Lying to the northeast within sight from Horta is the island of Sao Jorge. While most Azorean islands are more or less round with a volcanic caldera in the center, Sao Jorge is shaped differently – it’s a long, thin slice of land emerging from the ocean. The result of a series of fissural eruptions along a continental plate, the island is about 35 miles (55km) long and only 4 miles (7km) wide.
Most of the island is located at ~1000′ (300m) elevation, with steep cliffs plunging from the highlands down to the waters edge. At many places along Sao Jorge’s periphery, either lava flow or landslides have deposited a relatively flat area, known as a faja, and this is where nearly all of the towns and villages are located.
The main town of Velas is only 25nm from Horta, and its a fast sail as Madrone gets pushed along by katabatic winds tumbling down the slopes of Pico. Originally settled in the mid-1400s, Velas is a quiet place even though ~60% of the island’s 8,000 people live there.
The primary industry on Sao Jorge is dairy, and most of the milk goes into the making of the island’s eponymous cheese. The green landscape of the island’s uplands is broken only by cows, all of whom seem to be grazing contentedly behind the dry stone fences that crisscross the hillsides.
