Greetings from a little village called Charlottesville on the NW corner of beautiful Tobago island in the Caribbean!
We are soooooo happy to be here after a relatively gruelling passage that ended up taking us 19 days and covered just over 3,000 nautical miles. It's also the longest and most exhausting passage we have done since leaving Madeira Beach, Florida in 2016. But we are now safely anchored in a beautiful bay, and are so looking forward to enjoying the last few months of this epic journey around the world in the paradise that lies between here and home. The last leg of our journey will take us through the beautiful Caribbean and Bahamas before reaching Key West where our inbound wake will cross our outbound wake and we will then have completed our circumnavigation sometime in June 2018 :)
I think the last blog post I did was on day 17 of our passage so I thought I would do a quick update of the last 2 days at sea and our first two days in Tobago.
On day 18 we were finally able to hoist our mainsail again, after sailing on just our jib for at least 4 days straight. The wind had abated to between 15 to 20 knots, but the seas remained pretty confused. At this point we no longer cared that it was still rough seas as we knew we only had to endure the discomfort for two more days :) You could feel the mood on the boat pick up as we got closer and closer to Tobago.
On the final morning of the last day at sea, we had a beautiful sunrise just after 6am local time (GMT -4). It was such a fantastic and gratifying feeling as we sat at the helm station sipping our morning coffee and looked down at the chiropractor and noted we had less than 40 miles to go! The wind had died a bit further down to around 15 knots, so we shook out the last reef in the mainsail and now where sailing under full main and jib for the first time this entire passage :) You could feel Cool Runnings chomping at the bit almost sensing land was just ahead! To crown this off we saw a rainbow ahead of us after a passing squall went buy, and had a couple of small dolphins swim with us for about 30 minutes.
I think we sighted land at about 30 miles out, as the mountains here are fairly high. The frustrating thing was we where now only sailing at about 6 knots, so it took us a long 5 hours to actually reach our anchorage.
We eventually got closer and closer, seeing the lush greenery and hearing tropical birds, and smelling land and the wet rainforest for the first time in 19 days. At about 12.30pm we dropped anchor in the small "Man of War Bay" just off the small remote village of Charlottesville on the NW corner of Tobago. We all breathed a sigh of relief and congratulated and hugged each other....we had made it safely across the Atlantic Ocean and were now in the Caribbean Sea :)
Customs and Immigration were closed for lunch so we decided to give the exterior of Cool Runnings a quick freshwater rinse down as there was salt everywhere!!!!! At around 2pm we launched the dingy and headed to shore to check in. There was still a fairly big residual swell coming into the bay which made landing on the small pier fairly tricky, but we have dealt with worse. We secured the dingy with a stern anchor and walked on land for the first time in nearly 3 weeks.... What a cool feeling :)
We asked someone where Customs was and off we went. It was an easy enough check in procedure. Next up was finding the only ATM in the village to draw out some local TT $'S (Trinidad and Tobago $'S). The Customs guy had told us that the local library had internet (he must know what cruisers need), so after drawing cash we walked across the road and into a beautiful air-conditioned library. We signed up for membership at a cost of TT $25 (about US $5), and with that had access to internet, books and magazines :) We spent the next hour checking our respective email, instagram etc, after last having proper internet on January 6th when we departed Cape Town.
By now we were getting pretty tired and hungry, so left the library and walked down the road parrelel to the bay until we found a small local place to eat. Two Carib beers and drinks for the kids were ordered along with 4 plates of local fish, rice and veggies. Man oh man, that beer and meal went down well!!!!!
By now it was just before 6pm and we were exhausted, so we headed back to the boat. As we approached the back of Cool Runnings we noticed that the cover that conceals the port engine room air intake and air exhaust was cracked and half was completely missing, exposing the big 5 inch diameter engine room ventilation pipes! This explains why on about day 16 we started to have the port side bilge pump activate probably every hour. I am guessing that with all the big waves that were smashing into Cool Runnings, that one of those waves must have cracked this cover that basically shields these pipes from waves, but allows air in. I am guessing that once it cracked following waves eventually ripped it off. From then on waves crashing into that area, would have sent water into these pipes and would then spill into the engine room bilge. As the water likely came in slow enough, it then flowed from the engine room into the main bilge and activated the automatic pump roughly
every
hour. At least we now know what was causing the bilge pump to activate. This is a custom part I will see if I can get from Lagoon in France, or I can possibly try and get something custom made out of aluminum in Grenada.
