A new world of adventure begins

The Azores are a beautiful set of islands. Although, I have to say that they would have been a lot been a lot better during the summer when it was not as cold! It rains or drizzles randomly everyday without fail. The temperature drops when the wind comes off the snowy mountain of the nearby island or one of the high hills of Fayal. We visited the caldera on the island it was an amazing sight as we drove up into the clouds. Even more breathtaking was the caldera itself, an untouched hole in the ground with ponds inside.

The closer we got to leaving the colder the weather got, one night we got pelted by marble sized hail which rattled inside the metal hulled boat. It was time to go and after 3 days of boat cleaning about time. Said later to my constant silvery chub friends in the water who would constantly flash you as you passes by. Chub and barracuda seem to be the only fish I have seen living in the marina next to our boat, but since you cannot go swimming in the water there may be more.

We have finally left the Azores, with a pack of 10 common dolphins leading our way at our bow, as we said our last goodbyes. A good start to an interesting day. It was not long before we started experiencing squalls of up to 49 kts winds, high waves and some rain with a touch of sea sickness. But still we enjoyed watching our heavy steel hulled boat hit 15kts heading out of the cold climate, giving high hopes of the warm weather ahead. We are finally out of the 200 EEZ areas of the Azores and have started the CO2 and pH sensors.

Elton Joseph