September 21, 2016 – Ponta Delgado, Azores, Portugal.

September 21, 2016 – Ponta Delgado, Azores, Portugal.

After three sea days, we steamed into the middle of nowhere. This famed waystation of yore, a supply point in the seemingly endless big blue, is a charming port island today. It’s volcanic ash roads run along custom designed pebble sidewalks. But for us it truly was a supply stop — the free wifi proved an irresistible lure. While there were various outings and excursions to hot springs, volcano tubes, and points of interest both near and far, we seemed much more interested in downloading the latest emails and snippets of news. Sailing the high seas on the cheap, opting against the per-minute slow speed internet buy on board packages offered, the free connections days apart at ports were our main contacts with the outside world. There’s MSNBC and the like on the state room tv but I’ve been avoiding that, choosing instead to live a bubbled life outside the mainstream media.

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Yet in port I couldn’t resist a peek – politics, violence, and security threats seemed so far removed from the pleasantly slothful and gluttonous existence of cruising. The world and US news took a backseat to my own personal news. Today is a day long remembered by me and noted by few others. Today I found out I was officially accepted into the 2017 Boston Marathon. Apparently my qualifying time was sufficient to make the second cut and I am “in” for the oldest marathon in the USA. Big news for me; hardly of note to many others. But this IS runKEVINrun.com and not, ya know, World News Of Global Significance Dot Net.

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When finally cleared through the morass of spam, sale notifications, and the all- too-rare email of actual import, we wandered the seaside streets of Ponta Delgado. A makeshift tripod afforded a “selfie” outside Xxx – Praca de Goncalo Velho, a tri-arch gate of some repute. What repute I’m not entirely sure of but some sort of repute nonetheless.

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On the stroll back to the shop we noticed a small cordoned off sheltered bay swimming hole that could have had us swimming in the frigid waters of the Atlantic. We heard it was cold from folks who did it; as a guy who once foolishly polar plunged into the Antarctic Ocean, I suspect I could have endured it though do not regret missing it.

We did find an Elvis in the Azores which made for a fine farewell to land for the next three days. So for the free wifi and waystation services — thank you, Azores. Thank you very much.

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