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Arnd.Wussing Posts: 6
9 days ago
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Greetings! I'm a new member to the OCC and am currently sailing with a friend on a Leopard 4600 catamaran. We are 4 days out enroute from St. Kitts & Nevis to Horta in the Azores. This is my first offshore trip on a catamaran, and it is quite different from sailing my monohull. We had to heave-to for a half day due to a storm and missed our nice weather window for a fast passage, and now it looks like we'll be arriving sometime around the 4th of June.
Neither of us has been to the Azores before and any information would be appreciated.
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Simon Currin Administrator Posts: 818
9 days ago
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We have a great port Officer in Faial, Horta called José Azevedo - all his contact details are on the occ app and website so I won’t share them in this public place. All of the Azores islands are fantastic.
Simon
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Simon Currin
S/V Shimshal simon@medex.org.uk
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Arnd.Wussing Posts: 6
9 days ago
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Hello Simon and thanks for the response. I wasn't sure how to go about contacting someone, so thought I'd post the question here. I'm really enjoying the connectivity of a Starlink system while offshore, which lets me do real-time weather and tasks such as writing here. I'll get in touch with José to get local information.
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Dick Posts: 411
8 days ago
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Hi ?
One gets lots of advice from other cruisers, but the best advice we ever received was not to treat the Azores as a fuel depot and re-provisioning stop. These world travelers said the best most scenic cruising was their first stop on an Atlantic circle and they moved on quickly and regretted it later. We spent 2 months cruising the Azores and spent time on 6 of the 7 islands: all had something great to offer.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
Arnd.Wussing wrote:
Greetings! I'm a new member to the OCC and am currently sailing with a friend on a Leopard 4600 catamaran. We are 4 days out enroute from St. Kitts & Nevis to Horta in the Azores. This is my first offshore trip on a catamaran, and it is quite different from sailing my monohull. We had to heave-to for a half day due to a storm and missed our nice weather window for a fast passage, and now it looks like we'll be arriving sometime around the 4th of June.
Neither of us has been to the Azores before and any information would be appreciated.
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Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
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Dick Posts: 411
8 days ago
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Hi Again,
My wife reminds me that many have used our pictures and the captions (click on the "i" on the pic to get the captions) as guidance of good things to do while in the Azores. Her pics can be found at https://virginiastevenson.smugmug.com/. Scroll around to find the Azores. Dick
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Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
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Dick Posts: 411
8 days ago
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And, by the way, welcome to the OCC! Dick
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Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
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Dick Posts: 411
8 days ago
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Found the following which I forgot I had done, DickAZORES
Alchemy Harbor notes, Azores, 2006
These notes were written by Dick and Ginger on Alchemy and reflect our personal likes and dislikes. Many reasonable people may differ. Our intention is for these notes to be a supplement to the regular guide books. There is some overlap, but if the guidebook says it all, I may not mention the port/anchorage at all. Please also notice the dates for which we are reporting conditions. The weather/crowds/ambience may be quite different at various times of the year or my notes may be quickly out of date; please send a quick email with changes.
Also, these notes are available to OCC members, but please refer any others to me and please do not share. I would hate to see them on Facebook or the like.
Thanks, Dick & Ginger, s/v Alchemy
The best advice we received when crossing the North Atlantic from W to E was to not treat the Azores as a fuel depot in the middle of the ocean. Those that gave the advice all later regretted that they had given the islands of the Azores so little time as, in hindsight, they were among the most beautiful and interesting destinations of their cruising life.
They were correct. We were there 2 months and so regretted leaving that we considered over-wintering. The following is all written from memory from our visit in 2006.
A couple of general notes. These are delightful islands with delightful people. The Portuguese people do not know how to cook fish badly, from the street vender to the finer restaurants. Wine is often “home brewed” and good. There are frequent religious festivals at seemingly regular, if random to my casual observation, times. These can be a visual masterpiece in designs and pictures done in laboriously collected colored flower petals covering the streets of the community. Then the festival parade majestically tramples them: a potent reminder of life’s impermanence, perhaps. Just amazing and not to be missed. Festivals are always accompanied by local bands/small orchestras which often include traditional dancing.
