Our stay in Santa Cruz was pleasant but a bit boring. Grete was troubled with severe pain in her back and was not up to any activity that involved sitting or walking for any length of time. We did however manage to visit a few of the local restaurants in town.
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| This place had great hamburgers all had Band names. |
While in Santa cruz, Geir had a radio contact with a few local stations on Tenerife. One morning Luciano, EA8AM came to see us on the boat, bringing his QSL card and a nice bottle of Tenerife white wine. (I have sinece had many contacts with Luciano) He follows us on marinetraffic.com.
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| EA8AM, Luciano (left) |
We used the oportunity to do work around the boat. Finally painted the deck which tuned out very nice. Colour a bit whiter/brighter than the gelcoat - but much better than what it was after we stripped off the worn out teak. Under the teak we found the original deck with anti skid pattern, so we only had to paint. Also did all our laundry. Bought some new fender covers. Some were in 5m lengths and Grete made pockets for tie-laces in both ends. Fenders looked good now ;)
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| Grete did a good job on the fender covers. |
We departed Santa Cruz, filling up diesel tank on the way on Thursday 7th April. We had booked a berth in the marina at Quinta do Lorde located at the far east of the island. We arrived at noon the 11th April and were welcomed by the marineros who help us tie up. It's a pretty deserted place which is a pitty. It was built some years ago as a holiday resort but it went bankrupt early. There are lot of nice buildings and a nice area around the marina. When we were here in October 2021 the restaurant was open. Now it was closed. There is a small shop selling wine, beer and basic groceries. The marina fcilities are good. Nice clean toilets and showers, a laundry and free WiFi with good coverage. We very soon was reminded of the marina lying just below the eastern approach to Christiano Rolando airport. But the last flight passes before midnight, so we get to sleep OK. A bit windy the first days, but the marina is well sheltered. Having good WiFi enabled Geir to be on the air with his radio back home, working /REMOTE via Internet.
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| Quinta Do Lorde marina/hotel complex |
We also met the swedish family on S/Y Josephine - we saw in Santa Cruz. Their plan was like us,
to sail back home via Azores. We talked about the weater outlooks and the time needed to sail up to
the first island Santa Maria. It will take us just about 4 days with an average speed of 5 knots.
Today we had a good look on the forecast and unfortunately it looks like we must depart Madeira
tomorrow, wednesday 13th in order to be in Santa Maria Sunday 17th at noon.
The wind will increase Sunday evening.
So it looks like we will have lots of time to explore the Azores, but less time here at Madeira.
We can always come back here as tourists by air.
Our plan tomorrow is to depart at 0800, sail to the port of Calehta at SW Madeira, fill our diesel tank and continue towards Santa Maria in the Azores.
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| Topping up on diesel at Calheta |
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