Well next stop was bed..... I can tell you that Guds and I fell asleep within minutes of getting back aboard, and had such a solid sleep. The next day we awoke to pouring rain. It rained the entire day, which was fine by us.... We relaxed, read, slept and just chilled out. We had intended to clean and tidy the inside of the boat, but were just too exhausted. :) The boat got a wonderful natural washdown all day from the rain, from top to bottom which was great to get rid of residual salt. Last night we met some fellow cruisers anchored next to us, who came over for sundowners and to say hello.... a German couple, at the beginning part of their circumnavigation aboard a boat called Pico.
Today is another rainy day, which is OK with us.... We are still pretty tired, so the kids are doing school while I am updating the blog, and Guds is organizing the last months of school curriculum. Over the next few days we will explore this small island, only 27 miles long by 5 miles wide, likely by hired car. From the little we have seen it looks beautiful with lush vegetation.
With that I am off to do a few chores such as checking the engines, generator and rig while the kids complete school. All the best to you and thanks for all the well wishes we received along the way. I have said it many times, but thanks for the emails we receive.... it's nice to know people are enjoying following our journey. Drop us a line anytime you want at hibberd@myiridium.net, but please remember we can't download any attachments or pictures over the Iridium Sattelite phone.
Cheers and all the best from Dave, Guds, Ben and Gaby
Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Day 17 of Atlantic passage from Ascension Island to Tobago
Hi everyone Dave reporting and sorry about the long gap in updates. It's been a rough continuous probably 5 or 6 days and we are pretty exhausted so have not had the energy to write. I thought I would start off by copying and pasting the below email text Gaby sent to my folks and sisters this morning.... It's a great perspective of what the last few days have been like, but specifically last night.... Here goes from Gaby:
"Gaby Reports" was the the email title...
Hi there...
Well, we had a heck of a night. The wind came up to 35 knots, and the waves were huge and I'd say about every 30 minutes a big one would crash over us. And I mean everywhere. It came in the helm station and down the to the cockpit even with all the canvases shut! I bet there isn't a inch outside that isn't covered in salt!😂
Just to add to all the stress and horribleness, when we turned the generator on it shut off by itself... TWICE!! And so that scared me when I heard the steady rumble of the generator and heard it fading away. Daddy thinks it is the fuel filters that didn't allow enough fuel through to run, I think.
In light of all this, we did amazing speed with just the jib up and the current with us: 179 miles in 24 hours!!! So that probably saved us half a day of sailing. We think we will get there on the 23rd... ONLY 3 DAYS LEFT!!!!🎉 I still can't believe this but right now the wind is 22 knots (side-on), we have just the jib out, and we are doing 9.3 knots!!! Consistently!!!!!!!
Well, poor Cool Runnings is getting punched by all these mean waves from all directions, but we have to remember there are people who have gone through much much much worse.
Love and miss you all (and stable ground!😂)
Gaby
Dave back now...
So that's the unedited description to my folks from my brave little girl :)
Backing up about a week, we were doing OK on the rumline going directly to Tobago. The wind and seastate was OK and we got to celebrate Guds birthday at sea on a nice sunny day, after many days of grey skies. We had pancakes for breakfast, fresh baked bread for lunch and a birthday cake in the afternoon. Guds present was a necklace that Gaby made from a piece of blue coral we had only ever seen in Chagos. We had collected some of it off the beach and so I drilled a hole in a nice specimen and Gaby did the rest, creating a beautiful unique necklace.
That same day Gaby also wrote a lovely message and placed it in a bottle and cast it into the sea. Time will tell if anyone ever finds it and gets back to us :)
So a day later on the 19th, we started running into a progressively strong current against us. It was pretty frustrating sailing at 8 knots, but actually only doing 6 knots SOG as the current held us back. So we made the decision to change course and head more west towards Brazil to try and pick up the favorable NW flowing Guiana current. This would entail altering course quite radically and adding additional mileage to our trip, but we figured we had to get out of the counter current. A ship passing us that we had radioed, confirmed that if we continued on our then current course the opposing current would get even stronger and in his thick Russian accent told us in no uncertain terms "....and you vil suffer if you continue on zis course". Decision made.... We don't like to suffer !!!!!!!
