Comillas49

Shortly after three in the afternoon we departed Horta en route towards La Coruña, Spain. We have been sailing for just over an hour and we have yet to pass the islands of Sao Jorge and Graciosa.

I’ll write more later today….

After arriving in the early morning in the Azores, we finally went to sleep. Some did at least. It took me until around 6am to finally fall asleep, too many thoughts and emotions going through my head. I was just too wired on adrenaline and excitement. Don’t worry, I’ll write about that soon, but let me do a quick update on where things are.

We had to sleep on the sailboat, because after all we hadn’t gone through port, customs, police and immigration. Around 8’ish it was time to start that wonderful process with the crews of other eight or so sailboats who had arrived overnight from all over the world and all of these people, ourselves included of course were, let’s say, cranky and stinky.

The big four, were essentially four little rooms in a building. First port authorities, then immigration, then customs and finally police. It all went very smoothly, except they refused to stamp my passport because I brought my Spanish passport and the Azores is part of Portugal and, just like Spain, thus are part of the European Union. I insisted on a stamp as a souvenir, but they stuck to their line of “only non EC passports.”

We filled up with fuel and water, moved the sailboat twice and finally found a spot in the harbor we liked. Around noon we all had the same idea, food then showers. Yup, first feed ourselves even if we are imposing our aromas on the rest of the Azores population. Get to the hotel and it is “full.” A few smiles, a little flirting and surprise! Two rooms opened up. That Latin charm always works. Hot and long full pressure showers were just what the doctor ordered. We visited Pete’s Cafe where will go for drinks tonight. Probably also dinner but not clear yet. A little shopping, a lot of walking and we are back at our hotel rooms. Dad is sound asleep. I’m like on speed. I cannot stop. I refuse to rest. Tomorrow I plan to go photographing the town while José Manuel and Dad go grocery shopping.

We are waiting to hear if a whale tour captain will allow us to follow him tomorrow afternoon. That would be too cool!

Then we will not return back to port with the tour but continue sailing to La Coruña, Spain. That is the plan, we’ll see what happens.

We made it!

We arrived at 3:30am Azores time (GMT -1)

Just wanted everyone to one we’ve made it safely to the Azores.

We’ll sleep and rest. Then will write. This is wonderful!

Llegamos!

Llegamos a las 3:30am hora de Azores (GMT -1)

Solo quería decir a todos que hemos llegado sanos y salvos a las Azores.

A dormir y descansar. Despues escribiremos. Esto es maravilloso!

It is now 10:17pm, we see more and more light reflections from the Faial and Pico islands in the Azores.

The emotions are just indescribable. Three more hours to go. Probably the longest three hours of the trip in terms of sheer excitement. I cannot believe we are actually here. I’ve been thinking and dreaming of this trip since I was very young. So much meaning associated with it for Dad and me and yet I haven’t written about the emotional aspects of the trip at all. I guess I was hoping my father would do that since it is also his story but he seems content just enjoying the trip. Granted the trip is not over, we still have a long journey from the Azores to Spain but getting to the Azores is obviously a huge milestone for us.

I am going above deck to be with Dad. I’m going to enjoy the remaining hours to the fullest and once I catch a breather I will write about tonight and the trip thus far in more detail. What a night. It is just perfect!