There is a long history of sailors visiting Horta doing a personalized painting on the docks to commemorate their visit. What I did not know is that this tradition grows out of a long held superstition and a fear of shipwreck.

The marina and harbor here in Horta consist of a large horseshoe shaped stone bulkhead to protect the harbor from storms.  Additionally, there are two massive bulkheads that face the sea and keep things from getting dangerous in the harbor when the weather gets rough.

I have put a white mark to show where Pandora is anchored.

You can see how busy it is in the harbor and this is nothing like it was when we arrived a week ago. Again, Pandora marked with an arrow. We are very close to the docks, which is very convenient.

The harbor is very busy, especially when boats are migrating from the Caribbean and the US east coast for summering in Europe and the Med.

It is amazing how many yachts are crammed into the harbor, seemingly thousands, well hundreds for sure, rafted three deep on the bulkhead and the anchorage is way too tight in the harbor.

On the walls of the marina are thousands of paintings, commemorating those yachts that have made Horta a port of call as they crossed the Atlantic on their way to Northern Europe and the Mediterranean.

Legend has it that by doing a painting on the dock, commemorating their visit that they will have good luck on their next voyage and to not do so should be done at your own peril.

It is said that to ignore this tradition would be done at great risk to boat and crew.  Ok, I am not taking any chances so paint we did.

Ted, Jason and I had a hand in the finished product.

Sadly, later that day someone slid down the piece, smearing the paint all over the place. Today I went back and restored it to near glory. Sorry, to cheap to purchase three more cans of paint but fixed the white. Painting in place will insure, I hope, Pandora’s safety to the next port.

The shear variety of these carefully painted pictures is remarkable, with some clearly new and others faded to the weather and history. Pandora’s neighbors…

It is said that these paintings are the largest collection of marine painting in the world, with examples on a nearly every space you can imagine, vertical on bulkheads and on the sidewalks. 

A friend of mine, and fellow Salty Dawg, left this one in 2019. It looks new…

Another Salty Dawg family from the rally, the good ship Spring.

No end to the places that are covered with paintings. Even the garbage crib is fair game.

Very creative and clearly international pieces.

This clearly tells a story that is meaningful to the artists.

Some are pretty creative and artistic. I watched this one being painted a few days ago.

Many years represented on a single wall.

Horta harbor is most popular marina in the Azores where the bulk of yachts clear in and out of the archipelago.  They say that with1,500 yachts making landfall in Horta that it is the 4^th busiest marina in the world.  And no, I have no idea what the three are that have more traffic. Having said that, I doubt that any have a greater number of blue water cruisers making landfall than Horta.

It is said that the yacht, “Cleopatra’s Barge,” the first American pleasure craft to sail across the Atlantic, tied up at Horta in 1817.    She was built in MA in 1816 and was wrecked, under different ownership in Hawaii in 1824.  It is unclear if there was a painting on a wall here commemorating her visit to Horta. Unlikely…

Well, the crew of Pandora isn’t taking any chances so our painting is completed.

Interestingly, a few hours after we completed the painting, someone slid down the wall and smeared a lot of the paint. So, I spent an hour yesterday touching up the smears. Within a few hours there was yet another “smearer” nearby, a small boy, sliding down the wall, again and again.

I waved him off but doubt that he was going to stay gone for long. I went back to the boat and got some tape and skewers to build a protective tent while the paint dried.

Not pretty… I’ll know if it kept the “smearers” at bay long enough to dry…

Smeared or not, there will be a piece of Pandora here in Horta for years to come.

Let’s hope it keeps Pandora safe. Legend has it…

Brenda arrived a few days ago after what turned out to be challenging Uber ride to JFK and a way-delayed flight to the Azores. She had booked the car days in advance only to have it canceled one hour before her pickup time. Anxious? You bet.

Oddly, the exact same driver re-booked less than an hour later and ended up arriving nearly an hour after that. Well, at least he arrived. The good news is that Brenda had allowed several extra hours, just in case. Smart girl…

Her driver, pleasant enough, spent much of the ride (four hours worth) sharing his life story, including his ongoing battle with schizophrenia, how he was doing well off of his meds (yikes!), his difficulties with ADHD, PTSD and his long and turbulent “history” with his mother. She came close to saying “ok, drop me at the next corner” but persevered and arrived at JFK without incident. The bad news is that the run from CT to JFK took twice as long as expected.

