Time is passing in Horta. Part work, part vacation. Yesterday (Tuesday) was a work day. We got a number of things done. I was particularly pleased troubleshooting the fault with the navigation lights which turned out to be a fault with one of the wires leading from the light itself to a junction box in the port bow. The initial symptoms when we were crossing was a short. The later symptoms was no connection at all. I reckon the cable was abraided and the live wire shorted to the hull then burnt through. We have jury rigged a solution using the remaining wire and using the boat as earth.
A number of other items were struck off the list or at least progressed. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll make further progress and put the major items behind us.
Today (Wednesday) was another off day. We took the ferry over to Pico and hired a car and toured the island. Climbing to the top of the volcano would have required a 6 hour hike which didn’t get the vote of the crew. I’ll have to save this to do with Helen at a later date. Therefore we spent more time on the road putting in nearly 200km around the island. We got to see a lot of lava formations, some interesting erosion near the coast, a whaling museum, plenty of small towns, a winery plus a drive two thirds of the way up the volcano itself. At the time it was overcast and at the place we parked we could see neither up nor down. Nevertheless we set off for a brief walk. We didn’t go too far and some of our party peeled off early. We got to seem some folks returning from the top and they confirmed it was a six hour round trip. We enjoyed some breaks in the cloud and got some pics of what we thought was the top but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t.
At this point I’m beginning to pine a little for home – or at least family cos home is being abandoned for our greater trip. I hadn’t expected to be in the Azores for as long as we are doing so and I’m accustomed to sharing my experiences with my wife Helen. I’ve been able to Skype in the evenings to stay in touch but its not the same as being together. One week left till I’m back in NJ. From that point I don’t think there will be much breathing room as we get from here to October and we can begin our own travels.
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