the 15^th June and the sun is out. Writing was interrupted due to the riggers arriving to commence work on replacing the fore and back stays. More on that in a later post.

My final days in Flores just seemed to rush by and apart from my return to Santa Cruz I’m not sure where the days went.

Last Friday I took the 0900 bus from Larjes into Santa Cruz on a mission to find the Hotel where Timmy Hubbard (now deceased long term school friend of my Stepfather, Tim Hunt) took refuge in 1984 during his participation in the OSTAR (Observer Single Handed Transatlantic Race).

On my earlier visit I had failed to find the Hotel that Timmy named as the Hotel Santa Cruz in his book “The Race”. First stop was the local library – I hoped that I might be able to turn up some helpful information in their local history section. 

Ariel view of Santa Cruz from a library book - The Hotel Santa Cruz should be over looking the Old Harbour on r/h 

Views of the Old Harbour

However, after 2 hours of scanning various texts on the town I was none the wiser. I therefore set off on yet another wander around the town and attempted to marry up Timmy’s description of his visit to the Hotel and his sketch map, with what I could actually see. Frustratingly however after another couple of hours all I had to show for my efforts were two or three older buildings that looked like they may have once been hotels with the characteristics mentioned my Timmy. My favourite was actually a Municipal building and so I went in to ask the locals. I received directions to what I was assured was the oldest Hotel in the town, from a helpful lady who spoke good English. Unfortunately, either her ability to give directions was poor or I completely misunderstood what she said because once back out in the streets I could make no sense of the details of what I was told. A couple of buildings – one very well restored and one very derelict -  in the general area referred to, might have been Hotels in the past but were certainly not now.

A possible Candidate

The Municipal Building

Timmy’s text of his visit to Santa Cruz describes a quite nail biting entrance to the Harbour – he was towed in by the Harbour Master’s son I recall. He then describes his walk “back up the hill” across the Cathedral Piazza” … “into the oldest part of the town”. Once in the Hotel he had … “a view across the terrace over-looking the sea”.

After juggling with this information and what I could see after repeated walks around the town I had to settle for three possibilities that more or less concurred with his description and with that I called it a day as far as my Timmy Hubbard mission was concerned.

Next on my itinerary was a visit to the Whale Museum. Exceptionally well preserved, the Museum told the story of the Islanders’ and the Azoreans more generally, participation in the Whaling trade, both locally (the Azores being a particularly favourite area for many Whales) and as crew members of ocean going (mainly American) Whale ships; an occupation at which the islanders apparently excelled. A truly gruesome trade it was and thank goodness it is over but my goodness it was a tough life for the Whalers – a truly exceptional body of men.

An Azorean Whale Boat

Tools used for constructing the local Whale Boats

Part of the old factory interior

Ramp up which the slaughtered Whales were dragged for processing

After the museum, I headed for the Airport Café for a light lunch and then waited for the 1545 bus to return to Larjes. At the Tourist Information Office, I had previously queried which of the two bus time-tables was currently in operation and was re-assured that it was the school term time-table. The 1545 never materialised however, (it had the previous week). I therefore decided to walk back into town to await the 1645. Just as I arrived in the centre at 1600, an un-scheduled bus to Larjes arrived. A number of school children were waiting for it and so it was clearly a known entity. Anyway I jumped on and returned to Larjes. The following day Saturday I intended to leave for Horta (see previous post).

Passage Log - Lajes, Flores to Horta, Faial 10-11/6/17

I was up at 0800 determined to make a reasonably early start on the short (about 130 nautical miles) passage to Horta. The forecast was for fresh north westerly winds dying to light and then calms over the following 24 hours and  so I wanted to get going as quickly as possible. Of course it didn't work out like that and I wasn't ready to leave until 1230. By this time I was concerned about how much motoring I would have to do and therefore decided a delay to by more fuel might be wise. There is no fuel pontoon and therefore a hike up the steep hill to the nearest garage with my Jerry cans was required. I took a wheelie bag to bring the full cans back down the hill in. It wasn't my day. I got to the garage to find it closed and that the self service facility did not like my debit card. Back down the hill with my empty cans I went, rather pissed off because not only did I have no fuel I had also wasted a couple of hours of precious wind.

