Date: Monday 06/16/2008
Weather: mostly sunny
We debated our next destination. We wanted to go to the small island of Graciosa, which is north of Sao Jorges. We also wanted to see Terceira which was the second most populated island after Sao Miguel, and we needed to end up in Sao Miguel by Friday for Robyn and my flight home. We were running out of days. We had 5 days left, really 4 since we were flying out on Friday.
Since we wanted at least two days in Sao Miguel so that we could see the famous “blue and green lakes” we decided to forego Graciosa. We headed for Terceira, but we took the long way. We went west from Velas and sailed over the northern shore of Sao Jorges. We were hoping to see the Fajas.
Leaving Velas.
The sail was lovely. Besides the beautiful scenery, we saw water birds and the amazing Portuguese Man O War. These are fascinating little jelly fish that blow themselves up like balloons and sail upon the water. Eric, who had had more time to observe them, said that when they wanted to tack (sailing term for change direction) they would lean over on their side and let the wind steer them.
Shear Water
Portuguese Man O' War
Sadly, we did not see whales and the direction we were going was away from them. The best place to see whales is Flores, Faial, and Pico. As we headed east we were leaving their territory. That doesn’t mean we didn’t keep looking.
The Portuguese couple had told us about fajas. They are areas of fertile flat land at the base of very steep cliffs. They were formed by lava flows coming down the volcano and forming flat areas that were settled and farmed. Little communities grew up there in complete isolation. Now with modern equipment, roads are carved in the mountain side, but many can still only be traversed by foot. Beside farming, they are used as a place for wintering cattle. Fajas have their own micro climate that is milder, but the only way to get them is down the steep cliffs.
We arrived in Angra Do Heroismo around midnight. Angra is a very ancient city. It was the main port for the trading of goods between Spain and Portugual and the new world. Our first sight as we came in the harbor was this impressive large church.
The harbor master came out to meet us and showed us to our slip.
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