Her plane was then delayed by four hours, departing for the Azores at midnight and then, to add insult to injury, they lost one of her bags, the one with her “vitals”. Anyway, here we are two days later, her bag arrived and she has, mostly, recovered.

I say “mostly” as she picked up a bug on the plane. As Rosanne Rosannadanna often said, “It’s always something”

But she is here, only a little worse for wear, and I am thrilled.

We moved into a hotel for a few days and it is beautiful. Our room is the top floor center on the right, the double windows.

Our view of the nearby park from our room.

On Saturday there will be a festival in the park. Lots of booths going up and it will be fun to see what it’s all about.

Last evening we had our Salty Dawg Azores Rally arrival dinner at Pete’s Sport Bar, the iconic sailor bar that is usually the very first stop for anyone arriving by boat in Horta.

Every wall and the ceiling are totally crammed with burgees from every imaginable yacht and sailing club. Burgees on burgees…

We had a very nice event with about 18 attending, representing all but one of the 11 boats in the rally.

Boat number 11 has suffered a lot of delays and is not expected to arrive until the middle of next week. I feel for them as their trip, beginning in Florida, with a brief stop in Bermuda may end up totaling nearly a month underway.

I did a free raffle for several SDSA shirts and a bottle of Pete’s special gin which was enthusiastically received. Pete was a good sport about the whole thing. I presented him with a rally flag.

Which he promptly displayed on the wall.

Pete’s has been in business now for 4 generations and is always packed with many sailors, some so look the part as a “vagabond of the sea” and extensive tattoos are the norm. The bar, and it’s not a very big space, is so crowded on most evenings that they have a large tented pavilion outside to handle overflow patrons. I expect that the 3 euro beer, pints, have something to do with the popularity of the place.

After dinner, we assembled outside for a “photo opp” with the iconic Mt Pico in the distance. Pico is the tallest mountain, at nearly 8,000′ in the Atlantic basin. Note: It is WAY bigger than it appears…

Assuming that Brenda has sufficiently recovered from her bug, we plan to rent a car to tour the island in the next few days. Lots to share, I am sure.

One way or the other, we are settling into life here in Horta as many of the Dawgs move on.

And, speaking of “moving on” there is a tradition, here in Horta, of the crew of visiting yachts to paint a mural on the dock which is supposed to give good luck and ensure that they make it safely to their next landfall and the crew of Pandora are happy to oblige.

There are thousands of paintings and Pandora’s crew will be adding our own piece to the collection. To learn more and see our “art” check back soon. If you want to be “warned” when I post, sign up at the top of this page.

And speaking of “getting there safely”, I am pretty concerned about being attacked by an Orca as I make my way to Spain in July so I am painting away… I want to get there safely and am not taking any chances.

But, for now, I am happy to celebrate with the Dawgs and the successful completion of what I hope is the first of many Salty Dawg Rallies to the Azores.

I have been here in Horta for a few days trying to decide what I say about this place.

The problem is that it is just so amazing that I really don’t know where to start.

No wait, I’ll start with a view of Mt Pico, across the way on the island of Pico. The mountain, nearly 8,000 tall is the highest of any mountain in the Atlantic basin. Until today it has been shrouded in clouds since we arrived. Not this morning. It last erupted in 1562. A bit about the history of this remarkable island.

Perhaps not as dramatic as Pico, but Pandora looks great juxtaposed against the Horta waterfront. This may be the most beautiful place that I have ever anchored.

There are plenty of harbors that are full of boats, cruising, racing, fishing and others. However, unlike most, for someone to be here means that they have crossed an ocean. No day sailors here or charter boats. The closest place to this harbor is nearly 1,000 miles and that’s Portugal. The rest of the world…farther.

And, this passage was the first I have ever had where I crossed more than a single time zone. Here we are four hours ahead of the US East Coast. In the ocean there is a question of were to change the clock. Well, the answer is that the iPad knows… Of course…

About 1,500 boats pass through Horta every year, basically most of the cruising boats that cross the Atlantic. Compare those that cross the ocean with the number of midsize cruising boats in the US which probably number in the hundreds of thousands. As we all know, most boats in marinas never go anywhere except perhaps a two week trip and a few weekends each season. To sail thousands of miles, that’s a big deal.

Random fact: The number of small boats that cross the Atlantic every year is about the same number that attempt to scale Mt Everest.

All I am saying is that crossing the Atlantic seems like a big deal to me and I did it. I won’t think about the fact that there is still another 900 miles to go to Gibraltar and I am not there yet.

