Cruising the Azores

Early on when discussing an Atlantic crossing we talked about various possible routes, such as going relatively far North and landing in Ireland. It all came together though when we decided to participate in the Newport Bermuda race and to then sail from Bermuda to the Azores. We would cruise the Azores for a while before heading on to mainland Portugal. This plan has worked out terrifically well. Instead of one long post there will be different posts for the islands we visited. As an overview here is a map of the Azores that gives a sense of the sizes of the islands and the distances between them.