Passage to Rabat...? (Or NOT) 4th - 12th September

A Happy Snap to keep the avid readers content.
Now for the exitement...

The trip began in calm winds through which we motored. As soon as we had slipped we tried turning circles and reversing to get the boat speed log to work. It was then necessary to empty the forward locked of all the food supplies to take it out and clean it of growth. This is the second time it has been done (even though the electronic anti fouling should prevent it from happening. Since the sensor is below the waterline it means there is a time lag before the locker can be repacked into its’ dry home. I took the opportunity to rationalise the boxes and have made even more space to store food.
The winds kicked in and we began sailing most of the trip was a broad/beam reach. Minor sail adjustments were needed to cope with the vagairies of force 2 to force 5. The seas were BIG and we had a couple of brief showers of rain.
We almost had the MPG out again—but after checking the halyards etc and freeing them ready to use the wind had increased and we needed to start reefing. Still everything is ready IF we get a chance again on this trip.
The Aries Wind vane has been doing sterling work helming which saves electricity. The only hang up is that it goes haywire in winds less that force 3, which does mean that you need to be keeping an eye on it. This seems a small price to pay for a third crew member who works for free and doesn’t complain at all.
I must mention my first passage as a working crew member, yes now that I take Stugeron (25 mg) I no longer get motion sickness and can do sufficient to give Malcolm 5 hours of sleep. My watch is 9 p.m.’til 2 a.m. I had prepared hot meals for the first 3 days so there was a minimum to do below deck in the rolly conditions. After that we took the meal preparation in turns.
Highlights of the trip were Dolphins cavorting around the boat and a lone turtle making an ocean voyage.
About midway we decided that the waves would probably prevent entry across the sandbar at Rabat so changed course for Portimao. This has the bonus that we can get a few more jobs done before we move further away from civilization.
On approaching the separation zones off Cabo San Vicente for traffic to and from the Mediterranean, we began to see lots more shipping. We were going to cross roughly at right angles to the general direction of shipping, several miles to the north of the separation zones but our AIS was showing such dense traffic that we knew we were in for a tense time. The AIS was showing 3 potential collision risks at a range of more than 20 miles but I assumed that with that much notice, the ships would keep well clear of us. Eventually one of the ships became a serious collision risk, so I started calling him on the radio. Only on the 5th attempt did they reply and grudgingly agreed to change course to pass astern. In fact, they only altered course by 5 degrees and to my mind remained a collision risk. In the circumstances, we started the engine but even with our increased speed, the ship passed within 1000 feet, which was too close for comfort. Twenty minutes later it was a great relief to pass into relatively empty seas again.
The remainder of the trip was non-eventful if fast. We sailed into the harbour and anchored after the second attempt. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and catching up on sleep.

More of Sao Miguel

It being lunch time when we arrived we sat down and ate yesterdays’ leftovers and a beer. As soon as the Marina Office opened again I checked in at 4 different desks!
1 - Marina
2-Police
3-Immigration
4-Customs
This even though we are already on many computers within the Azores. I wonder why they are not linked? Maybe it’s to ensure that men keep their jobs? But begs the question of why on some islands one man has to do it all !
Back to the boat and we could now go berth in the new Marina and had been given free choice as to which berth we wanted on F pontoon. While doing a quick ’Reccy’ we bumped into Jack & Carolyn (Flying Fish) so ended up near them. Remainder of the day was de-salting the hull, deck & bright work. This done I also gave the cockpit a coat of polish and the windows a layer of UV protection.
We slept like the dead that night.
Monday started well. I asked in the Marina office for an English speaking dive mater and was given directions so I added this call to my main task which was sourcing some cable for the Autopilot. The Padi dive center is on the Marina site so easy to find and here I found Neliuho who was able to offer us an afternoon dive to refresh our skills and check our equipment. He also recommended exactly the right guy to get the NMEA cable from.
Next stop was the Singer sewing machine shop. Here the nice lady didn’t speak ANY English but could understand the problem. She indicated that I should bring it to her. This involved finding a trolley to transport it…. To cut the boring bit –when I got back later that day her boss was in and found that indeed it was impossible to load the new lower bobbin. He said his mechanic could make a slight adjustment when he returned from holiday! Watch this space.
The rest of the day went pear shaped. I seemed to take one step forward and 4 back. Last time we had internet I had deleted the doubles of photos in the folder for this blog. Now when I look I see that they have disappeared from the Blog ! With a less than perfect internet connection this took the rest of the day waiting for each page to load before I could select the image and reload it. Frustrating is not the right word here !!
Tuesday. I can’t remember just what I was up to when there was a scream from the cockpit and I rushed to find out why. Malcolm had gone into one of the rear-most locker to get some acetone and had failed to put the safety cord in place the lid had slammed down on his fingers! Blood everywhere. I grabbed a couple of kitchen towels and clamped them over then elevated the hand and tried to calm him down. Vernon from Nefartari rushed round to offer help but soon saw I was doing all that was possible. Next I extracted the first aid kit and sprayed the two gashes with Iodine/antiseptic and followed up with strips of steristrip to hold the gaping sides together.
I certainly felt that it was bad enough to be seen by a Dr. So we hopped into a taxi and went to A&E. After completing the registration formalities we were seen by a triage nurse and then sent to X Ray before a fairly long wait of 45 minutes to be sewn up by a professional. I watched the whole procedure but it wasn’t ’til it was all over that I felt queasy!
The rest of the week I have been acting as Malcolm's right hand (sic) .Sorting the loo out .We also took the local bus to do some tourist stuff just to stop him using the hand and not allowing it to heal. We did a pretty uninteresting walk from sea level up to Lagoa do Fogo. Mostly because they are building a new motorway across the footpath which means that most of the walk was on a newish concrete road and uphill. We had sundowners with Vernon and his crew David.
On Friday we took a bus to Ribeira Grande on the other side of the Island and had a look round. Malcolm had his dressing changed again and the neighbours ( Vernon, David, Jack & Carolyn) came round to supper. Once again Thai Green Curry went down well followed by Azorean Pineapple and coffee. FAR too much alcohol was consumed but all involved said what a great evening it had been.
Saturday I finished the rewiring of the auto helm. Which now works!

Flying Fish left for Santa Maria, and having arrived safely downloaded Skype so I’ve added them to the Skype contacts for future use. Nefatari received some long awaited Yanmar parts and have had an electrician aboard rewiring their looms, they set sail for Madeira as soon as the work was completed hoping for fair winds so that David can catch his flight home. We have Vernon's email address and his marina birth in Madeira which we can use in his absence. After final shopping then preparing ready meals for the first few days, and checking out the on board systems we are ready to leave ourselves. When I go to pay the Marina bill the office is closed. I manage to get the headman out who tells me that the Government is making cuts and from now there is no opening at weekends—oh if he had put a note on the doors! Anyway after completing the paperwork we are ready to slip . As I said to the policeman our next port could be Rabat (Morocco) - if the winds are fair, Madeira if we get headed, or Vila de Porto if we have any problems or Malcolm's finger is not up to it. As Barry and Gail came to see us off we noticed that the guardrail at the gate had almost worn through. This was probably due to the pounding it had taken while alongside in the rough weather. Some gash tape and some rope for a secondary safety line suffices until we can get it fixed.