We had now spent over one month in Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel, and we had seen old and new friends come and go. When the two American boats, "Rhythms" and "Reality" decided to continue their journey towards the mainland, Dan was gung ho for us to do the same. I, of course, didn't want to let go of the dock, but if we wanted to continue, that had to happen. On Sunday morning, September 9, 2000 Dan had confered with Ed from Reality and Terry from Rhythms, and they all thought it would be ok for us to leave. We had also been listening to Southbound II for a few days prior, and Herb had not recommended that we leave at least until Sunday. The winds this morning were very light and coming from northeast, but of course that could change in a hurry, especially after we got out from the lee of the island. Dan sent me into the Marina office to square away our charges and check out. I also had to check out with the Immigration officer and the Maritime Police, but then we were free to leave. A few last provisions and a carton of cigarettes for Dan, and we were ready to let go of the dock, we thought! When I came back from the stores, Dan was in a bad mood. When he had started the engine, the fuel pump started acting up immediately; not the fuel pump on the engine, but the one Dan had installed between the tanks and the engine to help get the fuel up. Dan had recently installed our new backup pump, but evidently that was no good either. By this time Reality had pulled out of the marina, and Rhythms was ready to leave, so that made Dan even angrier that we couldn't do the same. Dan managed to take parts from both broken fuelpumps and make them work in one, so after some tense moments, Dan felt we also could cast off. We motored over to the fuel dock and filled up our tanks, before we waived good-bye to the people ashore and headed out through the port entrance. It was 1430 by then and we had started our last major Atlantic leg; only 1000 miles to reach Portugal!

As soon as we had cleared the port entrance, Dan pulled up our main and rolled out the genoa, but he also let the engine help move us forward, as the winds were very light, only about 7 - 8 knots out of the NE. We continued so all afternoon and into the evening, but when it got dark Dan shut off the engine and we were under sail only. It moved us forward, but kind of slow! That was good, as we needed to get used to the ocean all over again. After over one month in a safe harbor, you loose your sealegs in a hurry! Along the coast of Sao Miguel we were visited several times by dolphines and whales, and I was able to capture one with my camera, as it was jumping out of the water not too far away from our boat! It seemed the dolphines and the whales had come to say good-bye to us and wish us safe journey; at least that's what I imagined! By 2000 we had finally reached the southeast corner of Sao Miguel, and from then on it would be just water and sky to see. When it was time for the boats to check in with Southbound II, our friends on Reality and Rhythms heard that we were out there also, so the men decided to check in with each other every morning at 1000, just to see how we all progressed! It was very nice to know that two other boats were out there also, so we weren't all alone!

I took first watch that evening, as I wasn't sleepy by 2230 and knew I wouldn't be able to sleep. It was a beautiful night with a bright shining moon and the sky was dotted with twinkling stars, so it was quite light on the water. By 0100 it was Dans turn to take over and my turn to sleep, but the sleep came only in spurts between waking moments. It got a bit better when I laid on my bed in the back of the boat; it wasn't as noicy there! Dan let me sleep until 0640, when he no longer could keep awake, so then Duke and I took over. We enjoyed the sunrise shortly after 0700 and also a few last glimpses of Sao Miguel, as the island disappeared in the haze behind us. All day Dan and I took turns resting and keeping watch, and not much was going on with the winds and the sea. We had put up our jennicker during the day, but towards evening Dan brought it down. Winds still came from the NE 4 - 8 knots, so we didn't exactly surf along! When we heard from Southbound II later on in the evening, and Herb spoke about a possible gale system that was heading up the Atlantic towards the Azores, I can't say that I was thrilled. Herb recommended that we hurry towards Latitude 37 degrees North, as he didn't expect the bad weather to go that far south. Of course our boat doesn't go anywhere in a hurry, but even so we pulled in the genoa, started the motor and changed to a more southeasterly course.

As the night before, Dan went to sleep first, so after our current weather information from Herb, I sat watch. At night we turn all the lights off and only have illumination from our instruments, so we can preserve our nightvision. This night I was standing in the cockpit in front of the wheel and looking at the wind indicator, when I felt something crawl across my bare toes? Could it possibly be what I feared it was - an Azorean cockroach! Just the week before we all left Sao Miguel, the subject of cockroaches had come up in the conversation, as some of the boats had noticed cockroaches onboard! I hadn't even considered the idea that we could have some onboard, as I hadn't seen any signs. I had seen these huge bugs crumbled to death along the streets in Ponta Delgada, and I thought that maybe they were cockroaches, but nobody ever confirmed my suspisions! These bugs were at least 2 - 3 inches long! Anyway, as soon as I felt the crawling over my toes, I slipped off my sandal and smacked at a dark moving mass, but if I killed whatever it was, I didn't know. During the rest of my watch, I didn't dare stand on the floor, so instead I sat in the captains chair with my feet up high! When it got daylight and I could see what I had hit, my fears were confirmed; it was a gigantic Azorean cockroach, but at least it was dead! I didn't notice anymore bugs onboard, and I have since taken everything apart and checked! Could this cockroach have tippitoed across our lines from shore, or did it get on the boat with us somehow; maybe in Dukes hair? I guess we will never know how it got onboard, but since then I am much more aware of the possibility of getting more onboard!

