BYE BYE THE AZORES

Today we left the Azores, island of Faial. Horta was an amazing harbour to stay at. I can´t believe that the week here is already over. I guess that time really does go faster when you are having fun!

During our time in the Azores, the thing I admired the most, was the
nature. It was by far one of the most beautiful places I´ve ever been
to. I would say it is right up there next to Hawaii. I don´t know why
but vulcanic islands just sits right with me.

The best things I saw and did was:

Climbing Pico (the highest mountain of Portugal at 2351m).
Going for a ride around the island of Faial.
Visiting the vulcanic museeum.
Going to Faial´s highest point on the islands largest crater, Caldeira.
Strolling around the village of Horta.
Eating at Peter´s Café and the self-cooking on lava stones place.

I would love to visit another island of the Azores in the future. Right
now I have my eyes on Sao Miguel or Flores.

Today I saw as we left the green fields, the colourful houses and the
tall mountains behind us. After we left I realised that I´d have to
change my routines since we were now changing shifts. I used to have
8-12 but now we have rotated clockwise. So that means I´ll have 12-4 as
my shift for the next 10 days out at sea and for the rest of our
journey. It´s only 4 weeks left now and after being away from home for 7
weeks I can say that I am a bit homesick at times. I try not to think
about home that much and savior what it is I am experiencing. Today we
had the first watch and we got two new officers to get used to, which is
fun.

The day got by pretty fast and since there are no lessons onboard the
day you leave a harbour I just chilled in my bed for the most part and
had some well-needed sleep before I had to get up in the middle of the
night to work in the dark under the stars in the sky.

Thank you for reading,
Martin Hedelin