Back at the boat I was finally ready to cast off at 1330 and Barry and Kath came over to give me a hand to get out of the slightly tight berth alongside Bengt (Wim and Elizabeth were out for the day and would be following along the next day). With Barry and Kath's help I got out without mishap. Outside the harbour there was a large swell running and quite a fresh wind. It took me about an hour to get all the fenders and warps stowed and the sails up. We were slightly over canvassed with a full main and Genoa but I knew the wind would moderate and so left things as they were. We had a few hours of good sailing but by the time I started my night time routine of alarms every hour at about 2200 the wind was getting fluky. By midnight we were virtually becalmed and so I started to motor at slow revs in order to conserve fuel. The main tank was almost full which in theory provide about 24 hours of motoring but I had never reduced it to a 1/4 full and didn't want to on this trip due to the risk of sucking up crap into the fuel system. Slow revs meant about 3 knots; flat out gives us just over 4! We had a bit of help from the wind now and then and a favourable current for periods which pushed us along at about 4 knots at best. I kept my fingers crossed that we would get some wind later.

We didn't, but the large swells from the north remained for the rest of the passage until we were sheltered by Faial right at the end of the trip. I found out later that there had been very severe weather further north that had hit the OSTAR fleet sinking at least one boat (it was actually scuttled by the considerate skipper) as he was rescued by the QE2.

We were overhauled during the night by the local tanker servicing the islands the Sao Jorge. She was entering Lajes as I was leaving.

I dipped the tank at 0600 - we had used 1/6th having started with an almost full tank. We carried on motoring (for the rest of the entire passage as it turned out) and at midday I dipped the tank again to discover we had only used a further 1/12th. I felt more relaxed at that, reasoning that we should have plenty of fuel to motor all the way if necessary.

The rest of the day continued in much the same vein with us pottering along over the large swells at 3.5 to 4.5 knots depending on the current and occasional puffs of wind. The swells caused a number of  casualties. At least three of the plastic sliders that attached the mainsail to the mast broke. The must have gone brittle thanks to prolonged exposure to UV and the constant slapping of the sail as the slight breeze was rolled out of it by the swell was enough to fracture them. I have a few spares but hope I can get more in Horta. Dolphins visited a couple of times but only briefly and on both occasions they had gone by the time I got the camera out.

Faial loomed out of the mist at around 1700 and at 1730 I threw caution to the winds (pun intended) and set the throttle to full revs. This was the longest continuous run the little Bukh had done on the entire Atlantic circuit and it did not miss a beat. Along with Angus it deserves a medal. I was glad I got round to changing the oil and engine anode whilst in Flores however.

By 2200 it was dark and we were crawling along the the south coast of Fail at less than 4 knots despite the extra warp drive engaged earlier which did for a while lift our speed to 5 knots. Before darkness fell I got a good view of Pico in the misty twilight.

Pico in the mist

We must have had a slight foul current to contend with. After a while a slight breeze blew off the land. Typical, because by then I had stowed all the sails. I couldn't be bothered to get the mainsail up again but did unfurl the Genoa which help a little.

We finally docked alongside the Reception pontoon at 2330 with the help of the night watchman and settled down for a few hours kip.

Passage completed.

The following morning I checked in and moved to a more permanent berth. I was allocated the same berth as in 2015!

Arctic Smoke - on the outside

One of the many impressive boat paintings

Flores 1 and my Top 10 Islands

The first thing to say is that Flores is a VERY beautiful island. It now holds 1st position in my favourite islands chart - just made up on the spur of the moment. The full chart will take a little more consideration but off the top of my head the top 10 in descending order are:

1) Flores - Azores
2) Santa Maria - Azores
3) Alderney - Channel Islands
4) Sao Jorge - Azores
5) Porto Santo - Madeira
6) Terceria - Azores
7) Fail - Azores
8) Dominica - Lesser Antilles
9) St Kitts - Lesser Antilles
10) Isle of Sheppy, Kent, UK

It does though need to be born in mind that I have not yet been to Pico in the Azores which I hope to do later during this trip. Also of course, I am only listing those that I have visited. There are thousands more out there which I have not.

