Year 3 -2nd October 2026 – Faial -Azores – the most Western Point of Europe

We woke at a reasonable time to a rather grey day and before long it was raining and was forecast to be raining all day.

Paul, Mark and I had granola for breakfast with bananas.

As it was going to rain I decided to change the oil and oil filter on the Generator. I also wanted to look at the coolant leak. I got on with this and had the compartment sides off and ran the generator to warm the oil up to make it easier to remove. There was little I could do regarding the coolant leak and it is not a big one so I will just get some more coolant for the journey home. I changed the oil and filter without issue and replaced the oil collector material underneath.

I then set about the main engine running it to warm the oil up Mark helped me pump out the oil and change the oil filters. I then cleaned up and this take some time.

We got rid of the oil and everything and the mess. By this time it was almost lunch and so I had a shower and then Paul, Mark and I had a sandwich. Dave was doing his own thing and Paul and John had been to the Aquarium which was good apparently.

It took a while to clear everything up.

An engineer came to look at the forward heads which was leaking from the macerator pump area. He took the pump out and the plastic fitting was split. We therefore fitted a new pump which I had. In fact I had several pumps and got rid of a few old ones. This was good to get this done for the journey back.

After a day of jobs and being a bit stuck on board due to the rain we were ready to go out. We went to Oceanic for a sundowner as it were and John and Dave joined us. We then went to a fish restaurant that Victor had recommended called Atletico which was very good. It was Paul’s last night and he leaves tomorrow morning to return to the UK.  

 The picture of the day is view we have from the marina to Pico Island and its volcanic cone of 2.351m

 Need/Opportunity Year Three

I am now at the Azores and hope to head back to the UK on about 9 October 2026. At present I am full for the final passage back to the UK with some old veterans returning David Mark, Keith Watson (Watty) and of course Keith Winstanley -the Commodore.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com