As these words are being committed to our Logbook, the Belem is about to leave Lisbon, her last lap in the Great Atlantic Crossing of 2008. In a short while she will be crossing the Straight of Gibraltar and entering the Mediterranean on her way to Toulon.
Before reaching the coast of Portugal, the ship stopped on Monday August 11th for a day and a half in Punta Delgada, capital of the Azores. A day earlier, she had taken the time to sail around some of the 9 islands forming the Archipelago, in particular the spectacular island of Pico, in fact a massive volcano arising from the sea to a level of 2 351 metres. An awesome sight by sunset...
At Punta Delgada, trainees took time off to visit the actual island, San Miguel, along country roads bordered by hydrangeas, agapanthus and wild ginger, up to the hot water lakes filling ancient volcanic craters.
Then on to Lisboan by way of a night at anchor in view of the picturesque Portuguese fishing village of Peniche and with the help of a North Easterly wind that lifted a heavy swell and turned navigation into a bit of a roller coaster ride...
Then, at 2 p.m. on Tuesday August 19th, the Belem reached her mooring in the port of Lisbon, her first port of call on the European Continent since she had left Bordeaux exactly three months earlier on her way to the shores of the Saint Laurent and to Quebec...
Mardi 18 août le Belem est arrivé à Lisbonne venant des Açores. Le temps de faire une dernière escale à Ponta Delgada, capitale de cet archipel réputé pour son anticyclone, certes, mais aussi pour la beauté « volcanique » de ses îles riches en végétation luxuriante. Puis ce fut Lisbonne et la fin de la belle aventure de la traversée atlantique du Belem.
Emile Le Moignic, qui a tenu pour nous son Journal de Bord tout au long de la traversée de retour, a pris une dernière fois la plume – sous la forme d'un clavier d'ordinateur – avant de quitter le Belem à Lisbonne pour raconter cette dernière étape et l'arrivée au port.
