Despite yesterday’s early-morning stress of getting into the Azores, things have ended up pretty well.  We docked at Horta on the island of Faial, Ben got his X-rays, Dani bought vegetables and fruits and Azorian cheese and a bunch of other things, we did a thorough cleaning of the ship yesterday and an even more thorough field day today, I had time to shower, and everyone even had time for a little shore leave yesterday evening.  It was great to make a phone call home and to have a few hours to just enjoy the island away from the boat.  It was helpful that a lot of people spoke English, and the island seems like an agreeable, laid-back place.

Late last night after we all came back to the boat it rained pretty hard, but it looks like that weather has passed by us now. Coming on deck this morning to see the islands and some palm trees by the dock really made things feel a bit tropical…Tim pointed out some parrot fish and a few other fish swimming around the boat earlier (the water is so clear here…clear enough to see a neon-red starfish on the side of the dock several feet under the water…very cool).  Traditionally, ships that visit here make small paintings on the dock, so everywhere you walk along the harbor there are hundreds of colorful paintings of all kinds of ships with their names and the dates of their visits to Faial.  After seeing a t-shirt with a ship’s name somehow fixed to the dock with some sort of clear substance, we were inspired to try to epoxy our own Atlantic Freedom Tour shirt to the dock as well.  It seemed to work at first, but by the time we were leaving the dock it had started to peel, so unfortunately our mark might be a little less than permanent.  As we left, I got to be the person on the dock taking off the dock lines as the ship left, and once the Amistad was free Newman picked me up in the small boat and we went back on board.  As much as I think spending a little more time in the Azores might be fun, it was a little strange to watch the Amistad coming off the dock—the only times I have seen the Amistad in motion I’ve been on board!
Now we have just left Faial and are motor-sailing NNE away from the Azores.  Last night on dock watch I finally had time to go over all the lines with Paul from bow to stern, and it was a little bit of a relief that I know most of them now.  Even today as we left the Azores, it was obvious that all of us have learned so much about the ship and sail handling—we raised the sails immediately and had the deck cleaned up and coiled down just a few minutes from the dock. Next stop London…(although we’ve heard that before…)
 

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