Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Today is our last day in Horta. In the last few days we have been fixing the boat. Not all projects are done but the key repairs are. The rudder assembly is now fixed. The starboard propeller is now replaced. We’ve identified and addressed what we think was chaffing the reefing lines. The boat has been cleaned.

John’s wife (Ziggy) and children (Jenny and Connor) arrived yesterday. They’re a nice family and very much looking forward to their trip. They’re relaxing today after their travels in Germany. Sometime early tomorrow morning we set off for Terceira, another island in the Azores. It’s a 90nm leg so will take us most of the day. Next Tuesday I’ll be leaving the boat, flying to Sao Miguel where I will fly back to the US eventually getting home on Wednesday.

For me, I have very much enjoyed talking to other cruisers here. Many are near the end of their trips – including one British couple heading home after 7 years cruising. Everyone, without exception, has informed me we won’t regret our decision to go cruising. Many are ruing the necessity to return to land as time/money was limited.

For me, returning to land will be interesting. It’ll be back to closing this chapter in our lives in preparation for the next. I’m looking forward to surviving the next few months and eventually finding ourselves aboard Dignity in October.

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.

I have uploaded more photos to the trip web album.