The bridge led us to the unknown, towards the Island of Faial, in the Azores.
Aboard Malaika - and I rightfully and obviously forgot the skipper's name - we went through the Bermuda Triangle, and through the Sargassum Sea, which is an immensity of water covered by brown algae, suicidal flying fish, and a bizarre magnetism that drives instruments crazy. So our German skipper wasn't very happy facing that place's fame, and the slow improvement caused by the seaweed.
After this part there's another one where you see thousands of jellyfish - highly toxic creatures with an external sail-like bright pink to purple colored part. They're called Portuguese Men of War - and they're indeed aggressive to touch.
So eventually the Captain received a weatherfax that flashed the approach of a strong depression, with 980 millibars in the core, and we all saw the barometer dropping fast, so he decided to change course towards the east. The move proved to be useless at that point and the storm caught us fully.
The sea had middle size breaking waves; the horizon was swallowed by some grey-brown color that tinged both the sea and the sky. We tied the tiller, went under cover and found some stability placing the storm sail and a very reduced main.
Since there was nothing to do in that weather, I thought: let's make some biscuits.
The crew loved it and devoured many. The skipper thought it quite inappropriate and threw the remaining bikies in the trash bin.
People change at sea. Defects have nowhere else to go: they're there and they're obvious. Those who are afraid of nature shouldn't go sailing. At sea you see how small and fragile we are. And yet, we crew could see the positive in it, and felt we deserved to be alive.
You need a humble character to live at sea.
Bad weather ended after three biscuitless days. We arrived at the Island of Faial astonished at those awesome islands standing in the middle of the North Atlantic and also at the bad moods of that furiously uncontrolled man. Poor him - he didn't know Portuguese-speaking people are strongly bound.
Customs was readily advised of the situation. International law establishes that at sea, the captain is responsible for his crew. That means he can't dump them anywhere he wishes, unless he pays for repatriation costs. So, that man found himself a pub where he drowned while we stayed there.
The Archipelago of the Azores is a 9 island composition located at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The islands have varied landscapes, but the majority is covered with green fields that resemble Scotland in summer, covered in hills and mountains where sheep and cattle graze, and a very gentle people live peacefully, in small but picturesque villages. People also tell many sea tales and history is abundant. I wouldn't be able to handle it all in a blog.
It is a great, pure and familiar Nature worth getting acquainted to, which I will certainly do before I leave this place for good.
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| Physalia physalis |
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| Bad Weather at Sea |
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| Sargassus Sea Map |
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| East Coast of the Island of Saint George, in the Azores |
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