Hike São Jorge, Serra do Topo to Caldeira de Santo Cristo and Faja dos Cubres

0900 hrs Wed 29 June 2016, taxi picked us up at Velas Marina and took us eastwards to the Serra Topo (700 m ), arriving there at 0935 hrs. The weather was not terribly inviting as we and our friends prepared for the 10 km hike down to  Faja dos Cubres (at sea level)!

 

The information board at the start of the hike

 

 

Entering the low cloud - our elevation 700 m above sea level

 

Unfortunately, visibilty in the cloud and drizzle was very poor so we missed out on probably superb views

 

Natural shelter

 

Almost below the cloud

 

Many Hydrangers en route

 

Who's going to give way?

 

Luckily, they did!

 

One of the many rustic gates

 

One of the many waterfalls

 

A much larger one

 

Our first objective, Faja da Caldeira de Santo Cristo comes into view with its large sea lake

 

Awesome coastline

 

 

 

Jeannette feels at home - a dijk!

 

 Faja da Caldeira de Santo Cristo

 

 

Our lunch restuarant

 

Which was amazingly crowded considering there is no car access, only quadbike 

 

 

Our final destination, Faja dos Cubres

 

Arrived at 1550 hrs at Faja dos Cubres and called for our taxi to take us back to Velas Marina after a thoroughly enjoyable hike

 

On the way back, the island of Graciosa was clearly visible form the taxi

 

Hike São Jorge, Morro Grande Velas

Tuesday 28 June 2016 had a short walk from Velas marina to the top of the 161 m high Morro Grande hill.

The last time we made the walk was in 2012 - see below link :-

Morro Grande 2012

On the way we passed this rock arch

 

Morro Grande

 

The ruins of the old windmill on the top of Morro Grande

 

Looking back over Velas

 

Trail under the low bushes betweem windmill and cliff view

 

Impressive cliff

 

 

 

Sailing Santa Maria to São Jorge 25 to 26 June 2016

The Grib files indicated that we would have a NE 4 for the next couple of days,perfect for a fast passage from Santa Maria to São Jorge, 180 nMiles to the NW.

So at 0715 hrs we left Vila do Porto marina on Santa Maria and motored westwards for 1/2 hour until we were out of the wind shadow of the island 

 

 

At 0745, engine off and we were charging along at 60 degrees to the apparent wind in a NE5 Bft wind at over 7 knots on our course of 305 degrees with one reef in mainsail and two reefs in the Genny. 

 

Santa Maria still visible

 

 

 

Still had the Marinetraffic.com AIS plot on line via 3G , showing our position and the positions of other ships in the area

 

 

 

 

 

Just before nightfall, at around 2130 hrs, an ominous band of black clouds appeared before us. So we put a second reef in the mainsail, and felt much more relaxed about the coming night

 

 

 

 

By 0720 hrs, São Jorge was clearly visible, some 25 nmiles ahead of us

 

As we approached São Jorge, the wind became a bit fickle and we motmored for a while then sailed then motored , sailed, motored

 

Sailing between São Jorge to Starboard and

Pico on Port

 

 

Getting close to Velas

 

1450 hrs Porto das Velas just ahead of us

 

We called up the marina on Ch 16 and were very pleased to hear that our very friendly harbour master was waiting to take our lines on the hammerhead of A pontoon

 

Total distance covered, 181.7 nMiles in 32 hours of which only 5 hours on the engine. Average speed 5.67 knots.