Location: Horta, Açores
We did it! We crossed the Atlantic!! Today, we got to enjoy our FIRST full day on shore (that’s me manifesting more shore days.) We got to sleep in (till 8h30), thanks Tom! After some chia pudding, thanks, Will, and clean up, we all got ready to go to Horta. Somehow, we got split up into groups. Ours (the best one, of course 🙂 had a very nice, chill, slow, AWESOME day (cause you guys know by now that doesn’t happen often). Charley. Zo, Ara, Nora, Flo, and I first went for a nice walk around town, noticing we were definitely in Europe since everything was closed… We then went to have lunch on a terrace, had amazing food, and played some card games. Then, the highlight of my day happened: real coffee! (Yes, this is worth a mention in this blog). After that, we went to buy a new computer for Zo since her screen broke on the very first day of passage. We got down to the beach for a quick break and then went for ice cream (yes, again). It was by then time to get back to the dinghy.
Garrett time:
The boys, on the other hand (the best group, Lucie lied), started off the day by grabbing a nice round of iced coffees at a cafe inland a little bit. Runyon split off and went on an awesome bike adventure through the Azorian countryside. We then walked over to the beach to scope out the local landmarks. Johnathan went to call his parents and ended up also exploring some of the countryside and even saw a cow. Some of us got a little food after this and moved to the next food spot. We stopped and had a nice sit-down lunch at a cafe, and then we took in the view off of the balcony. We wanted a change of pace from the eating that we had been doing and decided to do a short hike. Nate and I did some kvetching (sorry, Will), but we made it through and got to the beach on the other side. We sat on a ledge overlooking the water and some of the town for a while and then decided that it was time for gelato. The guy working at the place didn’t appreciate Nate using a 50 to pay for his gelato, but we came to an agreement, and all was well. We took our gelatos across the street and sat on a bench. After the gelato, Anda and I went to the Cafe Peter store to do some shopping. Then, we met back up with the rest of the group, who also wanted to shop, so we went right back. After our shopping, we went down to the docks to get picked up.
Back to me again; back on Vela, we got her ready for dockage and lifted the anchor. We are now next to a cargo ship and a big fishing boat where we can’t step on shore. While we were having a blast on shore, our wonderful staff had type 2 fun grading papers, head cleaning and repairing, bilge emptying, pumping up fenders, and planning dive excursions. I’d like to take a moment to appreciate all the things you do for us; thank you.
We got back to the boat around 17h and had some free time; I won a game of chess against Dan (which was the other highlight of my day) and got started on dinner. For squeeze, questions (yes, there were 2, sorry, Tom) were: what is one thing you’ve always wanted to learn? And, What is your favorite game/board game of all time? To end dinner, we did an amazing round of HIDE & SEEK!!!!! Dan definitely won that one by hiding in the forstaysail cover. We then had an amazing chill evening of talking and movie watching, for which I am very thankfull for since we did not get much on passage.
All right, this is the recap of the day. I’m going to bed,
Big hugs to my family and friends, I miss you,
Lucie