From the Central group to the biggest island, São Miguel
We plan to visit all islands of the Central group, and then make an 100 nm offshore passage to Ponta Delgada, the main city on the Azores on the biggest island of São Miguel. Starting on famous transatlantic stopover, Horta on Faial island, we follow the route to Pico, possibly with climbing the volcano and tasting local wineries, and then one of our favourites, São Jorge. The last one before reaching Ponta Delgada would probably be beautiful Terceira with its capital Angra do Heroísmo.
10 days
Travel Style:
This stage is planned to have mostly short passages with one offshore, mostly focusing on land: hiking and sightseeing. But still it’s the ocean.
1500 €
Start/Finish Cities and Airports:
🇵🇹 Horta [HOR] 🇵🇹 Ponta Delgada [PDL]
Approximate step by step route:
difficulty of this stage is 2 out of 5
That means: we don’t expect anything really challenging. Some longer passages, some waves. Something with a taste of the real sea, but usually not too hard or too long.
Talking about this exact stage, all the passages will be up to 18 hours, and we might make one night passage as well. And still all the passages are in the ocean, there are no enclosed bays there.
Horta → Lajes do Pico, 20 nm
Lajes do Pico → Velas, 40 nm
Velas → Graciosa, 40 nm
Graciosa → Angra do Heroismo, 50 nm
Angra do Heroismo → Ponta Delgada, 100 nm
ROUTE HIGHLIGHTS
Faial:
Horta Marina is the most famous yachting place in the Azores. Historically, here stopped most of the yachts (and, at times, even planes!) making the West-to-East Transatlantic. And we’ll be able to feel the vibe of these times.
Pico:
First, it’s about the highest mountain on the archipelago that we might climb in a good weather. Hard trekking, stunning views, and hot air near the top. But also don’t forget the famous local wineries and whale watching.
São Jorge:
One of the most cozy marina is our start to explore this beautiful green island, with marvelous lighthouse on it’s NW tip and perfect hiking near the waterfalls and the ocean.
Whales and night passages:
September/October on the Azores is a top season for sperm whales, which we may encounter on one of the passages (though, we don't promise anything). And as soon as we plan to make some passages in the dark, it usually means the sky full of stars with a Milky Way clearly visible.
Graciosa:
The smallest island of a central group, it provides a real feeling of remoteness, along with tasting fresh fish and walking inside green enclosed caldera of the volcano.
Terceira:
A truly remarkable town of Angra do Heroísmo whose central part is the Unesco heritage serves as a capital of Terceira island, the favourite one among many of our friends. Going deep into the volcano crater of Algar, hitting the roads with mindblowing views, running from a bull on a party in one of the villages — that’s the least it can serve us with.
Way to the eastern group:
We will hit the 100 nm passage to Ponta Delgada, a capital of the most large and touristic island on the Azores. It usually takes about 16−18 hours of a beautiful sailing with the wind.