The rest of Monday night passed without any more incidents. I slept while Dan took over the watch and at daybreak it was my turn again. On my watch I noticed that we were getting far off course, so I woke Dan and told him about it. Seemed the brand new autopilot had broken, but thank goodness we had two more to fall back on. The winds had been blowing from SE for quite some time and not that strong either, but slowly during Tuesday they switched more towards SW and started to increase in speed. Before the winds started getting real strong, we practised reefing the main. We had never done that before, and Dan thought it best to try, before we really needed to do just that! While we were sailing along, Dan threw out his fishinglines, and for the second time he was lucky enough to get a bite. He caught another dolphin fish, but a male this time. The fish was soon gutted, cleaned and put in our freezer for future grilling! When we listened to Southbound II later on in the evening, we heard that Reality and Rhythms had both dropped down and were quite a bit in front of us. They both have longer boats, so they can go much faster than Stress Relief. All night we were sailing along in 20 - 25 knot winds and sometime our boat were going as fast as 7 knots, but that wasn't for very long. Mostly we were doing over 6 knots and that is fast enough for me! The waves hadn't become big yet, but the ocean swells were huge. As soon as the winds started to increase in speed, I started praying that something would change in the equation, so that the gale system wouldn't reach us, but it seemed nobody heard me. The winds continued to increase in strength during the night and all day Wednesday, and when we saw 32 knots on our windmeter, we reefed the main and rolled in the genao. We were making great forward speed and the miles disappeared, but boy how uncomfortable it was. We couldn't stay below deck and be thrown about, so if and when we needed to go below, it was in a hurry. Otherwise we sat in the cockpit and hung on all during the day Wednesday, Wednesday night, all day Thursday and Thursday night.

We did get some great news from Southbound II Wednesday night, because then Herb told us that the gale system had stalled behind us! We had prepared for the worst, as we knew that if the system had caught up with us, we would have been in the worst possible quadrant of the low pressure. Somebody heard my prayers after all, and for that I will always be thankful!

By Friday evening the winds had died down to a slow 18 - 20 knots. The highest winds we had encountered was 38 knot winds, when a front caught up with us and hurried by on Thursday afternoon! As we were getting closer to the European mainland, we started to see more big ships, and that was both good and bad. Friday night we saw one big ship heading towards us, and it kept coming straight down our line, so we had to turn the engine on and do a 180 degree turnabout, so we wouldn't be run over. Dan tried to reach the ship and let them know we were out there, but nobody acknowledged his radio call. Was somebody at the helm, or were they all sleeping? By the time the ship passed us, not too far off, I was a nervous wreck! If this ship came this close, how whould it then be at the shipping lanes going into and out of the Mediterranean? Rest of Friday evening passed without any problems, Saturday arrived, and we estimated that we would reach the shipping lanes sometimes in the evening. By 1900 we were close enough to the shipping lanes, so Dan pulled in our genoa and started the engine. We were going to cross the shipping lanes under power! The southbound lane seemed to be very busy with one ship after the other heading south. It was a very orderly lane, as the ships followed behind each other, but the space between them didn't seem big enough for us to slink through. When Dan saw a bigger than usual space between two ships, he went for it. I wasn't worried about the boat that had just passed us, but the one behind looked huge as it was getting closer and closer. His green light seemed to glimmer a warning to us, and I was frantically looking with the binoculars trying to see if he was going in front of us or not! What a relief it was to finally see the ship's red light, as we then knew he had altered his course and was heading behind us! While I was out in the back looking with the binoculars, Dan sat inside in front of the radar screen. He had 14 targets on the screen at one time, and most of them were heading south. Finally we reached the middle of the shipping lanes, and from then on it was a piece of cake. Only four ships were heading north, so we waited till the last ship had passed, and then we motored across. After only seven days on the ocean, we had finally arrived at Cabo de Sao Vicente in southern Portugal, and the last leg of our Atlantic crossing was completed!