The Final Passage

We made it across and are now enjoying the sun in the Algarve, which is known as the Portuguese Riviera. We are anchored off the beach here, which Charles loves becasue it is free and we can see Gertrude everywhere we go. She has become the other woman in Charles´life!

;-)

Our trip from Sao Miguel was uneventful. The wind was hiding until the final 300 miles. With no wind comes beautiful weather. The ocean was glass at times. So serreal to see your reflection in the water when you are hundreds of miles from land and the water miles deep. I must admit we used our engine alot. 5 weeks ago we were content going 2 knots on the open ocean. Our final passage to mainland Europe found us pushing the throttle to 1500 RPMs and praying we had enough deisel to get us through the duldrums. We made it with no problems at all. We never saw a shark on the entire trip. We saw a whale, a turtle, a manta-ray, and a few pods of dolphins. Now we never swam in the open ocean. We saw it as an unnecessary risk. We have spent far too many hours watching Shark Week on Discovery. With out a doubt one of us would be the target of a Great White who just happened by Gertrude as we jumped in the water.

Now we are living La vida loca in Lagos. Its like Spring Break with a refined European feel. Although we did see a young Australian walk out of a bar and puke. We will spend another day here so we can do laundry, research Morroco, and visit a castle that is supposed to remind one of the fairytale castles. I have seen many midevil castles in my day but they look more like forts or churchs than the castles of my imagination. I will take pictures for you!

Well, we are off to go explore Lagos and do some grocery shopping. Its so nice to be back on land!!!! We are not sure where we are going next. We have several days before we meet Tim and Katie in Girbraltar (July 18th). From there we will say goodbye to Gertrude for a few days and head to Morocco. Then we will sail up the coast of Spain. Of course I will keep you posted. Thank you to all for your thoughts and prayers along the way! We love you!!!

So long to Sao Miguel, and The Azores!

A pod of dolphins near Sao Miguel wishing us a safe journey. It is very hard to take pictures of dolphins. The fact that I was able to get these shots speaks to how many were following us.

This is the most southwestern point of the European continent. Before they found America this was the end of the world.

Looks like an aircraft carrier. Our final 20 miles was spent crossing a traffic separation zone on the sw tip of Portugal. I was nervous as we were surrounded by gigantic ships. About 15 around us at any given moment. ugh.

In the center is Gertrude spending some time alone in Lagos. She needed it.

The Open Ocean

Charles and I are heading off either tonight or tomorrow. We are watching the wind and weather right now and waiting for our window. Our next stop is Albufeira, Portugal which is on the Algarve coast. http://www.albufeira.com/default.asp It is supposed to be beautiful. We are approximatly 800 miles, so it will be similar to our Bermuda trek. With the wind at our side we should get there in 6-7 days. If she pitters out, or hits us from our back we will be slow going. No storms are approaching, so God willing we should have an uneventful journey.

After we get our fill of the Algarve coast we will head through the Straight. Tim and Katie are flying into Madrid on July 17th. They will pick up an easy jet flight and meet us where ever we may be. We plan to head to Morocco with the them. Charles wants to leave Gertrude behind in Gibralter for a day or two and hit Tangiers (I know I have heard it stinks too, but It will be an adventure none the less). We would love to maybe get a train, bus or plane to Casablanca for a night. We will see! Charles and I are very excited to see Tim and Katie! We may talk them to death the first night.

We have Cam and Kris for a week or so in September. They are spending a week in Italy and then meeting us where ever we are. We have had several others say they want to visit! I think the trick is to buy a cheap ticket to Rome, Madrid, London and then take a shuttle flight to where ever we may be. You can get those at the last minute and they run pretty cheap. Let us know!!!!












We will be in the middle of the ocean on July 4th.
God Bless America and Happy 4th of July!!!!! We will be thinking of all our friends and family as that is what we miss most from America.

Sao Jorge and Sao Miguel

Pico, and Sao Jorge shown off by the setting sun.


We went to Sao Jorge after Horta. It was much quiter and less about sailing the Atlantic. Becasue most sailors stop in Horta on their way across that is the culture and personality of everything in the town.

We parked Gertrude in Velas and wondered around the island. Charles had his first caipirinha here. Its a Brazilian drink made with cachaça, a liquor from sugar cane, sugar, and lime. Its yummy. I have had them before becasue my friends Tobin and Angie used to make them for me. Tobin flew C17s for the Air Force and I guess discovered it in Brazil. Delicious!



Sao Miguel is about 100 miles SE of the other islands. We headed there because it gets us closer to Portugal. We are staying in a marina in Ponta Delgado. Its the largest city we have seen thus far in the Azores. It has a beautiful new marina that is not yet finished. Once it is, this would be the ideal stop for folks traveling through the islands to the mainland. Its busseling with azoran culture. There is live music in the city center on Sundays and it is the place to be for families and young people living in the area. Charles and I sat around and just stared for a while. Teenagers are the same everywhere. We did notice a ton of them smoking however. Like 14 year olds. ugh.

We also noticed a lot of homeless dogs running around. Many of them puppies. Charles and I were sitting in a cafe near the center of town and there was a puppy sitting in a flower bed scratching himself. A German woman was trying to take a picture but he kept scratching. It was cute, but I thought to myself that tourists visiting America would never see sickly dogs hanging out like this in our cities. We have vets who offer free snip snips. Many of us would probably pick them up and take them to a shelter. It is quite disturbing. I want to take them all home.

Then I thought about the last time I visited Denver. I was there for work with Margaret (a friend and ex-coworker). She opened my eyes to all the homeless teenagers that live on the streets there. When I lived there years ago I had just grown accustomed to looking past them.

I guess this is similar to those who live here with the dogs running around everywhere. Maybe I should concern myself with a more pressing charitable need in the states. Oh, but its still so hard to see the cute litte doggies suffer. Teenagers are such pains in the butt. Sorry, I know that is bad. It´s not reeeaaallly how I feel.



On a lighter note. Charles and I went out last night for our last meal before we head to the open ocean again. We weren´t really sure where to go. We had wondered around Pont Delgado a bit, but had just seen cafes. Great for a fanta and some pringles. I noticed a hansome couple a couple blocks from us who looked to be our age (young twenties). I told Charles we should follow them. He said "no way, lets just go back to a cafe we had seen earlier in our walk (I think he may have reffered to me as a creapy stalker)." While he was responding the couple turned the corner up ahead. So just what any good girlfriend traveling in a foreign land with thier partner would do, I took off after them. Charles lovingly abliged me picking up his pace to catch mine. We follwed them for a couple of blocks and they unknowingly led us to an awesome little jazz club. We spent the next 2 hours there eating and drinking. Charles tried a local liquor that tasted like sherry with a buttery finish (I will get the name later). The server sold it by telling Charles it tastes terrible, but its local and he had to try it. I had a drink called 27 Passions. A cocktail with Passion Fruit Juice, vodka, and champaigne. yummy. The fish they serve in the Azores is the same fish we get fresh in Charleston. The Azore way of serving however, is straight from the sea. Eyes and all. We are both past the initial, "oh god, I can't eat this babe," and enjoy it all the same.

Hugs