So with that, we altered course and sailed west instead of north west for a few days. One of our blog readers and fellow Lagoon catamaran owner emailed us back and forth as he watched our online live tracker, and yesterday morning confirmed that we should be in the current according to the pilot charts he had. Sure enough early morning we hit the NW flowing current and made a course change back towards Tobago. Thanks for your help Gerald... very much appreciated!!!!
Sadly the wind and seas have not been kind these last few days and over the last 3 days in particular it's been extremely rough with strong winds of between 20 to 35 knots. Last night we had sustained winds of 36 knots with gusts of 38. The seas have been extremely confused and BIG. Last night and today we have had many waves breaking side on to us and the spray shooting up and over the helm station roof that sits about 12 feet above the sea.
To add insult to injury last night when starting the generator to charge our batteries, it ran for about a minute and faded out and stopped. It's the first time this entire trip around the world that it's given any trouble. It did this twice until eventually it ran. Gaby said a prayer, and just like that it worked. I discovered this morning the fuel filter that I put in brand new in Capetown just under 2 months ago was blocking. Unfortunately the diesel we got in Ascension Island looked really dirty, but we had no choice as we had a 3,000 mile passage ahead of us, so took it onboard and into the tanks. What has happened I bet, is with all the rough sea, the bad fuel and any other bad dirt in the tank is all stirred up instead of settled at the bottom, and has plugged up the fuel filters. Once I found that, this morning I changed the fuel filter, and have been running the " fuel polishing" system my dad and I constructed before we departed, so that basically
continually circulates fuel from the tank, through a 30 micron filter, and back to the tank. Unfortunately it's too rough to open the engine room hatches and change those filters, but if we get a calm patch I will do it.
We have also had a watermaker issue for the first time ever since leaving home. I have not been able to solve the issue yet, but have been able to run it on manual bypass mode which makes water, but no "automated safety shut down protection". It's OK to do for a short while until I can get it fixed. I have emailed Spectra in the USA where I bought the unit so hopefully will hear something back today or tomorrow .... I think it's a faulty sensor that sensors water pressure differences and is thinking the filters are "clogged " based on a faulty reading, despite fitting brand new filters.... We will see :)
We have been sailing with only our jib and no mainsail for the last 48 hours. It's been so rough. Luckily with the current in our favor now we are making up lost time and hope to arrive in Tobago on the 23rd February. We now have only 535 miles remaining and likely another 3 or Max 4 days at sea..... Yay!!!!! I can taste that Carib beer already!!!!
So with that news I will end off and wish you all well. Thanks for the many emails from old and new friends we have received on this trip. It's great catching up with you all!
Cheers Dave and the very bouncy Cool Runners!
Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.
"Gaby Reports" was the the email title...
Hi there...
Well, we had a heck of a night. The wind came up to 35 knots, and the waves were huge and I'd say about every 30 minutes a big one would crash over us. And I mean everywhere. It came in the helm station and down the to the cockpit even with all the canvases shut! I bet there isn't a inch outside that isn't covered in salt!😂
Just to add to all the stress and horribleness, when we turned the generator on it shut off by itself... TWICE!! And so that scared me when I heard the steady rumble of the generator and heard it fading away. Daddy thinks it is the fuel filters that didn't allow enough fuel through to run, I think.
In light of all this, we did amazing speed with just the jib up and the current with us: 179 miles in 24 hours!!! So that probably saved us half a day of sailing. We think we will get there on the 23rd... ONLY 3 DAYS LEFT!!!!🎉 I still can't believe this but right now the wind is 22 knots (side-on), we have just the jib out, and we are doing 9.3 knots!!! Consistently!!!!!!!
Well, poor Cool Runnings is getting punched by all these mean waves from all directions, but we have to remember there are people who have gone through much much much worse.
Love and miss you all (and stable ground!😂)
Gaby
Dave back now...