Pandora is anchored at the head of the harbor. It was remarkably busy when we came in but is now a lot more open with a decent amount of space around us. For the first two days I had to move three times because as the wind shifted I ended up on top of someone.

When I say “move” it was just about 15′ so that when the wind shifted I had at least a boat length from anyone. Note the fenders in case we bump into someone when the wind shifts, which is does regularly.

Somehow it looks open, but the boats are closer than they seem. When the breeze is about 180 degrees from what this photo shows, I am a bit more than a boat length from the boats tied up on the dock.

How about this view of shore from Pandora this morning.

Of course, the boats… From all over. Tied up four deep at the docks.

All the buildings on shore have beautiful tile roofs and are painted all sorts of pastel colors. It’s amazing.

And so green… With parks and lovely spots to just sit and watch the world go by.

The view down the harbor. Note the massive breakwater on the right that protects the harbor from the ocean. Just beyond the old fort is another breakwater so the opening to the ocean is a few hundred yards wide.

And all along the waterfront is a wide promenade, all intricately tiled. In fact, all the sidewalks also sport mosaic tiles, mostly in white and black. It is worth noting that I had to wait several days until I was able to take a photo in the sunshine as there is often a light mist falling.

I don’t know any details about the local fishing but there are a lot of small commercial boats that look very seaworthy. Most sport the colorful orange tops.

Of course, with all these boats, visiting and otherwise, comes a lot of stuff that needs to be fixed. There are a number of mobile repair shops. I like this one in particular, as it is similar to my own little micro truck. My truck, a small Suzuki Carry, wants to grow up to be this truck.

The interior of one of these mobile workshops. Pretty neat setup.

Today I spent time doing laundry in a laundromat that was so clean that you would feel fine folding your sheets on the floor. It was quite modern with a volcanic rock arch and super clean machines.

Back in the day this harbor was a stopping place for flying boats that had to refuel during transatlantic flights. I saw this photo in the laundromat, of all places.

This was the view out from the front door of the laundromat.

A close up of one of the two beautiful bronze bells on each side at the top of the building.

And the long “living wall” that goes in front of the building, part of a lovely flower lined park.

This island, and all of the others in the Azores, are volcanic and some of the peaks rise very abruptly from the sea. Near the harbor is a 850′ tall “hill?” and Ted, Jason and I hiked up and over it yesterday. Trust me, it’s bigger than it looks.

This is the back side, with the harbor on the other end. You can see the trail that comes down the back.

A closeup of some hikers, in the photo above, to give it scale.

The views from the top were quite impressive. A lovely old fort adjacent to a residential area.

And the old whaling station, now an aquarium and place to get a snack. This place immediately adjacent to a sloping beach where whales were dragged up to be rendered into oil.

The coastline is very rugged and the visibility amazing.

This image is of the largest documented wave to hit Horta, in February 1986, during a major storm. Local photographer Jose Henrique took this photo of a wave nearly 60 meters high.

As big as that wave was, these pansy like flowers are tiny, on a stone wall. From these tiny pansies on the top of a stone wall.

To a riot of nasturtiums, growing everywhere.

Cascading over walls. They do love it here.

And wild lilies that look like they belong at a funeral pop up in the middle of a meadow.

No need to get fennel at the market here. It grows everywhere and is huge.

Perhaps I will close with the sunrise today.

It has been a remarkable day. Lots of chores and we are beginning to design and paint a small mural on the marina wall to commemorate Pandora and her arrival in Horta. It is a tradition that thousands of boats celebrate every year.

Want to see more? You will have to come back.

Oh yeah. One more thing. I have to post a photo of this adorable puppy I saw yesterday. Yes, he is a puppy but is already two months old and will not get much bigger. I hear that he is a chihuahua mix. Perhaps there is a bit of pit bull. Couldn’t be…

Tomorrow Brenda arrives. I’m excited.

With her here Horta will be even an even more amazing place, and that’s saying something.

When Brenda and I purchased our SAGA 43, the first boat we did extended cruising on, beginning around 2010, the goal, for me anyway, was to have a boat that could “cross an ocean” and while that boat was certainly capable of such a journey, I can say with certainty, that I NEVER expected that I would ever be able to say, “I am almost to Horta.”

After years of sailing in Long Island Sound and venturing to Maine for summer vacations, the idea that I would someday cross the Atlantic Ocean, seemed to be an unattainable goal.

Who knew?

As I begin this post, we are less than 50nm from Horta and if the story of our cruising life so far tells us anything, there will be a lot more chapters to this story.

