DAY 9---HORTA ON THE AZORES ISLAND OF FAIAL

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                                         Our position today is at circle in center of this photo.

            Position is at circle on this map.  High temp here today to be around 74 degrees.  Another night of smooth sailing.  Hope the next two days & nights are the same.

HORTA (AZORES)

         This is also our first time to visit here.  Horta is a municipality and city on the Azores island of Faial.  The island is small at 16 miles long and 12 miles wide with a population of only 15,000.  Horta has a population of about 7,000.   Horta’s marina is a primary stop for yachts crossing the Atlantic Ocean, and its walls and walkways are covered with paintings created by visitors noting the names of their vessels, crews, and the years they visited.  Whale watching, sport fishing, paragliding, and yachting are popular pastimes here.   

LAST EVENING

        Sitting at the table next to us in Compass Rose last evening was these three.  L to R:  Keith, Emmitt, and Linda Gentille.  The two guys were from Canada whom we had not met before.  We have know Linda for years as she is a long time headliner performer on ships.  To say she is an amazing pianist is a gross understatement.  Can't wait to see her shows coming up.  

        Anyway, we had a great time chatting with them throughout dinner.  I even shared some of my Trilogy wine with them.  We had such a good time we made plans to dine with them tonight.  Linda said her mother made the jacket she was wearing.

            This is the Flora Springs Trilogy red blend wine being decanted.  Love this wine.

                One of our favorite appetizers is this chicken & vegetable spring roll.

        We both had the beef bourguignon.  The sauce was a bit heavier that usual but still good.  The beef was very tender.

I only had a bite or two of this chocolate profiteroles.  Filled with ice cream.  I'm trying to cut back!

                                   We had our usual front row seats for Isabel's show.

                              Sorry as my phone does not take good photos of show.

           

As I said yesterday, we had seen Isabel's shows on previous cruises.  She has an incredible voice and always love her shows.  We spoke with her after the show (forgot to take a photo of that) and she remembered us.  She may also be joining us at dinner tonight.

TODAY

        Sunday is caviar and champagne morning.  We first went down to Compass Rose and sat down but discovered Dara was working up in La Veranda.  She is my caviar waitress so got up and went up there.  Damar, maitre d in CR, wondered what happened and if we were not happy.  We assured him everything was fine but wanted to see Dara.  Dara tried to give me two of these plates of caviar but I told her I had to cut back.  Rebecca ordered two fried eggs over easy and bacon.  I had half order of eggs benedict.

              It is a beautiful morning so I took the above photos of Horta from the sport deck.

        When I was taking the above photos I looked up and one of the deck hands was waving at me from the top of the ship's funnel.  They were working up there.

        After breakfast I left the ship at 9:30 for a nice walk into Horta.  It was such a beautiful day and our first visit to Horta.  In fact this was the first time a Regent ship called on this port.  It was a rather long walk to get off the pier and to the long promenade along the city's shore line.  It was Sunday so most everything was closed except for a hand full of small cafes.  Very few locals were even out and about.  Kind of weird!!  So below are the photos I took on my walk.  I have no idea what the buildings were that I took pictures of however.  It was a very clean town.

                                                             The very long promenade.

                                                  Colorful buildings along the promenade.

I walked over one block to this street that paralleled the promenade.  All the shopping was on this street.

                 I came to a nice park.  The tree was the largest I've seen on the Azores.

                                                                   Nice park

                                             Colorful fruit/flowers at top of this palm.

                                               This is the shopping mall but closed today.

         Most of the buildings had very small balcony-like things on the second floor windows.

                                                              Not sure what this is.

        Took this to show you what the sidewalks and streets looked like.  Sidewalk on the left has small cobblestones and not hard to walk on.  The road on right has big cobblestones and car's tires made a lot of noise on it.  So you could easily tell if a car was coming.

                                                                    Pink building

                                               I'm back out on the promenade again.

                                                               Part of an old fort.

                                                                 The large marina.

                                                      My yacht is here today also.

        The above 3 photos shows paintings made by yacht crew along the marina when they visited Horta.  It was lined with LOTS of paintings.

                                                     I found this tree to be of interest.