So that's the unedited description to my folks from my brave little girl :)
Backing up about a week, we were doing OK on the rumline going directly to Tobago. The wind and seastate was OK and we got to celebrate Guds birthday at sea on a nice sunny day, after many days of grey skies. We had pancakes for breakfast, fresh baked bread for lunch and a birthday cake in the afternoon. Guds present was a necklace that Gaby made from a piece of blue coral we had only ever seen in Chagos. We had collected some of it off the beach and so I drilled a hole in a nice specimen and Gaby did the rest, creating a beautiful unique necklace.
That same day Gaby also wrote a lovely message and placed it in a bottle and cast it into the sea. Time will tell if anyone ever finds it and gets back to us :)
So a day later on the 19th, we started running into a progressively strong current against us. It was pretty frustrating sailing at 8 knots, but actually only doing 6 knots SOG as the current held us back. So we made the decision to change course and head more west towards Brazil to try and pick up the favorable NW flowing Guiana current. This would entail altering course quite radically and adding additional mileage to our trip, but we figured we had to get out of the counter current. A ship passing us that we had radioed, confirmed that if we continued on our then current course the opposing current would get even stronger and in his thick Russian accent told us in no uncertain terms "....and you vil suffer if you continue on zis course". Decision made.... We don't like to suffer !!!!!!!
So with that, we altered course and sailed west instead of north west for a few days. One of our blog readers and fellow Lagoon catamaran owner emailed us back and forth as he watched our online live tracker, and yesterday morning confirmed that we should be in the current according to the pilot charts he had. Sure enough early morning we hit the NW flowing current and made a course change back towards Tobago. Thanks for your help Gerald... very much appreciated!!!!
Sadly the wind and seas have not been kind these last few days and over the last 3 days in particular it's been extremely rough with strong winds of between 20 to 35 knots. Last night we had sustained winds of 36 knots with gusts of 38. The seas have been extremely confused and BIG. Last night and today we have had many waves breaking side on to us and the spray shooting up and over the helm station roof that sits about 12 feet above the sea.
To add insult to injury last night when starting the generator to charge our batteries, it ran for about a minute and faded out and stopped. It's the first time this entire trip around the world that it's given any trouble. It did this twice until eventually it ran. Gaby said a prayer, and just like that it worked. I discovered this morning the fuel filter that I put in brand new in Capetown just under 2 months ago was blocking. Unfortunately the diesel we got in Ascension Island looked really dirty, but we had no choice as we had a 3,000 mile passage ahead of us, so took it onboard and into the tanks. What has happened I bet, is with all the rough sea, the bad fuel and any other bad dirt in the tank is all stirred up instead of settled at the bottom, and has plugged up the fuel filters. Once I found that, this morning I changed the fuel filter, and have been running the " fuel polishing" system my dad and I constructed before we departed, so that basically
continually circulates fuel from the tank, through a 30 micron filter, and back to the tank. Unfortunately it's too rough to open the engine room hatches and change those filters, but if we get a calm patch I will do it.
We have also had a watermaker issue for the first time ever since leaving home. I have not been able to solve the issue yet, but have been able to run it on manual bypass mode which makes water, but no "automated safety shut down protection". It's OK to do for a short while until I can get it fixed. I have emailed Spectra in the USA where I bought the unit so hopefully will hear something back today or tomorrow .... I think it's a faulty sensor that sensors water pressure differences and is thinking the filters are "clogged " based on a faulty reading, despite fitting brand new filters.... We will see :)
We have been sailing with only our jib and no mainsail for the last 48 hours. It's been so rough. Luckily with the current in our favor now we are making up lost time and hope to arrive in Tobago on the 23rd February. We now have only 535 miles remaining and likely another 3 or Max 4 days at sea..... Yay!!!!! I can taste that Carib beer already!!!!
So with that news I will end off and wish you all well. Thanks for the many emails from old and new friends we have received on this trip. It's great catching up with you all!
Cheers Dave and the very bouncy Cool Runners!
Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Day 10 of Atlantic passage to Tobago
Hi everyone and thanks as always for your emails ..... So nice to hear from so many people, and is always a highlight of our day, so keep them coming if you have a spare few minutes to take the time to write :)
Well it's just after 7pm on day 10 as we head into night 10. We had a good night last night with stars and nice acceptably comfortable seas.
