Looking down on James Bay.
Our first two days from Namibia were hectic with huge swells and unpleasant sailing, and 40 knots of unexpected wind. At one point a wave swamped our cockpit with the front sliding doors open and we ended up with our saloon carpet swimming and cascading the water down into the galley and hulls. It took us 9 days to St. Helena, ranging from 5 knots to the occasional 9 knots when the spinnaker was up and when the calmer weather had set in. We could watch the temperature changing as we headed closer to the equator and further from our coast. We caught some fish and had a few massive hooks that we fought for ages until they came off.
What do you do at sea for 9 days? Well make pizza of course.
St. Helena was much as we remembered it, with Napoleon’s influence and all the ruins before that time. We hired a car and drove up and down the steep hills (never getting above 3rd) and headed down to Sandy Bay. It was our first trip down there and proved worthwhile, particularly the views from higher up as we walked to get a better view of Lot and Lot’s wife (geological formations) – worth a google.
View down to Sandy Bay.
There was beautiful snorkeling with millions of parrot fish and then another variation of gold parrot fish, and a huge Manta Ray feeding. Fantastic to be in warm waters again! We were presented with a new problem when we first chose our buoy, because of the strange current patterns coming directly off the Atlantic, it managed to get between our hulls and out the other side. This was easy enough to fix but it took with it a good portion of our gel coat, which was an irritation.
There is a ferry service that runs every two hours which meant we didn’t have to launch our rubber duck but we then had to keep an eye on the time. The RMS St. Helena was in port twice, coming from SA and after making its stop at Ascension. Thursdays all the fresh produce that is grown up the valley is brought into James town, and it is a frenzy as locals try and remain cordial to one another whilst arguing over a tomato. We started queuing at 7:30am for a shop that only opened at 9:00am. Eggs and other items such as mushrooms were scarce if not none existent. Mom used all her charms to appropriate a dozen eggs for our provisions that had been kept aside for someone else. They were the only ones in the whole of James Town.
At the Top of Jacob’s Ladder.
It also happened to be the St. Helena Active Week which had an item each day, including a race up Jacobs Ladder (699 steps). ‘Raced in one of the most remote locations in the world.’ Amongst our exploring and hikes, we also went down through the old battlement ruins to find the cave that my brother and our friends found in 1998. It is still there and relatively well hidden and once again I was too scared to go to the back,and now I’ll never know if that cave is deeper than 10m… Maybe on visit number 3?
Check out the rest of the pictures in the Gallery.
Our cave.
– Kate
St. Helena
(Hair pin bends, Napoleon Bonaparte, Flax)
Bargain: A days car rental for £12, when they know the only way to get around the Island is by wheel spinning, clutch grinding and a revving.
Irritation/Quirk: Bring your own egg box.
Cost of a coke: 80p
Sailing Katlyn 