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The bulls had a stout line of about 60meters attached to their necks andheld by four or five brawny menwhose job was to prevent the bullfrom running out of the containedarea and disappearing into thecountryside.The bulls were teased and angeredthen let loose onto the streetsamongst a throng of braveAzoreians, where they charge at thefirst thing that moves. The air iselectric with excitement! Brian and Ifollowed the bull from a fairly safedistance with our cameras hopingfor a good action shot.The bulls have a very short attentionspan and are easily distracted bymovement. Suddenly the bullchanged direction and chargeddirectly at us. As the doors andstairways were barricaded there wasno escape for us. We just ran as fastas possible to the safe area. I surehoped the bull would recognize thewhite chalk line! Later on, after I gotmy breath back and quenched asudden thirst from the local vendor, Irealized I really did not have to outrunthe bull, just outrun Brian!The World Cup Final took place whilstwe were on Terceira and since thePortuguese National team had beenknocked out earlier and their star playersent home in disgrace, there was onlymild local interest in the televisedmatch. It also conflicted with thelongest parade I had ever witnessedwinding through the city streets andending at the cathedral. Participants ofall ages joined the parade from cutetiny tots to seniors. We had the best ofboth worlds watching the Cup Finalfrom a nearby café while keeping aneye on the parade as well.Sao Jorge is a long thin island thatlies between Pico and Terceira wherewe found a pleasant well-protectedanchorage at Vilnas, and enjoyed arare easy check in. Vilnas is a verypretty town with narrow windingstreets and old houses and hotels. Weparticularly liked the local deliverytransportation, tiny three wheeledtrucks with noisy, two stroke enginesthat zoomed around, contrastingstarkly with the huge logging trucksthat somehow were able to negotiatethe town centre on the way to theferry terminal. We also enjoyedwatching the local farmers walk theircattle through the town centre to theferries that were loaded with haybales to feed the animals on the wayto neighboring islands. The harbourwater in Vilnas is so clean that acorner of it is reserved as a swimmingpool, popular with the locals.The islands each have theirown particular type ofcheese and each proclaimtheirs to be the best. Wetried them all and ofcourse enjoyed them,along with some verygood, inexpensivePortuguese wines.San Miguel is the largestIsland and reputedly hasthe best climate. PortaDelgado, the main portand capital, is quitesomething with a mini highrise building of 7 stories. Wevisited an operating teaplantation and saw somespectacular volcanic craterswhich have since becomebeautiful mountain lakes.One area has steam geysersspurting from the ground.One of my most vividmemories of The Azoresoccurred whilst out runningone morning from the marina.Jogging through a nearbyvillage, I had turned into an alley,hoping to find a street or lane runningparallel to the ocean.The alley ended abruptly at a rockyslope leading down to the sea.Turning to retrace my steps, I foundmyself trapped by a half dozenaggressive, snarling dogs, growling atme with their teeth bared. My onlyavenue of escape was to climb over akilometer or so of volcanic rocksalong a very rugged coastline until,eventually, I was able to clamberback to the road. The pack were stillbarking and yapping behind me. Thelocal people certainly are a lotfriendlier than the dogs.43
"Chinook sailedbeautifully,averaging about170nm per day,with one dayof 196nm"We left San Miguel and started thelong sail to Portugal in light windsthat grew lighter as nightapproached and gradually settledinto a routine of rotating shifts.Donna was totally at home in thegalley and prepared many greatdishes including a couple offantastic, made from scratch, pizzas.The highlight of the day wasunquestionably our "happy hour"This was the time when everyonewas awake and alert. We had greatconversations and told stories whileenjoying a drink and snacks.Chinook sailed beautifully averagingabout 170nm per day, with one dayof 196nm just short of the magic200, though we had managed a204nm day out of Bermuda.A night time crossing of the trafficcontrol lanes at the tip of Portugalwhere the Mediterranean andNorthern Europe bound shipsconverge from opposite directionswas pretty interesting. The windpicked up from 25kts to 35kts and Idashed up above to bring in theYankee, while the radar screen waslooking like something out of "StarWars". There were some tensemoments as ships approached firstfrom starboard then, after passingthrough a neutral zone, from the portside. We overheard an interestingradio conversation, between twoskippers arguing as to who shouldalter course. One Captain describedhis distance in terms of "cables",which seemed odd to us.The "Windstar", a modern cruiseship propelled by both sails andconventional power, passed a fewhundred metres ahead of us.Majestically ghosting by, with partialsails and full lights, quite a sight.Luckily, we were able to hold bothour course and speed, which kept usright on course to our waypoint, offCape St Vincent, set weeks earlier.After making our turn into theprotected waters of the WesternAlgarve we romped along at 9 to 10knots, hand steering under reefedsails dodging the early morningfishing boats and enjoying newwarmth in the early morningsunshine all the way to thewelcoming entrance of theLagos Marina.The Azores are a wonderful place tovisit and certainly recommended byour crew. It would be easy tospend a month or so relaxingand seeing the sights.Theonly disappointment wasthe hours of searchingthe seas for a glimpseof a whale. Althoughwe had enjoyedthe company ofmany porpoises,sometimes forextended periods,we did not see asingle whale.Nada!Brian Long44 www.oystermarine.com
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