Santa Maria. Aςores.

Santa Maria.
Well I have fully recovered from Mal de Mer but it took 2 days to get my land legs again!
We have been here about 10 days and have had a brilliant time. The Marina has an excellent ‘Club Naval’ with bar and restaurant. For most of the week we have been one of three yachts—very peaceful indeed! It has only rained twice and both times it was lovely warm rain. So here are a few details.
Both the engine and the generator cured themselves miraculously ( I think the resident baby spiders have had a leg or two involved in our boat gremlins) The washing machine door took a week to mend - it was the catch which had become misplaced and would not close the door. This meant no washing . To cut a long story short we managed to get a full diagram from the manufacturer and had a go ourselves and we fixed it!!!
Now as for the Island of Santa Maria nearest village is also the center of administration ‘Vila de Porto’ it is good exercise being 20 minute hike uphill (of course everywhere is from the marina!) Fortunately there is a bus up so I cheated most of the times. There is a very old Fort on the hill just above the Marina. An old cannonball and ships nail have been recovered from the Marina while it was being built which now have pride of place on display in the Marina Office. The town has three streets with the central on having most shops (supermarket, Chinese, Fancy goods, and everything else you could want). The Municipal Market is on another street and while not as prosperous as Portimao it did have a greengrocer and a selection of butchers & fishmongers.
We did two of the three walks recommended by the Marina/tourist Office. (the Third was closed due to the repairs needed after the winter storms which had removed some of the pathway. The start of the first trek was a bus ride away at Santa Barbara. It began and ended at the Church and was a circular walk which took us a slow 4 hours. The island has some outstanding vistas and in all cases the views are best from high up. There was strong evidence of the path managements’ team doing routine maintenance. All pictures are on Picasa ready for viewing. Separate entries for other walks so I can put more images on!!