Horta, Island Faial, Azores
Today we woke up in the beautiful and well protected harbor at Horta. The sun was glittering onto a calm ocean. Yes, a day perfect for exploration.
We are now on the edge of summer, soon turning into winter, and the port is very empty. This was not the case about 100 years ago. In the heyday of American whaling, Horta very soon became a major port. Already in the year 1832 an American consul was appointed. The whaling ships used Horta as the first or last stop.
Why the island Faial? Anyone interested in the Atlantic Ocean circulation, wind and ocean currents, will very soon understand. The pure marine sea birds, storm petrels, and shearwaters use the same way migrating between North & South Atlantic.
In July you find good numbers of sooty, greater shearwaters off the coast of New England. In August they all use the westerly wind and travel along the Gulf Stream towards European waters. East of the Azores they catch up with the southward flowing Canary current, which will take them more or less to Cape Verde Islands. Now they join the Equatorial current to get to South America. Again along the east coast of South America they catch the westerly winds and some will make it all the way to South Africa and some will continue towards Cape Horn.
Exactly the same route was used by the American whaling ships as they headed for the whaling grounds in Pacific or Indian Ocean. The tall sailing ships are now history, but Horta still continues to be of great importance. Nowadays it is mainly smaller sailing boats en route between the Caribbean and Europe which use this port. At Peter’s Cafe Sports you meet “real” hardy sailors and the histories you hear told is hard to know if it is facts or fiction. Still every story is worth to end up in a book!
All the Azorean islands have volcanic origin. Last night we crossed the Mid-Atlantic ridge. The westerly islands Flores and Corvo together with easterly are the oldest and have drifted over about 10-15 millions years ago far away and are now inactive. The central islands are still close to the ridge and very active.
From the harbor here in Horta we can see the top of Pico, only 700,000 years old. In a geological time scale this is nothing!
In the morning we took the buses to the most westerly point of Faial. In 1957 a huge volcanic eruption started in the ocean off the island Faial and about 2 km2 land was created and joined the island.
This eruption also forced a lot of people to leave the island, since houses and farm land was covered by ash. In 1963 president Kennedy opened the US for these people, the last large immigration from the Azores to US.
Some of us did a small hike in the area and others spent more time at the local school where we could buy local handicrafts. In the afternoon we relaxed and used the time for our own leisure. Some went diving, something we offer together with a local dive operator, some went to the beach Porto Pim for beach activities and some preferred to stroll into Horta to explore with small winding roads.
The main activity on the program was a visit to the old whaling factory built by Germans during World War II. The Germans had a great interest in the whale oil, but the allies always tried to make a better bid as the Portuguese offered the oil on the market. Here they also offer a remarkable slideshow about the Azores and the marine environment around the islands.
Yes, a nice day with some exploration, hikes and time for leisure. Maybe we now have found the Azorean pace of time?
Today we woke up in the beautiful and well protected harbor at Horta. The sun was glittering onto a calm ocean. Yes, a day perfect for exploration.
We are now on the edge of summer, soon turning into winter, and the port is very empty. This was not the case about 100 years ago. In the heyday of American whaling, Horta very soon became a major port. Already in the year 1832 an American consul was appointed. The whaling ships used Horta as the first or last stop.
Why the island Faial? Anyone interested in the Atlantic Ocean circulation, wind and ocean currents, will very soon understand. The pure marine sea birds, storm petrels, and shearwaters use the same way migrating between North & South Atlantic.
In July you find good numbers of sooty, greater shearwaters off the coast of New England. In August they all use the westerly wind and travel along the Gulf Stream towards European waters. East of the Azores they catch up with the southward flowing Canary current, which will take them more or less to Cape Verde Islands. Now they join the Equatorial current to get to South America. Again along the east coast of South America they catch the westerly winds and some will make it all the way to South Africa and some will continue towards Cape Horn.
Exactly the same route was used by the American whaling ships as they headed for the whaling grounds in Pacific or Indian Ocean. The tall sailing ships are now history, but Horta still continues to be of great importance. Nowadays it is mainly smaller sailing boats en route between the Caribbean and Europe which use this port. At Peter’s Cafe Sports you meet “real” hardy sailors and the histories you hear told is hard to know if it is facts or fiction. Still every story is worth to end up in a book!
All the Azorean islands have volcanic origin. Last night we crossed the Mid-Atlantic ridge. The westerly islands Flores and Corvo together with easterly are the oldest and have drifted over about 10-15 millions years ago far away and are now inactive. The central islands are still close to the ridge and very active.
From the harbor here in Horta we can see the top of Pico, only 700,000 years old. In a geological time scale this is nothing!
In the morning we took the buses to the most westerly point of Faial. In 1957 a huge volcanic eruption started in the ocean off the island Faial and about 2 km2 land was created and joined the island.
This eruption also forced a lot of people to leave the island, since houses and farm land was covered by ash. In 1963 president Kennedy opened the US for these people, the last large immigration from the Azores to US.
Some of us did a small hike in the area and others spent more time at the local school where we could buy local handicrafts. In the afternoon we relaxed and used the time for our own leisure. Some went diving, something we offer together with a local dive operator, some went to the beach Porto Pim for beach activities and some preferred to stroll into Horta to explore with small winding roads.
The main activity on the program was a visit to the old whaling factory built by Germans during World War II. The Germans had a great interest in the whale oil, but the allies always tried to make a better bid as the Portuguese offered the oil on the market. Here they also offer a remarkable slideshow about the Azores and the marine environment around the islands.
Yes, a nice day with some exploration, hikes and time for leisure. Maybe we now have found the Azorean pace of time?