I do not really know what is next after I leave Pandora in Spain and fly home with Brenda in August but I have already made it farther than I ever imagined.

Well, here we are…almost.

For much of this passage, we really thought that we might be able to sail nearly the entire way but as we moved into the last part of the run it has been tougher to keep moving as the wind has become lighter and moved aft.

Motoring or not, compared to other runs I have made over the years, we have sailed the bulk of this run, and surely more than any previous passage.  

When we are offshore, on a long passage, we can adjust our heading to keep moving, even if it points us in the wrong direction for a while as we can always wait for wind from a different direction and get back on track.

However, once we are near our destination, we have limited ability to adjust our course and still make it into the harbor and today is a good example.  If we could just adjust our course by as little as 20 degrees, we would be sailing but to get into Horta before dark today we do not have a lot of flexibility.

For the morning I struggled to sail, as we were dead downwind but now, as we make our final approach, the wind has freshened and veered so we are now on a solid broad reach and moving along nicely.

While we have been able to sail most of the last few hundred miles, the wind has not been terribly cooperative recently and we have had to resort to the engine for a few hours, from time to time.

While we had hoped for a mid-morning arrival, it is now looking like we will not make it until later in the afternoon.  Fortunately, it does not get dark until around 9:00 so there is little risk of arriving in the dark.

And, speaking of “time of the day” we made our final adjustment to the clocks earlier today and are now four hours ahead of Brenda in Connecticut.  Not a lot of risk of jet lag when you are going so S-L-O-W-L-Y…

There is a lot of boat activity approaching Horta as this is “the” place to make landfall.  This shot of AIS on my plotter shows so I can see that we are not the only boat heading that way.

Based on some information from boats that are already in the harbor, we learned that it is very crowded and that there is a wait list to get on a dock or to tie up at the cement wall.   Having said that, there is a lot of movement every day as boats depart and spots open quickly. 

A shot of the harbor on Marine Traffic, the AIS tracking site, shows just how crowded it is.  Oh boy, good luck anchoring.  

When we were planning dates for departure from Bermuda we tried to take into account the schedule for the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, ARC, to Horta, a large group that has been doing this run for years.   As their numbers really strain the local facilities, we wanted to arrive at least a week after they did but given how busy the harbor is, I am wondering if perhaps their passage was not a fast one suggesting that we will have arrived before many of them have moved on.

We probably will not arrive in the harbor in time to clear customs today but I will ask around and see if it is ok to head ashore for a beer and dinner.  I am so ready to do that…

I reached out to the sailmaker to arrange to have the mainsail leech cord replaced and a few other minor repairs and was told that they have daily pickup from the waterfront.  I hope that the repairs are completed before the guys fly out as it is a handful to get it back on the boom.

When we arrive, the plan is to drop the anchor and put out fenders to protect us from other nearby boats.  I have to say that I have never deployed fenders when I am anchored.   With so many boats crammed into the harbor, I expect that this will be a whole new experience as “Close” does not begin to describe how tight boats are anchored near one another.  I hope that my brand-new paintjob does not get violated immediately.

Fortunately, I have the large inflatable fenders as well as a half dozen smaller ones that should help cushion the blow from nearby boats.

After nearly two weeks on passage from Bermuda I am really looking forward to being at anchor and going ashore.

I can’t believe that I am nearly to Horta, a place that I only imagined that I would one day visit.

To be here… I really wasn’t expecting this…

Editor:  While the Salty Dawg rally from Bermuda to the Azores is drawing to an close you can see where Pandora and the other boats are located in real time at the Salty Dawg Azores Rally Map.

Brenda and I will remain in the Azores for a month and we will both be posting regularly while we are here.  In mid July I will depart the Azores, heading for Spain and will continue to post along the way.

Five weeks ago, I left home, and Brenda, to join Pandora in Trinidad where I had left her earlier in the spring to have some additional work done to complete the refit that began last summer.

Along the way north I stopped in various islands in the eastern Caribbean.  Hung out with friends and said my goodbyes knowing that I would not be back for at least a few years.

As of today, my journey north, and for the most recent leg, from Bermuda to Horta is nearly complete.

We are finally within 200nm of our destination, Horta, in the Azores, a journey that had its’ beginnings more than a year ago when Brenda declared that nine seasons in the Caribbean was just about enough. 