We visited eight of the islands and were lucky enough to arrive in June at the height of the colorful flowers for which these islands are justly renowned. The hydrangea hedges are by far the most striking. They serve the function of fences carving the islands in dense displays of color contrasting the fields and mountains of brilliant green and the (often) deep black volcanic rock. And approaching these islands from the water on a nice day is an experience that is likely to be a highlight of one’s cruising. When on the islands, the small towns and villages all hold interest and abound in small taverns where an interesting meal awaits. Then there are the calderas that dominate the interior of the islands which are of especial interest. Some are huge and well developed while others remain reminders of the volcanic violence that both created these islands and inflicted indiscriminate damage.
Some of the islands lend themselves to hiring a cab for a day—prices were not unreasonable. Most also offer a “round the island” perimeter bus which can be “hop-on, hop-off” and is a wonderful way to get acquainted with the island and to see some of the towns along the way. On other islands we rented a car or moped to explore.
Azoreans are quite creative in their public recreational opportunities. Pico, for example, has numerous picnic areas along their perimeter road all of which have artistically designed benches, chairs and table made of local materials that are just delightful. Perhaps their best offerings, available on many (perhaps all) islands are swimming areas. Now, this is not easy to do with the almost exclusively boulder-y and rocky shore that always has a good deal of swell to contend with. But they have succeeded. Strategically placed stainless steel ladders are embedded in the rock allowing for safe and easy entrance and exit from the water and the locations are chosen to allow for swimming protected by rock boulders or to go out to more open water. Just great fun and very refreshing and the designers were wise enough to provide fresh water showers.
Our first landfall was Flores (Lajes) and we anchored at night just off the wharf under the cliffs listening to the powerful calls of shearwaters nesting on the cliffs. Officials came to the wharf the next morning and forms were filled out on the hood of their car. The we walked up to “Paula’s” bar for a beer and pizza, which ended up being our “hang out” spot for the week we stayed at anchor there.
We were lucky with our weather as the anchorage is exposed to the east. No vessels stayed on the wharf while we were there; there was just too much movement even in this settled time. There were no pontoons/docks. Word of mouth reports seem to indicate that the pontoons installed in later years were less than successful and that vessels attached to them often chafed lines quickly.
Flores was a delight. With other cruisers we hired a taxi for a tour and set up some wonderful hikes where we were dropped off and picked up at our destination later (the NW quadrant if memory serves). While there we grabbed a “ferry” (small inflatable that also took us to see sperm whales) to Corvo, where we could poke around for a few hours.
Horta, Faial, was our next stop where we stayed a couple of weeks and added our “personal signal” in paint to the collection. For OCC member’s Peter’s café is a must (or for everyone). OCC members get free admission to the excellent upstairs scrimshaw museum. Renting motor scooters got us around. Do not miss the area where the eruption occurred: wild and desolate. The US provided easy emigration to the displaced and many settled in the Boston area.
Sao Jorge was difficult as there was no marina or good anchorage. We anchored just outside Velos under the cliffs and got a taxi to take us to a wonderful hike starting way up high and ending at a small tavern on the water where we had a great lunch and were picked up.
Graciosa was wonderful. I understand there might be a marina now, but we anchored easily (watch for a multitude of VW size boulders strew on the sand bottom). Graciosa’s smallness made it quite workable and they had a terrific “bullfight”: one of the best in the Azorean tradition (not gory or any animal abuse).
Pico we visited by ferry. We kept an eye on climbing, but clouds dominated the peak. We rented a car and found some lower altitude hiking; One involved a cave and a very large bull.
Terceira has 2 marinas, Angra do Heroismo had a lot of boat movement while Praia da Vitoria was a lot more protected. PV had a food festival going on that if you coincide with, consider yourself fortunate.
Sao Miguel had soil and rock in the caldera that you could cook your lunch in and some great hiking and a beautiful major city in Ponta Delgada (also the capital).
