Land Ho

Amazing sunrise

15 1/2 days at sea and we finally reached Horta on the Island of Faial in the early morning.  It was breezy when we pulled into the harbor and packed.  There were sailboats everywhere - they were rafted three deep along the marina wall.  The dockhand came out to show us where to go and it was a tiny little space sandwiched in between boats.  Good luck!    Fortunately, we looked up and saw Manuel (from the rally) running down the dock to catch our lines.  We were awfully happy to see his face.  Captain Mike did an amazing job squeezing us in that tight little space without hitting anything.  

Weary sailors after a long passage

Typical rally fashion   rally control hands you beer immediately upon arrival and takes your picture.  Yes, it was 6:00 am and yes we drank the beer for breakfast!  We were not the freshest and we were exceptionally tired...but elated that we made it!! 

Peters - catching up with friends

Later that afternoon we had drinks at Peters (a tradition among sailors) and then dinner out.  Peter Cafe Sport has a special place in history for long distance sailors - in days gone by they used to hold mail for sailors.  They actually still do as we picked up our mail there from the OCC - we are now official members of the Ocean Cruising Club.  In order to gain membership to the club you have to complete a 1000 nm nonstop ocean passage.  We just completed a 1927 nm passage.  Yay Us!!  Jose - the owner of Peters is the "port captain" for the Azores so it was very nice to receive our membership packet there at such a historic place.  All the famous sailors have passed through and/or stopped at Peters.  Bernard Moitessier, Sir Francis Chichester (first person to sail single handed around the world via the clipper ship route) and Robin Knox-Johnston (first person to sail a non-stop, single handed circumnavigation of the globe).  In the case of non-stop races Jose's father would go out in a boat and exchange mail with sailors as they sailed by.  Pretty neat as that was often their only communication with the world outside of their boat.     

Dinner at Restaurante Canto da Doca with a multinational group!

From Peter's we walked up the street to Canto da Doca - also known as the "Hot Rocks" restaurant.  The restaurant gave us a platter of various meats and a very, very hot lava rock upon which we cooked our own food.  Very yummy!  Smiles all around.  

Talaria's logo

We slept so sound that night and probably could have slept all day - but of course there was much to do the next day.  Cleaning, laundry, repairs and of course painting our boats name on the harbor wall.  It is traditional for boats crossing the Atlantic to paint their name on the wall as Horta is typically the first landfall after days and days at sea.  And actually it is considered bad luck if you fail to paint your boat name on the wall.  So... tired and rushed as we were we made sure we left our mark.  Lord knows we wanted no bad luck!!  Dinner that night was at the Capelinhos Volcano Interpretation Center and was hosted by the Faial Tourism Board.  Beautiful place and wonderful food.  The tourism board had small plaques made for each participant boat in the rally - what a nice surprise.  Such a great evening.  Next day we are sailing 70 nm to the next island in the Azores - the island of Terceira.