Horta

Entry into a new county is always fraught with a bit of anxiety even as the case here, where we had been told that the officials were welcoming and accommodating. With the awesome Pico in the background, the administrative office a hundred yards away housing immigration and customs officials, sailors and sailboats of every stripe and nationality laying happily to their anchors, it certainly didn't look that foreboding. I have sailed into enough different venues to say that is not always true but I will have to say other than bureaucratic stuffiness read Britt, I never really had a horrible experience. But the EU is known for regulating the regulations and we did have a dog to get through customs. We had radioed in on arrival and the marina business office had said take your time, sort it out, come on in after lunch. Welcome to the Azores. Nothing like a good start?

Stashed the passports, ships papers and all the documents that could be imagined covering Willie neatly in my satchel . Climbed into the dinghy and away I went. And really unsurprising, the marian folks and the immigration and customs people were friendly, helpful and informative. This was sailing country and we were sailors. I was nervous at customs clearing in Willoughby, and had so many damn “Dog” documents I couldn't sort through them all. The official at customs said “here” reaching for my mound of documents, “all I need,” she made a copy of the rabies vaccination certificate and that was it. The immigration official and I had chatted about the weather while waiting and he remarked the sun hadn't shown in 2 weeks and this was highly unusual. They were waiting for the real spring to arrive. In fact we learned it was a cold rainy spring in what we were to soon find was a verdant semitropical paradise. There was a very small anchoring fee, 20 Euro I think, but I was glad to pay it for the hospitality and excellent harbor. A spot in the marina, especially for a cat, was weeks away and we didn't want to be in a marina anyway. So formalites painlessly completed, and the delightful Portuguese officials welcoming us to their island it was time to grab a beer at the famous Peter’s sports bar, take a deep breath and just take it all in.