The second thing to say is that the Portuguese/Azoreans really know how to look after their islands. Their public/civic amenities are exceptional. The smallest of villages - even bus stops on the edge of them have spotless and plentiful public Loos. Each village has at least one public square/garden stocked with delightful flowers. There are taps and drinking fountains/troughs everywhere. There's at least one museum in every small town. In fact I'd go so far as to say that the Azores are quite possibly the most civilised communities I have ever visited. I don't mean sophisticated or well-to-do, but civilised.

The third thing is that the people are wonderfully hospitable and friendly. No doubt that is a quality connected to both of the above.

Tom and I didn't get very far last Thursday - the day after our arrival, but we did manage to walk around Lajes.

The Harbour

Town Hall

Museum

Cemetery

Flowers

Sea View 1

Sea View 2

We also discovered that there was a bus to Santa Cruz/the Airport at 0900 every weekday and so we decided to take it on Friday. That would give us a few hours to explore Santa Cruz before Tom had to get his flight from the Airport at 1545.

Santa Cruz is the capital of the island. It's an attractive small town with a very tricky little harbour; so tricky in fact that yachts are warned not to attempt entrance.

The Harbour

The Harbour at Lajes, extended a few years ago now provides a much safer port. Prior to it being built however, visiting yachts had no other port to chose from so if they wanted to visit Flores, Santa Cruz it had to be. In those days visiting yachts were escorted in by the local Harbour Master and or his son. Many have come to grief and others have tales of hair raising entrances.

However, work is underway at Santa Cruz to improve the harbour there so perhaps it will be viable for yachts at some future point.

Harbour Works

I had a personal mission to pursue in Santa Cruz - to find the Hotel where Timmy Hubbard, my Stepfather, Tim's,  old school friend now deceased, visited during his impromptu stopover on the island when sailing in the Observer Single Handed Transatlantic yacht race in 1962. His book "The Race" refers to his visit to the 'Hotel Santa Cruz'. However there is no longer a Hotel of that name in the town. After asking a few locals and exploring a couple of possible leads we concluded that the relatively new Hotel das Flores opened in 2009, now occupies the site of the old Hotel Santa Cruz. As far as one can tell from the sketch map in Timmy's book, it is in the same place. My goal to sit in the same Hotel bar as Timmy was therefore unfortunately thwarted. Final confirmation of the fate or whereabouts of the Hotel Santa Cruz is still awaited however. Unfortunately I neglected to take a photograph of the new Hotel.

Me overlooking the Harbour at Santa Cruz and the island of Corvo

After that first visit to Hotel Flores (which was before I had concluded it may be on the site of the old Hotel Santa Cruz) Tom and I headed back into the centre of town for lunch. Just as we were finishing, Barry and Kath from one of the other boats turned up and told us of their visit to the Whaling Museum near the end of the Airport runway. We thought we might just have time for a quick visit before Tom’s flight and so set off straightaway. By the time we got there however we only had 10 minutes to spare and so settled for buying a few gifts/mementos at the shop and then headed for the Airport – a 10 minute walk further on. I caught the bus back to Lajes shortly afterwards having resolved to return to try and solve the mystery of Hotel Santa Cruz and Timmy Hubbard and to visit the Whaling Museum.

I spent the evening on board ‘Bengt’ having drinks with William and Elizabeth a lovely Dutch/Swedish couple. ‘Bengt’ is a 40₊ foot steel yacht named after her builder who having spent 30 years constructing her for his round the world dream trip, then tragically died. William and Elizabeth are living the dream having sold up and are now long term cruisers aboard their boat/home. Their main concern at present is where to head for next after the Azores!

I spent the evening on board ‘Bengt’ having drinks with William and Elizabeth a lovely Dutch/Swedish couple. ‘Bengt’ is 40₊ foot steel yacht named after her builder who having spent 30 years constructing her for his round the world dream trip, then tragically died. William and Elizabeth are living the dream having sold up and are now long term cruisers aboard their boat/home. Their main concern at present is where to head for next after the Azores!

