Antoine has been cruising for 25 years and is now travelling on his third boat, a 42 ft aluminum catamaran called BANANA SPLIT. He also has a television series but focuses on islands. His series is called "Once Upon An Island" and just sold to the Travel Channel. They are beautiful one-hour shows (also on video) about islands around the world that he has visited and he has a series of coffee table photo books that accompany the show too. (The books are available in French only at this point).

He also has a line of perfume called "Islands". If you would like to try the perfume he has a treasure hunt game on his website and if you find the treasure you win a bottle of perfume! (His website is www.antoine-islands.com).

We have had an enjoyable time out filming together and our interview with him will appear in an upcoming episode of our series, "Exploring Under Sail." Stay tuned!

Goodbye Faial
   
Following the earthquake on July 9th, (see July newsletter) the town of Horta continued to function pretty much as normal although tremors continued for weeks as the earth settled. People were warned not to return to their homes until the tremors stopped so, as we sailed out of the harbor on August 1st, the downtown park still looked like a campsite with all the tents. In the devastated villages on the north and south coasts the military were busy helping people set up temporary pre-fab homes (flown in from Canada) and, after families had salvaged what they could from the shattered remains of their homes, were bulldozing the ruins. Fifteen hundred people were left homeless, one-tenth the population of the island. But the Azoreans are strong in spirit and have a gift for making the best of things. A wedding was being held in one of the camps as we were leaving. The local church had been completely flattened in the earthquake but the ceremony was held regardless. Later the guests feasted in the fields and danced under the stars, celebrating life and love.

São Jorge
   
Our next destination was the harbor at Velas on the nearby island of São Jorge. This is one of our favourite anchorages in the Azores but it is only comfortable when winds are from the north. Coming from Horta, this means wind on the nose but Two-Step sails well to windward and, after saying our goodbyes, we set off at 1430. It is only a 25 mile sail so as Paul took the helm I went below to begin preparations for a nice dinner at anchor

We have a Force 10 two-burner propane stove and oven with a broiler so can cook meals as if we were home ashore. The planned menu was stuffed roast chicken with potatoes and carrots, salad and fresh rolls. The boat was leaning over on quite a heel in the fresh winds so I had to use the galley strap to keep upright as I worked but it was well worth the effort. Delicious aromas wafted from the galley as we dropped anchor beneath the cliffs at Velas and within minutes we were dining al fresco in the cockpit.

Terceira and Engine Trouble    

When we arrived in Angra do Heroismo in Terceira at 1600, we rafted up to “Espadim Azul”, a charter fishing boat owned by local friend, João Pereira. As we were motoring up alongside, our engine temperature alarm went off and we discovered that the impeller had jammed and had smashed a plastic gear in the engine. We’d have to order a new gear from Lisbon which could take days.

Meanwhile, Two-Step was safely rafted and João and his wife, Natalia, whisked us out of town in the family van for a picnic on Mont Brazil where the clan was celebrating our friend Marco’s birthday.Marco is João’s and Natalia’s son-in-law and is a respected bullfighter in Angra. Bullfighting is a little different in the Azores and Portugal. The bulls are not killed; they are “caught” by bullfighters called “forcados” who, dressed in traditional costume, stand in front of charging bulls and wrestle them to a stop with their bare hands! We filmed Marco and his comrades demonstrating this amazing activity in the “Mysteries of the Atlantic” episode of Exploring Under Sail and were happy to see he was still alive and celebrating another year!   

Two-Step has a 28 hp Volvo Penta 2003 engine and we carry a parts catalog onboard. This way if we need a part while cruising we have the exact part number with a parts diagram. This is VERY helpful when you are in a country were few people speak English. You can point to the diagram, etc., and in this case we photocopied the page, circled the part we wanted, and faxed it to the distributor in Lisbon. The gear we needed was in our hands 3 days later. Paul installed it and we were back in action 

Angra Shipwrecks
   
We were happy to see that work on the new marina in Angra was underway once again. (They are also enlarging the marina at the harbor at Praia da Victoria.) We had visited Angra earlier in the summer when construction of the new breakwall had been temporarily halted. During an underwater survey, an ancient shipwreck had been discovered with much of the hull still intact. Scientists dated it circa 1570 to 1630 and it was being excavated and moved so work on the breakwall could proceed. We admired the Azoreans’ respect for the past while working for progress in the future. Archaeologists from Canada were involved in the excavation so we were invited to join one of the dive shifts so filmed the process for an upcoming episode of Exploring Under Sail. The shipwreck lay under sand in only 20 feet of water, quite close to the old dinghy dock which we had motored to many times in the past. The divers used a huge vacuum to suck away the sand and then measured every inch of the wreck. Each piece exposed was sketched, measured and recorded so the ship could be reconstructed from a master drawing when moved. Guys in wetsuits were actually sitting on the bottom with clipboards drawing on pieces of paper underwater!

Project Asimov

Our next shoot for Exploring Under Sail was also underwater. On August 11th, we joined Projecto Asimov, an expedition organized by the University of the Azores to the João Castro Bank. The bank is actually a submerged volcanic crater 35 miles offshore. Hot gases bubble up from underwater fumaroles creating a unique marine environment. Scientists from the Azores, Portugal, France and England were working together to design and test a remote control submarine that would monitor the activity of the bubbles through sonar and video. It is a difficult area to dive on regularly so the submarine would provide valuable information on changes in the sea bed and possibly help warn of impending earthquakes. This area has been the epicenter of earthquakes in the past, but the greatest danger we encountered that day were aggressive ocean trigger fish who kept nipping at the camera and Paul’s ears!

São Miguel

We said farewell to our friends in Terceira on August 13 and sailed the 90 miles to São Miguel entering the harbor at Ponta Delgada at 0100 the next morning. It is a large well-marked harbor so easy to enter in the dark. We dropped anchor and in the morning moved into the marina. The last time we’d been to São Miguel was in 1990 and the marina was still under construction. It is a lovely facility right downtown so a good spot for provisioning up for our upcoming passage to mainland Portugal.

We did do a little sightseeing between trips to the markets however and we especially enjoyed a visit to the hot springs at Furnas where we snacked on corn cooked in large sacks in one of the springs. Then it was back to work preparing for our voyage.

Paul & Sheryl
Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, Azores