Atlantic Circuit,  Atlantic Europe & Africa

Back on land after 26 days at sea

May 26-28, 2021

So, after we had finally arrived to Horta on Faial, one of the islands in the Azores. But before we were allowed ashore we had to take a PCR test for covid-19 and get the result. We arrived in the evening and when we were satisfied with the anchoring we went to sleep. Being just the two of us across the Atlantic means quite limited sleep, so it was nice to have a full night sleep.

During the Atlantic crossing towards the Azores we did 6-hour shifts. We have tried some different night shifts throughout and we have concluded that 6 hour shift during the night works for us. By getting 6 hour of sleep you can get a proper sleep and the one on watch take 20-30 minutes naps and checks the horizon, sail and so on. During the day we are both awake and both keep a lookout.

Anyhow, after a really good nights sleep we went to take our PCR-tests and then went back to the boat. We spent the rest of the day cleaning the boat and making a plan for how we will fix the things that broke during the crossing. In the evening we ordered take-away food and a bottle of wine from Peters Sport Cafe (a must visit if you arrive to Horta by sailboat, the bar is full of flags sailors has left). We ate our food and drank the wine and watched a movie.

The following day we got our test results (negative) and we were able to check-in to the Azores. We went to Customs and Immigration and got all the paperwork done. Luckily we got a spot in the marina. Horta is full of boats this time of the year with a lot of boats returning to Europe and the marina is very full. But we managed to get a spot and started hoisted the anchor, but quickly noticed that is was way heavier than it should be… And when we finally managed to get it up this is what was stuck on it:

It was very heavy and we couldn’t get it off from the boat, so we decided to drive with it into our slot in the marina. Think we got some weird looks on the way in 😉 When we had gotten to our slot we could get a better look at it from the dock and saw that it was a huge, old chain.

If you look closely you can see the links of the chain.

We got the old chain off, and it weighed a lot! Maybe around 80-100 kg.

The first day ashore we started to get some work done, we cleaned a lot of our clothes and sheets, started the process of getting the part of the autopilot drive unit that broke and bought all the stuff we needed to fix some other things; new wire for genoa halyard and steering. And we ate nice food, had some beers and gin&tonic and took some walks around Horta.

Horta, Faial.
Horta, Faial.
Horta, Faial.
Horta, Faial.
Horta, Faial.

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