Saturday was spent sleeping in late and then pottering around doing odd jobs on the boat and generally tidying up. At 1800 I headed over to Barry and Kath’s boat. They had very kindly invited me for drinks and dinner which was a delicious Cottage Pie followed by Barry’s home made plum sponge pudding. I was in heaven!

On Sunday I got up early and headed out to walk one of the nearby trails, the start of which was a couple of miles away. The trail consisted of a very steep descent down the cliffs to a boulder beach and now deserted village about 2 miles from the start. The weather was grey and drizzly for the most part but every now and then the sun broke through. The scenery was spectacular despite the often restricted visibility, which like on our approach to the island, made it all the more dramatic as the cloud base lifted to reveal stunning vistas before shrouding them over once again.

Scenes from the walk....

Picnic area with Barbecue facility (another example of civic amenities)

Shrine 1 in the cliff

The Descent

Shrine 2 in the Cliff

View down from about half way!

View from nearly the bottom of the cliff!

Looking back up

Aliens?

Perhaps not, the top one is mine!

View to the North

From the beach

More Beach sculpture

A grounded Portuegese Man O' War

Zoom in for a wonderful caption

Looking back on the return ascent

Back at the harbour I had a late lunch at the Café before collecting my laundry which included all the cushion covers and headed back to the boat to (sort of) complete the tidying up. Getting the covers back on the cushions took most of the rest of the afternoon.

The rest of the afternoon was spent looking for crew on the internet – my family aren’t very happy at the prospect of me sailing the final leg back to the UK on my own - and other on-line stuff including posting some videos on Youtube which are now available from the blog – see recent blog postings.

In the evening, I was spoilt once again – this time it was dinner with William and Elizabeth on board Bengt. Another wonderful time was had by yours truly.

Monday was a public holiday which meant no buses so I spent the day doing more jobs around the boat the biggest of which was tightening up the fore-stay. Things went smoothly enough until it came to the point of re-assembling the furling mechanism on the bottom of the stay. At that point the tubular nylon bush that sits between the outer case and the inner foil slipped out of position and I could not get it back. It has four holes in it through which short bolts go through to hold the whole lot in place. I could not get the bolts through with the sleeve in the wrong place. Eventually with advice from William, I was able to drill new holes through the sleeve through which the bolts could now pass. I still need to make and insert a shallow plastic bush to sit on top of the existing one which is now lower than it should be. The only other option would have been to dismantle the whole fore-stay fitting which would have been a major job and one I would rather not do without at least access to professional riggers/facilities in case things went wrong. I want to get the fore and back stays replaced in Horta or Terceira anyway. They have taken quite a lot of punishment since leaving the UK.

In the evening, Barry and Kath hosted drinks on board their boat for me, William and Elizabeth and we met the intrepid Kiwi couple, Justin and Linda who seem to have spent their whole life-time sailing the world’s oceans. They had got to the Flores in their wooden Ketch via Cape Horn and the Falklands and were about to set off for Ireland which would be their first visit to Europe. Earlier in their voyaging they had brought up two children (now adults) at sea!

Tuesday – probably the day I post this, was another walking day. I set off with Barry and Kath to catch the 1000 bus to Lajedo, about 5 miles up the coast for the beginning of the 8 mile walk to Faja Grande further up the west coast. It was another stunning walk in mixed weather. The scenery was spectacular – hopefully I have managed to post photos below. 

To our astonishment we walked by locals ploughing a small field with a cow pulling a simple one bladed plough! This is in Europe in the 21^st Century! 

We started the walk at 1030 and got to Faje Grande at 1500, just in time to grab a quick beer before catching the 1500 bus back to Lajes. I had lunch and wrote this up and will hopefully post it before I pass out!

Scenes from the walk...

Out of the mist

Silver Sea

Friendly locals

Mystic

Beautiful

Impressive

Gathering Clouds

Pink Daisies

The Church at Mosteiro (half way)

Inside the Church

Mosteiro

Public Watering trough in Mosteiro

Look no wheels - wonderful

A small public garden

Storm Channel

Waterfalls

Barry and Kath