Flores is SOOOOO cool!

June 23, 2008
We've been here a few days now and have been ashore. I'm so glad we didn't press on to the big city of Horta and miss Flores. The little town of Lajes is a total cute attack. There are virtually no tourists here, so they must keep it so nice for themselves. It's clean, charming, and the people are super friendly. Most speak some English and can understand Spanish spoken slowly. We went ashore to check ourselves in with the officials. We went to the police station where we were told, "No, we're not the right kind of police; you need the maritime police in the office up the hill". So we went to that office and found it closed (Sunday) except for a young man who eventually opened the front door. He said that the officials would be there on Monday and could we please come back. We were more than happy to come back, so we went off to get our first Azorean beer. We went to one of the bars that was open - the beer was from Portugal, but still tasted good. Only 1 euro! That's $1.54 per beer. I can do that! So were were sitting there enjoying our second beer and watching soccer on TV (Spain vs Italy). And in come some more policia - they were looking for us. Just wanted to check our papers, so they sat down at the table with us and filled out some forms. Soon they were done. How easy was that? Very friendly, too. So now we can wander around at will.
It's a little cooler here - at the same latitude as Stinson Beach, CA. I'm wearing long pants again. For the first day we were here, it blew like stink - but at least from the SW, so we were sheltered by the breakwater. But we tested our anchor's holding power. This year there have been a lot of depressions in the Azores causing the winds. That is not normal. There is a feature here called the Azores High (having nothing to do with recreational drugs) that gives generally calm and balmy conditions all summer. Most boats save enough fuel so that they can motor the last few hundred miles into the Azores. I'm hoping that the Azores High gets established pretty soon. Yesterday, we waited until late afternoon before trying to come ashore in the dinghy.
This is so cool. We have to pinch ourselves to believe that it is real. We're going ashore now to do some shopping and take advantage of the free internet at the public library. I'll put up some pix. Don't be afraid to write....