           This is the back of a car and passenger ferry that runs to the other Azores islands.

                                                                Side view of that ferry.

        Rebecca waving from our balcony.  I was back on board after my hour walk to see the city of Horta.  So we both got showered and dressed before heading up to Prime 7 for lunch.  Dara was working there at lunch time.

                        Togo, the Prime 7 maitre d seated us at one of Dara's tables.

        We did not have a window table but rather could have a nice view out 5 windows,

                                I started with this Manhattan clam chowder.  Very good.

        I had originally ordered the special of the day, a snapper filet.  I found it very meaty and did not care for it.  So I sent it back and ordered this salmon filet cooked medium rare.  It was good.

        Of course Rebecca takes her Atkins bar for every lunch but she asks for cheeses to take back to the suite for her afternoon snack.  She like spicy cheeses but the ship did not have any.  So the chef made her this marinated cheddar cheese with olive oil and chili flakes.  She loves it.

                             There is a small bar at the entrance to Prime 7.  Very nice touch.

                                                   Wine display outside Prime 7.

        We were due to sail again at 2pm but departed early again at 1:20.  Captain Ubaldo likes to sail early if everyone is on board.  We are now going to be at sea for the next 2 days.  We have to sail 1187 nautical miles (1366 statute miles which we use) to arrive at St John's Newfoundland (Canada) by 11am on September 3rd.  Captain Ubaldo said it may kind of rough sailing due to long swells.

        This is Mt Pico, an extinct volcano, aptly on the Azores island of Pico.  We viewed this island from Horta today.  Mt Pico elevation is just over 7700 feet.  Here we can see very top sticking out above the clouds.

        This afternoon Rebecca reading a book while I am working on today's blog post and will start on tomorrow's.  At 3:30 Michael Scott, a acclaimed speaker, will be making a presentation on "The Mighty Atlantic" in the theater.  I will be watching it on our tv.

        At 5:45 this evening is the "Seven Seas Society Cocktail Party" in the theater which we will be attending.  Apparently, there are two other ladies who are "Diamond" status like us on board.  We'll find out if we are the "most cruised on Regent" on this cruise, or they are.

        After that party we will be meeting Keith, Emmitt, and Linda Gentille in the Meridian Lounge.  Isabel Commandeur may also be joining us as Linda was going to invite her.  From there we will head to Compass Rose with them for dinner.  I asked Kadek to have 2 or 3 bottles of Rombauer Vineyards chardonnay standing by for us.  $80 each.  Don't worry as we still have nearly $900 ship board credit to use.  You use it, or lose it!!

        Tonight's Compass Rose menu.  We'll both have the Mykonos Salad (Greek salad) to start with.  Always on Seven Seas Society night they have our very favorite Regent entree, "Miso-Glazed Sea Bass".  It melts in your mouth.  I usually ask for two pieces!

        I had some questions about our account for Reception this afternoon.  So I stopped by Coffee Connection for this frozen coffee crema.  I needed some caffeine!

        I also stopped by Eddie's desk in Reception area to ask about tonight's Seven Seas Society party.  The Cruise Consultants, Pippa and Eddie, are in charge of the SSS on board.  It will be announced at the party this evening but I wanted to know now for this post.  Rebecca and I are "Diamond" level.  Here are the different levels and number of passengers in each:

Commodore (over 2000 nights on Regent)----0

Diamond (over 1000 nights)----4    Rebecca & I are 2nd & 3rd in most number on this cruise with 1063.

Titanium  (400 to 999 nights)----33

Platinum  (200 to 399 nights)----94

Gold  (75 to 199 nights)----213

Silver  (21 to 74 nights)----273

Bronze  (2 to 20 nights----133    This is basically their first Regent cruise.

        There is no show in the theater tonight.  Instead they are having a Queen & ABBA themed dance party in the atrium.  Won't find me there!

Like yesterday I am adding at link to all the photos I took last evening and today in Horta.  Photos will be larger in this link but you will have to read the blog to captions.  Here is the link:

https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipNnS2qgrD4v1wiSdxWYVccWahShrvvmoEPuV42l

You will need to "copy and paste this link to your browser.  Probably only works if you have Google.