St Helena Island

After another bouncy night in Walvis Bay we were looking forward to leaving. We checked out with customs and did some last minute shopping, then deflated and stowed the dinghy. It took a bit of work with the engine to get the anchor pulled out as it was deeply bedded in sand and mud, judging by the big blob that was stuck to the anchor when it came up. Good holding. By noon we were off heading out to cross the Atlantic Ocean with 1200 miles ahead of us to get to St Helena. This would be our only stop before the Caribbean which is another 3600 miles beyond St Helena.

We could stop at Ascension Island about 700 miles from St Helena. It is just a military base and a rolly anchorage so will probably skip it, but who knows. We motored out of Walvis Bay for a few hours with a 10 knot head wind. Then the wind shifted around a bit and we started sailing.

That night we had to motor again for a few hours when the wind died to nothng. We knew we had to get off the coast about 60 to 90 miles before we would pick up the good trade winds. Very early in the morning the SE trades picked up and we started sailing along nicely. For the rest of the passage the wind varied from 10 to 20 knots with several occasions of 20 to 30 knots thrown in for a few hours. It was great sailing though the seas were fairly big most of the way and when the wind was lighter the sails would bang around a bit as you cork screwed down a wave. The wind also shifted in direction a bit every day, so we would have to jybe at least once every day to keep on our rumb line. Ran wing on wind most of the way and some times a beam reach.

Twice a day we would talk to Cats Paw 4 on the HF radio. We would trade boat postions, exchange weather info and just chat for a bit. They had left 3 days ahead of us. I got weather from the SAMM net again. We soon started to find flying fish on the deck in the mornings, a good sign we were approaching the tropics. The night watches were also getting warmer, we soon put away our touks and did not have to dress so warm. We found the wind generally blew a little stronger at night which is the opposite of what you would think. We saw a few ships the first few days and after the third day never say another ship on the passage. There was a 4 or 5 very light rain squalls with not much wind in them near the end of the passage.

Seven days out we crossed the '0' degree line or the GMT line so our longitude readings are now west not east. A cause for a celebration, we had an extra cookie for dessert. The 7 and 8th day out the winds got a bit light, slowing us down making us think we might miss our goal of arriveing friday. Then the last day and a half the wind picked up nicely and we made up for some lost time. We hoped to do this passage in ten days and arrive Friday. We did not want to arrive on a weekend which is often a problem or expense with customs. We succeded in this arriving about 2pm Friday so averaging about 125 miles a day. Late in the night of our last day I could see a single bright light about where the island should be and wondered if it was St Helena, then at dawn we could see the big rock of St Helena, great we had arrived. We sailed around some impressive cliffs after calling up St Helena radio to announce our arrival as required. Then we called up port control and they told us to go pick up a mooring and wait for customs and immigration. We were soon tied up to one of the impressive new moorings.

After the officials came out we went ashore to stretch the legs and get some pounds from the bank. The place was suprisingly busy considering the only way you can get here is by private yacht like us or on the once a week supply ship that comes from Cape Town and Ascension Island. So is a difficult and expensive tourist destination. But that is soon to change as they are building a airport which is to be finished in two years, and already hotel chains are looking at putting in hotels. To bad as I think it will ruin a beatiful quaint little Island. The town, James town is nesteled in a narrow valley between two high cliffs. I think I would add this to one of my favorite stops list.

The next morning after arriving we did a moderate hike with our hiking buddys, the Cats Paw crew, up Diane peak the highest peak on the island which is 832 meters. We used a local taxi to get us near the peak so the car did most of the elevation gain leaving us with a fairly easy hike to top, just as well as we were totally out of shape again. We had some great views on top. The island is very rugged with steep cliffs and hills and valleys all over and roads with many hairpin turns as they climb up and down the cliffs faces. It seems much bigger than an island that is only 5 miles across and roughly round shaped and has 4000 residents.

The next morning we climbed the famous Jacobs ladder, which is a steep stairway up the mountains side that was originally used to haul manur and other supplies up and down the mountain to the fortifications on top. There is 698 steps and it is steep and the steps are bigger than normal. I took 10 minutes to get to the top and Dorothy 16 minutes. The stairs start right in town near the dock so very close. We did the stairs again two days later and this time I did it in 8min 43 sec and Dorothy 14 minutes.

On Monday we did a tour of the island with 3 other yachts in a large van. Saw Napoleons house where he was kept prisoner and his tomb where they first buried him after he died. Also so some of the interior of the island



We will leave here in a few more days for our longest passage yet, a 3600 mile passage across and up the Atlantic to the Caribbean island of Barbados. This will take about 29 to 37 days depending on how strong the winds are. Then hope to start getting pictures back on blog when we get better internet there.

INFO

-Left Walvis Bay Namibia,Jan 29 at noon and arrive St Helena Feb 8 2013 at 13:30pm for a10 day crossing. Our mooring at 15 55.43S 05 43.48W

-Samm net 14316 at 630 and 1130 GMT for personalized weather. Is a ham net, so need a ham call sign to call in though you can still listen in and get some weather if you are not a ham.

-For check in fees 35pounds plus 28 pounds and also if you did not have health insurance with evacuation insurance you have to buy some locally which is about 1.2 pounds a day which we did. I dont beleive there is any overtime charged for weekends. All very friendly here.



-Approaching the island call "St Helena Radio" when 10 to 20 miles out on VHF 16 and then when approaching the harbor call port control on VHF 14 and they inform customs and tell you to go take a mooring. There is no pickup line on these moorings, so have a line ready to feed through a ring that lays flat. I stepped over our rail and stood on mooring to feed our line through ring. Better if some one around who can help.

St Helena radio has a vary powerful transmitier, we heard her over a hunderd miles out though could only hear her side of the conversation. There is also a single bright light on the island you can see at night for 30 or 40 miles out or more.

- There are now 22 brand new moorings for yachts. Which I gather is a big improvement as the holding was never great and it is a deep anchorage. During our stay here we did not find it too bouncy. The moorings were put in when a couple of big yacht races came by here this year. There was from 8 to 12 yachts here during our stay. There is a little ferry boat to take you ashore for 1 pound each way. It can be called on vhf 16 but does run on a rough schedule, 9am 11am1pm 3pm 5pm and 0645pm. It is difficult to use your dingy though possible. We used the dinghy to get water jugs filled.

- They use the British pound here. We had some American dollars that we got exchanged at the local bank for pounds. Some people took a cash advance on their Visa. No ATM's. Everything is easy to find and customs even gave us a town map so we could find the place to buy the health insurance where the bank and their office is. Internet is expensive, we got 30 min of wi fi for 3 pounds at a local restaruant. There is 4 cafes with internet.

-Can buy diesel here at car fuel station, or give your jerry cans to ferry guy who will fill and deliver them to your boat for a small fee, and there is a drinking water tap by the dock to fill your jugs. There are showers here you can use for free as well, all very nice. No charge for moorings as also so the check in fees are not that bad considering what you get. Can also get laundry done here.

-Provisioning here is good as far as canned goods go, lots of choice and prices not too bad considering where you are. Prices just a bit more that S Africa. We got some chedder cheese. The main thing in short supply of coarse is fresh produce, yogurt. We got a couple of cabbages, fruit hard to get wating to see what supply ship brings in tomorrow