Best home in the Azores

[svhighcotton]

I have a 52' sloop with <7ft of draft and 15' beam and looking for a nice home in the water during the summer and early fall of 2020 in the Azores. Someone will be living aboard most of the time. Any guidance on the best harbor/marina to choose as home base for that length of stay at that time of year?

[boatman61]

Horta on Faial is pretty good with regular ferries to Pico when you fancy a change..
Praia de Vitoria on Terciera is another spot.. much quieter though.

[belizesailor]

Boatie knows the Azores much better than me, but I recently made landfall there for the first time and thuroughly enjoyed the Azores. Our initial stop was Horta, quite a likeable place, though the marina/anchorage is crazy crowded this time of year at least. I assume it thins out considerably in the winter months.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, highcotton.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, highcotton.

[CaptCanuck]

Originally Posted by svhighcotton

I have a 52' sloop with <7ft of draft and 15' beam and looking for a nice home in the water during the summer and early fall of 2020 in the Azores. Someone will be living aboard most of the time. Any guidance on the best harbor/marina to choose as home base for that length of stay at that time of year?

I’ve heard Horta is THE destination but lived on Terceira for a couple of years and there is a great marina in Angra. Major city (by Azorean standards) with plenty to do. Terceira is centrally located so you can sail/ferry/fly to any of the other islands quickly.

Enjoy your travels!

Geoff

[AZUS]

Sao Miguel has a good Marina, great flight connections and is a nice island with a big city

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by AZUS

Sao Miguel has a good Marina, great flight connections and is a nice island with a big city

Yes, direct flights to euro mainland and USA. My return flight is São Miguel - Boston direct.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by CaptCanuck

I’ve heard Horta is THE destination but lived on Terceira for a couple of years and there is a great marina in Angra. Major city (by Azorean standards) with plenty to do. Terceira is centrally located so you can sail/ferry/fly to any of the other islands quickly.

Enjoy your travels!

Geoff

A 52ftr will be to big methinks..

[steve77]

Originally Posted by boatman61

A 52ftr will be to big methinks..

We have nothing but good things to say about the Azores. We were in Angra for a few months with our 49 foot boat. There was at least one boat larger than us. Probably worth checking out, at least. Praia is another good choice, as already mentioned.

We never made it to Sao Miguel, but I heard it was a very nice place.

All the best!

Steve

[belizesailor]

We liked São Miguel very much. Its got some really unique spots to visit like Sete Cidades (a massive volcanic crater roughly 5km in diameter...filled with small towns and lakes now rather than lava), and Furnas (a town built around active geothermal vents). The main town of Ponta Delgada has a couple of good sized marinas, an international airport, and is big enough (~70K) to have all the goods & services you are likely to need.

[Matt Johnson]

We've spent a little more than a year in the Azores on our last two visits, and from that experience, I don't think you could make a bad choice.

Sao Miguel was our favorite, but we like the liveliness and convenience of a larger city. There something going on ever night around the water front (Ponta Delgada), great restaurants, people watching and fun activities. But most importantly, the island itself is the prettiest and most naturally diverse (in my view).

There is one marina in Pico that you could fit, but it's a small town and you'd want a car to get around. Island is beautiful and more of a local feel.

Sao Jorge is visually amazing, but the one marina would be tight for your boat and besides the natural beauty, there isn't much there. The town's people are more welcoming due to not get many tourists.

We spent most of our time in Angra on Terceria, and it is really an awesome and historical place, but the island itself was heavily clear cut for farming and doesn't have the natural beauty (North side is nice) of some of the other spots.

We loved Fiala so much our first time that we spent weeks looking for a house. Horta is a great place to visit, but you need to get a good spot in the marina because swells in the southern part can be horrible in any bad weather. Your size of boat would most likely be rafted against the wall, so keep in mind the inconvenience of having boats tied to you for a lot of the summer months.

Matt

[svhighcotton]

Thank you all for this feedback. Very helpful.

[svhighcotton]

which harbor are referring to when you say we may be too long?