Flores

Sailing from Bermuda, we made landfall in Lajes on Ilha das Flores, which is the Western most island of the Azores. Some sailors skip this to go straight to Horta on Faial. We strongly recommend against that, as Flores is a most wonderful island.

The harbor in Flores is relatively small, having still not been entirely rebuilt following devastation in the 2019 hurricane. There is room on the dock for about eight sailboats (albeit rafted up in pairs). The pier is high so make sure you have long dock lines and serious fenders are a must. There is also an anchorage but it gets a fair bit of swell -- if you wind up having to anchor see if you can run a line aft. Also depending on your location, you may be asked to leave when a cargo ship arrives and needs to be loaded. Technically you can only clear into Portugal in Horta, but the local police here is friendly to sailors as long as you fly the Q flag and have your passports along at all times (also remember to fly the Portuguese courtesy flag).

The landscape of Flores is dominated by volcanic mountains. Make sure to go visit the calderas, some of which are accessible by car, whereas others require a hike. It poured the afternoon of our arrival day, which turned out to be fortunate because Flores is full of stunning waterfalls which were all going strong the following days. The trail to Cascata da Ribeira Grande is currently unmarked and somewhat rough but well worth the 20-ish minute hike (one way time).

Flores lives up to its name with stunning flowers everywhere. As in other parts of the Azores the streets and often the walls between fields are lined with hydrangeas (which also happened to be in peak season during our time here). We don't know the names of most of the other flowers but flowers abound everywhere you go on Flores.

Some of us have been staying at an Airbnb just a short walk up from the harbor, right by the beautiful Lajes lighthouse. There are a number of units available here in buildings that were at one point part of a naval installation. We stayed in two different units which were both clean and comfortable with three bedrooms (two single beds, one twin bed and one queen bed), bathroom, living room and a small kitchen and pantry. The grocery store is also walking distance from there (note: closed on Sundays!).

We ate exclusively in the Lajes area, close to the harbor and the Airbnb. O Arruda, which is by the harbor, is great for breakfast with freshly baked pastries (lunch is also serviceable, especially the wings and the tuna steak). They also have free wifi. For dinner our first night we ate at O Golfinho, which is new, and serves family-style Portuguese food. One night we went to Cana-Roca, where the owner/chef is from Rome and makes authentic Roman-style pizza. Finally, the last two nights we ate at the excellent Casa do Rei, which serves slightly more elevated Portuguese food. All around the food was delicious and so cheap that we repeatedly checked the bills to make sure everything had been included.

Corvo

Cruising the Azores