Sail Madeira to Azores 17 to 20 June 2016

The Grib files had idicated for several days that Friday 17 June would be a good time for our planned sail to the Azores. 
 

So at 0700 hrs we left our berth in Funchal Marina

 

  and motored West in the lee of island, hugging the Madeira coast.

 

  The French sailing boat Desirade also left at this time - they had an AIS transmitter on board so we could monitor their position relative to us

 

As we approached the western side of Madeira, we entered the acceleration zone and the wind increased to well over 20 kts from the NNE.

 

We were sailing at 60 degrees to the apparent wind with 1 reef in the mainsail and a small amount of Genny 

 

Making at times well over 8 kts SOG

 

 

By 1100 hrs we had exited the acceleration zone and the wind veered to a NEerly 4/5 Bft and we were able to free off the mainsail sailing at 80 degrees to the apparent wind, still maintaining our course of 303 degrees to the Azores.

During the next couple of days the wind remained in the 4/5 Bft range but gradually veered further to the ENE allowing us to free off even further onto a broad reach, 120 degrees to the apparent wind - a much more comfortable point of sailing

 

 

 

At 2230hrs on Sunday evning 19/6 the wind had dropped to a whisper, as predicted, as we entered the Azores High and we started motoring

 

By 0800 hrs, Santa Maria was clearly visible on the horizon some 35 miles away

 

Dolphins came to greet us, always a welcome sight

 

Rounding the southeastern point of Santa Maria

 

At 1440 hrs Monday 20 June 2016, we were safely berthed in Vila do Porto Marina on Santa Maria, the most SEerly of the Azorian Islands, with the friendly help of Joao and Sergio from the marina

 

Total distance 484 nmiles in 80 hours of which 20 hrs motored. Average speed 6.0 kts.

The whole trip we had almost full moon so the nights were never really dark - very pleasant.

Below is link to a video of the trip:-

sailing video

Below is a map of the Azores Group of islands. In the coming weeks we plan to visit many of them, meet up with many of our Azorian friends, and enjoy many wonderful walks on these delightful islands.

 

Hike Madeira, Levada Walk from Sitio das Quatro Estradas to Camacha

Caught the Nr 77 bus close to the Funchal cable car at 1030 hrs Sunday 12 June 2016.

At 1120 hrs got off at the cross roads at Quatro Estradas, the start of our walk along the Levada dos Tornos to Camacha, Rothers Walking Guide walk nr 15 ( in reverse).

 

Our ViewRanger app on the Ipad once more proved to be very handy to verify where we were whenever we were not sure.

 

The first part of the walk was steeply down a road until we reached this crossroads of paths

 

The path continued steeply down some cobbled steps until it crossed the Levada dos Tornos which we reached at 1210 hrs

  

 

 

Along the Levada, there were many wild Maracuja vines (Passion Fruit)

 

From time to time we had super views of the sea and sometimes Les Ilses Desertas were clearly in view

 

 

Stop for a break in the shade

 

In many places we were treated to superb floral displays

 

 

The Agapanthas, both blue and white were often present. From time to time we passed terraced fields

 

There were many vertiguous parts as the levada had to be carved out of the steep cliffs

 

Another shady break

 

There were several tunnels on the way

 

Occassionaly there was a safety rail, but mostly one was left to use ones own sense of balance

 

Fallen tree

 

Another tunnel

 

Looking back 

 

Yet another tunnel

 

 

 

 

 

 

In some places, it had only been necessary to carve "half " tunnels out of the cliff

 

The Levada on the other side of the ravine

 

A large tree had fallen recently and blocked our trail

 

 

 

 

 

Levada bridge

 

Waterfall

 

Our last tunnel

 

 

Time to leave our Levada

 

Red circle shows where we left the Levada

 

Only 125 m elevation of steps to go to reach our destination, Camacho !

 

At 1700 hrs arrive at Camacho in good time for the 1745 hrs nr 129 bus back to Funchal

 

This was a superb Levada walk. The Levada dos Tornos is one the the most important water channels on Madeira having a total length of around 100 kms. 

The ViewRanger map below shows our route