That all changed today :) At around 11am the wind came up to 20 knots and with that the sea state started changing rapidly. Ben and I put in one reef and that helped tame the boat a little.
Guds had been napping downstairs and as she came up a huge wave broke over the boat and soaked everything. Sadly our bedroom top hatch was slightly open and in came a sheet of salt water, leaving a pool on our bed. @$*?!!!!! Not good!!!
That set the work load for the remainder of the day. Poor Guds stripped the bedding and we ended up doing 2 loads of washing.... One for duvet and one for the duvet cover and sheets. Of course it's a down duvet so does not dry quickly! We are so happy I installed a washing machine on the boat!!!
It's not all bad as a few nights ago a flying fish dropped down our again open hatch. I smelt something fishy but upon inspection with a flashlight only found a few scales on deck so figured the guy had made it back into the sea after skidding over the deck. Two days later the smell got worse and after a closer inspection found the offending deceased flying fish wedged between our bed and our new mainsail stored in our cabin. That took me about an hour to clean, so at least the sheets got another wash today :)
By late this afternoon the wind was consistently over 20 knots and Cool Runnings was doing 8 to 9 knots through the water, but a 1.5 knot current against us slowed our VMG (velocity made good) to Tobago to 6.5 to 7 knots.... Very frustrating when we are actually sailing through the water at 8 to 9 knots! The wind continued to increase and with it the seastate, so Ben and I put in a second reef. That tamed things further and made the ride a bit more acceptable, although still pretty bouncy and rough.
The wind is now down to 18 to 20 knots as it gets dark, but we have decided to keep 2 reefs in tonight, just as a precaution in case it comes up again or a squall hits us. It will mean going at least 1 knot slower, but it's peace of mind at least!
We are nearing the halfway mark and now have 1,581 miles remaining before we arrive in Tobago..... Bring it on.... Blue skies and turquoise water.... We can't wait and keep that mental picture in our minds on days like today :)
The other big milestone for us was crossing the equator 2 nights ago. At around 10.30pm we crossed the equator back into the Northern Hemisphere ..... It was a low key cerebration aboard as we are already " trusty shellbacks", but we did ask Neptune to grant us safe passage :)
So with that back to another night watch for me.... Like Guds said in the last blog update, there is no real rest or stopping.... We just continue westward towards the beautiful Caribbean :)
Cheers from Dave
Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.
Well it's just after 7pm on day 10 as we head into night 10. We had a good night last night with stars and nice acceptably comfortable seas.
That all changed today :) At around 11am the wind came up to 20 knots and with that the sea state started changing rapidly. Ben and I put in one reef and that helped tame the boat a little.
Guds had been napping downstairs and as she came up a huge wave broke over the boat and soaked everything. Sadly our bedroom top hatch was slightly open and in came a sheet of salt water, leaving a pool on our bed. @$*?!!!!! Not good!!!
That set the work load for the remainder of the day. Poor Guds stripped the bedding and we ended up doing 2 loads of washing.... One for duvet and one for the duvet cover and sheets. Of course it's a down duvet so does not dry quickly! We are so happy I installed a washing machine on the boat!!!
It's not all bad as a few nights ago a flying fish dropped down our again open hatch. I smelt something fishy but upon inspection with a flashlight only found a few scales on deck so figured the guy had made it back into the sea after skidding over the deck. Two days later the smell got worse and after a closer inspection found the offending deceased flying fish wedged between our bed and our new mainsail stored in our cabin. That took me about an hour to clean, so at least the sheets got another wash today :)
By late this afternoon the wind was consistently over 20 knots and Cool Runnings was doing 8 to 9 knots through the water, but a 1.5 knot current against us slowed our VMG (velocity made good) to Tobago to 6.5 to 7 knots.... Very frustrating when we are actually sailing through the water at 8 to 9 knots! The wind continued to increase and with it the seastate, so Ben and I put in a second reef. That tamed things further and made the ride a bit more acceptable, although still pretty bouncy and rough.
The wind is now down to 18 to 20 knots as it gets dark, but we have decided to keep 2 reefs in tonight, just as a precaution in case it comes up again or a squall hits us. It will mean going at least 1 knot slower, but it's peace of mind at least!
