Hello my dear Readers, In today’s blog, I’d like to tell you about the main island of São Miguel, where we’re still moored with Symi in the marina. It’s been four weeks since I injured my shoulder; two sessions of physical therapy with a professional have helped less than the regular exercises and the passage of time. After a dislocation, you can expect 4–8 weeks of rehabilitation before the pain subsides. I’d say the pain has improved by about 50% at this point. I can handle light tasks again, and I can even drive a car. After we returned from the island of Horta to our boat in the marina, our friends Evelyn and Michael sailed over to join us. Not only did we explore the city together, but we also took road trips to the most important and beautiful places. A rental car here is ridiculously cheap compared to the U.S. Mid-size cars in good condition can be rented for about ten euros a day. So we set off and, after an hour, reached the western side of the island, whose landscape is dominated by the “Sete Cidades” volcano—which is wider than it is tall. About 22,000 years ago, violent eruptions blew out the center of this volcano, which had once stood 1,200 meters tall. After ash had settled inside the cooled, roughly 5-kilometer-wide caldera, forming a sealed layer, two lakes were formed. A village bearing the same name, “Sete Cidades,” lies on their shores. A visit to the crater lakes of this caldera, which are connected by a canal,
Another interesting place we visited there is an abandoned hotel on the crater rim. In the modern lingo of YouTubers and Instagrammers, it’s referred to as a “lost place.” The story dates back to 1989. At that time, a company planned to build a hotel with 88 beds, a conference center, a disco, a bar, and a restaurant, but unfortunately, it was far too ahead of its time, since tourism in the Azores was still in its infancy back then. The hotel closed after only 1.5 years due to low bookings and a lack of funds. Over the next 15 years, the owners stationed security firms with dogs on site to protect the property, but since this was extremely costly, the security was withdrawn, and the hotel very quickly became a site of looting and vandalism by the local population, who were very poor at the time. In 2010, the hotel block—reduced to a shell—was offered for sale for just 1.2 million €, but no buyer was found. From tiles to doorknobs, bathtubs, elevators, and wood paneling, nothing remained in its place. Today, 30 years later, the “Monte Palace Hotel” stands as a ruin in the beautiful crater landscape. In 2025, the Azores government recognized a rehabilitation project as being “of significant public interest.” Renovation work is planned but has not yet begun. It’s a somewhat eerie feeling,
We continued our journey along the roads—which are in excellent condition thanks to EU funding—toward the north coast. There, where the cool North Atlantic wind usually blows, the climate is more humid than in the south due to the orographic effects of the mountains in the center of the island. Because of the high humidity, this is an ideal location for tea plantations. Of the 80 plantations that once existed, only two remain today. At one of these two plantations, you can experience tea production up close. After a walk through the grounds with their well-tended tea bushes, we took a tour of the factory and observed the 100-year-old machines that still handle the fermentation, drying, and sorting of the tea. It was a very interesting, fragrant process that I had never witnessed before in my life.
On our way back to the south coast, where the Ponta Delgada Marina is located, we also passed through the coastal town of Rabo de Peixe. I don’t want to keep the somewhat bizarre but true story of this place from you.
In 2001, countless little plastic packets washed up on the beach here. It was cocaine. The locals collected them all, and there were so many that the entire town fell into a drug-fueled frenzy. It was reported that the fish in the restaurant were breaded with coke instead of flour. A jug of coke went for €15. Even the white lines on the soccer field are said to have been drawn with the white powder. Many residents became addicted, while others used the money they’d earned to build new houses. Today, this town is the poorest on the island, and the high crime rate and large number of drug addicts are the result of this story. Ribo de Peixe has become an enclave of poverty, and Netflix even produced a feature film about it.
But where did the drugs come from?
In 2001, an Italian man attempted to smuggle drugs from Venezuela to Europe on a yacht. Apparently lacking much seafaring experience and wary of other boats, he anchored off the northern coast near the town. As mentioned earlier, a north wind usually hits the coast there. But now a storm was forecast, and the smuggler had to move the boat. To ensure he’d be “clean” during a port inspection, he attached the entire 3-metric-ton package of cocaine—wrapped in plastic—underwater to his anchor. And as he made his escape and headed south, the waves tore his package apart and washed the individual pieces ashore.
So we sailed around this place and soon found an excellent restaurant for an early dinner. I may be repeating myself, but this positive fact must be mentioned.
In terms of hospitality, friendliness, variety of dishes, and fine red wines, this island is one of a kind.
In addition to high-quality olive oil, the country’s cuisine offers a wide selection of fish dishes and the finest beef from its own well-fed, mostly black-and-white cattle, which can be found grazing in every meadow here. Not to be forgotten are the delicious desserts and sweets that make every foodie’s heart beat faster. We’ve discovered that in Portugal, you can truly indulge yourself with culinary delights.
Apart from Rabo de Peixe, there’s no sign of crime anywhere on São Miguel. We haven’t seen any police patrols or even speed checks on the roads so far. Not a police officer in sight. Perhaps this is due to the gentle nature of the Portuguese. They’re always extremely friendly and eager to help. There’s no sign of wealth here, but everyone seems content, and after the severe economic crisis of the early 2000s, Portugal now appears to be maintaining its islands in a stable condition that satisfies the population. Another fascinating aspect of the islands is their self-sufficiency in terms of supplies and food. Almost everything sold here is also produced here.
Now a few words about my problem child, Symi. As I mentioned, our radar already failed off the coast of Bermuda. While cleaning and testing our desalination system—the watermaker—I discovered damage to the control board. The unit is twelve years old, and the manufacturers are in France. So I wrote to them and placed an order. But while that might be easy on Amazon, here on a boat on an island, the process is very rocky. I made at least six phone calls and sent countless emails just to finally get a response to my inquiry. Apparently, the work ethic in the “grand nation” is also on the decline. Today, finally after ten days of chasing them up, they handed the small circuit board over to DHL and, unfortunately, sent it to the maritime office here with the wrong boat name. The tedious search, ordering, chasing them up, and making phone calls is, unfortunately, part of everyday life for a sailor who needs replacement parts for his boat in a remote location. A specialist diagnosed my radar as a total loss, and after I spoke by phone with the Austrian general agent, he reminded me of the three-year warranty. That was exactly three days before it was set to expire. He immediately submitted the claim to Raymarine in England, and they confirmed that I would receive a new radar antenna under warranty. But how do I get it here? There is no authorized distributor in the Azores. However, thanks to the helpfulness of the electronics technician on the island of Horta, I hope to receive the new radar antenna from Lisbon this week. As of now, though, I’m still waiting for confirmation. I’ll probably have to install it myself at a lofty height after taking a painkiller, but since my shoulder is getting better every day, I’m sure I’ll manage. Installing the circuit board, on the other hand, isn’t a feat of strength but rather precision work. Thirty small cables need to be unscrewed and screwed back on.
What’s next: Our berth here is reserved through July 10; by then, I’d like to have all the replacement parts fully installed. We’d then sail the 50 nautical miles down to Santa Maria on July 11 to pick up my daughter Anna there. As of today, the weather looks pretty good for the period between July 15 and 22. The latest reports on the orca situation indicate that the whales were spotted near Lisbon a few days ago, which would mean a less risky passage through the Strait of Gibraltar for us. So the way might be clear. I haven’t decided yet whether we’ll follow the advice in all the forums and head to the coast of Portugal and Spain to then make our way to Gibraltar in daily stages along the 20-meter depth line, or whether we’ll take a direct course to Gibraltar. I think we’ll probably choose the second option. In any case, I’ll keep you posted. As always, I wish you all the best from aboard. Captain Pavlos