All of these islands are quite a delight and well reward poking around if you have time. All are volcanic, some recently active, and a little brushing up on volcano lore will enrich your visit. Finally, for those who are under Schengen visa restrictions, the clock has started.
Dick wrote:
And, by the way, welcome to the OCC! Dick
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Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
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Arnd.Wussing Posts: 6
6 days ago
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Thanks for all the replies so far - they are very interesting indeed! I have to return to the "real world" shortly upon arrival, but Lincoln, the boat owner and skipper, is planning on exploring the islands before heading onwards. Perhaps I'll get a chance to do so when I sail my boat across, but since I'm an EU citizen and the boat is not VAT paid, I'm waiting until it depreciates a bit more before doing that.
We finally managed to catch some wind, our speed is no longer 3 knots but 8 knots, so the distant Azores seem so much closer already...
I don't use a Smarphone, and have looked at the main website to find José's contact information, but have failed to do so. Is it only available on an App?
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Simon Currin Administrator Posts: 818
6 days ago
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Azores, Faial, Horta
José Azevedo
info@petercafesport.com
Office
+351 292 391 837
edited by simoncurrin on 23/05/2025
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Simon Currin
S/V Shimshal simon@medex.org.uk
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Arnd.Wussing Posts: 6
2 days ago
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Hello Simon, I dropped José an e-mail on Saturday and haven't yet heard back. But we finally reached the halfway point from St. Kitts today, so there's still a while to go before we get there. I read that the ARC is underway from Bermuda, so I'll assume that Horta will get busy by the time we drift in. So far, it has been light winds and slow going. At least this catamaran is large and comfortable, and we have ample supplies, although we just consumed our last fruit and potatoes as they were in danger of going bad. I'm surprised at the amount of traffic visible on AIS out here; on my passages to and from the Caribbean from the U.S. northeast, there was a lot less.
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Simon Currin Administrator Posts: 818
2 days ago
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I see there are 4 occ boats currently in Horta including Time Bandit - I believe they are always keen to reach out to fellow occ’ers. Maybe they will still be there when you drift in.
Simon
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Simon Currin
S/V Shimshal simon@medex.org.uk
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Arnd.Wussing Posts: 6
1 days ago
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I just heard from friends that the anchorage is quite full and that they are rafting 4-deep ashore in Horta. There are still about 30 ARC-Europe boats heading there, all of them 700NM or less out. We're still at 1000, so we'll arrive after them and are currently thinking of continuing onwards and clearing in at Ponta Delgada.
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Dick Posts: 411
12 hours ago
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Arnd.Wussing wrote:
I just heard from friends that the anchorage is quite full and that they are rafting 4-deep ashore in Horta. There are still about 30 ARC-Europe boats heading there, all of them 700NM or less out. We're still at 1000, so we'll arrive after them and are currently thinking of continuing onwards and clearing in at Ponta Delgada.
Hi Arnd,
My memory of Horta is that it could get a bit boisterous in certain wind directions/strengths: not a place to be rafted up. And my experience with many boats is that there was often little experience with rafting up: spreaders lined up, fenders too small, too few cleats on many boats, dock lines with splices (leaves only one end adjustable as well as other safety issues), no pre-plan among skippers as to how to break up the raft in the middle of the night, if necessary, etc.
If the wind direction is in a safe quarter, might be a plan to stop at Flores (we anchored there for a week) or even Pico (I forget their accommodations) until Horta clears out.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
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Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
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Dick Posts: 411
12 hours ago
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Hi Arnd,
My memory of Horta is that it could get a bit boisterous in certain wind directions/strengths: not a place to be rafted up. And my experience with many boats is that there was often little experience with rafting up: spreaders lined up, fenders too small, too few cleats on many boats, dock lines with splices (leaves only one end adjustable as well as other safety issues), no pre-plan among skippers as to how to break up the raft in the middle of the night, if necessary, etc.
If the wind direction is in a safe quarter, might be a plan to stop at Flores (we anchored there for a week) or even Pico (I forget their accommodations) until Horta clears out.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
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Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
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