She did not say where we were going to head next except it became clear that unless I could find something compelling to do next that I would find myself sailing a 14’ Beetle Cat back and forth on the CT River in front of the Essex Yacht Club, while Brenda waved (Queen style, of course) to me from the deck.

Having sailed with Brenda much of the US East coast from Eastern Maine all the way to Key West, the Bahamas, much of Cuba and just about all the islands from The US Virgins and south to Trinidad since we began seasonal cruising back in 2012, I had run out of cruising grounds to explore on this side of the Atlantic.

After more than a decade I was out of ideas so it seemed that the only real option was to investigate “crossing the pond” and see what we might do there.

Yikes, I knew nothing about that except that my Dad, now gone for over 10 years, once said (and you have heard this before), “Bob, wouldn’t it be great to take Pandora through the Straights of Gibraltar?”

So, I got on the phone and found folks to talk to that had done all that to get their thoughts.

After a few Zoom meetings with fellow cruisers and a number of YouTube travel videos of the Med,  Brenda was convinced enough to give a “guarded OK” so that became the plan.

I was president of The Salty Dawg Sailing Association at that time and asked the board if there was interest in doing a rally to the Azores.  Much to my surprise, they liked the idea, very much and several fellow board members even raised their hands, offering to do much of the planning.

So, fast forward a year plus and here I am, about to make landfall after nearly two weeks at sea from Bermuda, in the company of ten boats participating in the first Salty Dawg Rally to the Azores.

I will admit that it is surreal to be doing this and I do wish that Dad was around so I could share the experience.  Even being in Bermuda, where we departed on this leg, was a landmark for me as that was where I departed decades ago, on my first offshore passage, helping a friend bring his boat back from the Bermuda Race.

We have been blessed with a swift passage of under two weeks, never seeing winds more than 20-25kts, and usually much less.  To do this trip in under two weeks is unusual, I am told, and Chris Parker, our weather router, had warned us months ago to expect to spend perhaps as long as 2½ weeks and to encounter perhaps two gales along the way.

My crew Jason and Ted have been wonderful and their easygoing nature and competence has given me comfort, knowing that Pandora was in good hands while I was down below getting plenty of rest.  Of course, the benign conditions, “champagne sailing” as Ted has described it, helped too.

As I write this we are moving along at about 6-7kts with 22-15kts on the beam, healing about 3-5 degrees.   It does not get any better than this and a fitting way to end the longest passage I have taken despite sailing more than 25,000 blue water miles over the years.

With such mild conditions, meals have been easy to prepare and with much cooler temperatures, think 70s at night, than the Caribbean, I have even baked muffins and biscuits 4 times.   

Here are todays’ biscuits, my third batch, in addition to some muffins, on this trip.  No complaints from the crew.

Brenda does not arrive until next Monday and by that time I will have been away from her for six weeks, the longest that we have been separated since we became inseparable in Highschool 53 years ago.

Brenda has booked a hotel for a week when she arrives in downtown Horta and it will be fun to kick back and enjoy the scenery.    

Our plan is to hang out in the Azores for a month, perhaps cruising to some of the other islands before I welcome crew in mid-July when we will head east to Gibraltar and onto Almeria, Spain where Pandora will be hauled for the season.

And, for the next several seasons, Brenda and I will spend two months in the spring and two in the fall, cruising the Med. 

I really do not know what to expect but based on the many cruisers that we have talked to about these cruising grounds, we should be for quite a treat.

Now, if I can only get past the Orcas as I approach the coast of Portugal.   You know, the orcas that bite off the bottoms of boats rudders…

I won’t think about that today, I will think about that WHEN I HAVE TO, and that will not be until sometime in late July when we get close to their “chomping grounds”.

Until then, a bit more champagne sailing and sometime tomorrow we will be in Horta.

This lovely tern landed aboard Pandora earlier today.  Perhaps he is here to welcome us to Horta.

And, of course, what is a post without a picture of beautiful clouds?

And next Monday, after six weeks away and over 3,000 miles of sailing, I will be back with Brenda.

I am getting excited!

Editor:  As part of the first ever Salty Dawg Rally to the Azores, you can see where Pandora and the other boats are located in real time at the Salty Dawg Azores Rally Map.

If you want to see where Pandora is alone, check out “where in the world is Pandora” at the top of the page or click on this link.

And, as always, you can register to receive a notice when I post, Which I do regularly, at the top of this page.

And, if you want to learn more about Salty Dawg and the rallies and educational programs that we sponsor, and you should, check out www.saltydawgsailing.org. It is a really great group.