We are nearing the halfway mark and now have 1,581 miles remaining before we arrive in Tobago..... Bring it on.... Blue skies and turquoise water.... We can't wait and keep that mental picture in our minds on days like today :)
The other big milestone for us was crossing the equator 2 nights ago. At around 10.30pm we crossed the equator back into the Northern Hemisphere ..... It was a low key cerebration aboard as we are already " trusty shellbacks", but we did ask Neptune to grant us safe passage :)
So with that back to another night watch for me.... Like Guds said in the last blog update, there is no real rest or stopping.... We just continue westward towards the beautiful Caribbean :)
Cheers from Dave
Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.
Sunday, February 11, 2018
Night Shift on night 7 of Passage to Tobago
When we write about our days at sea on passage, it probably sounds idyllic... sleeping, reading, eating pancakes... should I throw in a couple of children with halos balancing on their heads, willingly doing their school work...? Just a reminder though, that we do this day and night and day and night and day and night. There's no stopping at the end of the day and turning in for the night, so speaking of which, let me tell you about our night last night...
Dave took the first shift and I went to lie down from around 8:00pm. When I took over from Dave just after 10:00pm, all looked good. I did notice a ship that was heading towards us, and decided to keep an eye on it. By midnight, the ship was within about 7 miles of us, and, judging from the AIS info, our angle and the ship's angle, it should pass us within 2-3 miles in about 35 minutes. I decided to wake Dave, just so he was aware, because it was close, but no danger. I have no problem calling the ship on the radio, but ever since a bad experience in Indonesia, where I answered a call from a ship, and when the response was rude and we had to deal with cat calls on the radio for the following couple of hours, we decided to let that be Dave's job, after all, he is the Captain.
So he radioed the ship, asking if they had seen us. He responded that he could not see our AIS (Automatic Identification System), but would check radar. He came back and said he could see us on radar, and would pass behind us. Dave checked our AIS settings and realized we were traveling in "silent mode", which means we can see other AIS signals, but we can't be seen. He had put it in silent mode a few days ago when a suspicious, rusty looking Chinese fishing trawler snuck up on us, and since they didn't have AIS, Dave didn't want them, or if there were others in the fleet ("they travel in packs, you know"), to be able to see us!
So AIS back on normal mode, Dave checked with the ship to see if he could now see us, and he could. He was a very nice Indian gentleman who was intrigued with this little sailing vessel bobbing around the ocean, and he and Dave proceeded to have a long conversation, Dave answering all sorts of questions from how do we get fresh water (water maker), to how many countries have we visited (we didn't actually know, we thought around 20). He had come from Spain and was heading to Brazil. Our midnight rendezvous and conversation with the ship now complete, Dave said I should get some sleep and he would take over the watch. So I snoozed from around 12:30am to around 3:00am, when it was time to take over from Dave.
At around 4:00am, the wind suddenly died. The sails started flapping and I switched on one of the engines. This woke Dave, who had had about 1 hour of sleep. He came up in time to feel the wind suddenly go cold. We looked at each other and simultaneously said "squall! ". Dave turned on the radar, to see what we were dealing with, but it takes about a minute to warm up. During that time, we lowered our canvas enclosures to stay dry and the rain had started bucketing down! When the radar finally booted up, it showed us in the middle of a big, ugly red and yellow blob, a big storm. It was pitch black, and all we could see was the rain coming down in sheets where it reflected in the navigation lights. The wind had switched 180 degrees, now coming out of the South, when previously it had come out of the north! And it started building...15, 18, 20, 22, 24 knots... not the 30+ knots we've experienced before, but we had a full main sail up, and with the n
ew
angle of the wind, we had to be careful. The worst was the sea... it had been whipped up into a frenzy, with waves coming at us from every angle and poor Cool Runnings was like a bucking bronco trying to ride them!! With Dave trying to manage the wind angle and me lending support where I could, we rode out the storm for about and hour and a half.
In the grey, dull light of dawn, we decided to drop the main sail. The sea was so confused that the main was starting to flog, swinging violently from side to side. We did what we could from the cockpit, but eventually Dave went out in the pouring rain to get the final part of the sail down, only to notice that a pulley or shackle, some fitting that holds the sail up, had broken. We will have to have a closer look once daylight arrives.
