wed 19 aug

Wednesday 19 August
  I don't think I have ever before made landfall when the first thing I saw was a lighthouse. We were still 60nm from our destination so I was not expecting to be able to see anything. I forgot that the island is  35 miles long and we were going to the far end of it, and the lighthouse is 340 feet high. I can just think about what sailors before GPS felt when they saw a lighthouse after a long sea passage.
  Watch-on-watch we watched the island get closer. I gave the watch to Adnaan, he gave it back to me, and I gave it to him again. Then I was on the helm when we rounded the far point of land, came around the lee side of the island, and motored the final four miles to the marina. As we approached, the marina launch came out to meet us, guided us straight to a slip, then helped us tie up. Very efficient.  We are between two German Boats, the crew of one we have met. They went to the Caribbean last January and in June crossed back over from St Martin to Bermuda to Azores to here. They want to start planning more of a cruise next year and are interested in the flag stickers on our life raft box which show some of the places we have been. The other folks we have met are Italian, who brought us some fresh out-of-the-oven cake-like bread, and offered the use of their car if we wanted it. They have done the Med, and are looking at America next January.
   So here we are. The propane bottle refill will not be back until Monday, soo we have a few days to get used to things.
Tomorrow I will take a bus to town and see what the island is like. And, of course, get some Madeira wine!
Reef Early,
Bill Doar
s/v Advent II