We sailed for a while on the jib only, but eventually the storm died, and along with it, the wind. Exhausted, I went to sleep for a few hours, while Dave kept and eye on things outside. It's now his turn, he's catching a few hours of sleep before we face another day, our 8th of this passage, and do it all again... day and night and day and night and day and night...!!!
The good news is that we broke the 2,000 mile barrier, and have 1,884 miles to go! Even better is that the sea has calmed down somewhat and we are no longer a bucking bronco. We should also cross the equator today, and are hoping that we will get out of this unstable zone soon thereafter. I wonder what tonight will bring...??!!
Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.
Dave took the first shift and I went to lie down from around 8:00pm. When I took over from Dave just after 10:00pm, all looked good. I did notice a ship that was heading towards us, and decided to keep an eye on it. By midnight, the ship was within about 7 miles of us, and, judging from the AIS info, our angle and the ship's angle, it should pass us within 2-3 miles in about 35 minutes. I decided to wake Dave, just so he was aware, because it was close, but no danger. I have no problem calling the ship on the radio, but ever since a bad experience in Indonesia, where I answered a call from a ship, and when the response was rude and we had to deal with cat calls on the radio for the following couple of hours, we decided to let that be Dave's job, after all, he is the Captain.
So he radioed the ship, asking if they had seen us. He responded that he could not see our AIS (Automatic Identification System), but would check radar. He came back and said he could see us on radar, and would pass behind us. Dave checked our AIS settings and realized we were traveling in "silent mode", which means we can see other AIS signals, but we can't be seen. He had put it in silent mode a few days ago when a suspicious, rusty looking Chinese fishing trawler snuck up on us, and since they didn't have AIS, Dave didn't want them, or if there were others in the fleet ("they travel in packs, you know"), to be able to see us!
So AIS back on normal mode, Dave checked with the ship to see if he could now see us, and he could. He was a very nice Indian gentleman who was intrigued with this little sailing vessel bobbing around the ocean, and he and Dave proceeded to have a long conversation, Dave answering all sorts of questions from how do we get fresh water (water maker), to how many countries have we visited (we didn't actually know, we thought around 20). He had come from Spain and was heading to Brazil. Our midnight rendezvous and conversation with the ship now complete, Dave said I should get some sleep and he would take over the watch. So I snoozed from around 12:30am to around 3:00am, when it was time to take over from Dave.
At around 4:00am, the wind suddenly died. The sails started flapping and I switched on one of the engines. This woke Dave, who had had about 1 hour of sleep. He came up in time to feel the wind suddenly go cold. We looked at each other and simultaneously said "squall! ". Dave turned on the radar, to see what we were dealing with, but it takes about a minute to warm up. During that time, we lowered our canvas enclosures to stay dry and the rain had started bucketing down! When the radar finally booted up, it showed us in the middle of a big, ugly red and yellow blob, a big storm. It was pitch black, and all we could see was the rain coming down in sheets where it reflected in the navigation lights. The wind had switched 180 degrees, now coming out of the South, when previously it had come out of the north! And it started building...15, 18, 20, 22, 24 knots... not the 30+ knots we've experienced before, but we had a full main sail up, and with the n
ew
angle of the wind, we had to be careful. The worst was the sea... it had been whipped up into a frenzy, with waves coming at us from every angle and poor Cool Runnings was like a bucking bronco trying to ride them!! With Dave trying to manage the wind angle and me lending support where I could, we rode out the storm for about and hour and a half.
In the grey, dull light of dawn, we decided to drop the main sail. The sea was so confused that the main was starting to flog, swinging violently from side to side. We did what we could from the cockpit, but eventually Dave went out in the pouring rain to get the final part of the sail down, only to notice that a pulley or shackle, some fitting that holds the sail up, had broken. We will have to have a closer look once daylight arrives.
We sailed for a while on the jib only, but eventually the storm died, and along with it, the wind. Exhausted, I went to sleep for a few hours, while Dave kept and eye on things outside. It's now his turn, he's catching a few hours of sleep before we face another day, our 8th of this passage, and do it all again... day and night and day and night and day and night...!!!
The good news is that we broke the 2,000 mile barrier, and have 1,884 miles to go! Even better is that the sea has calmed down somewhat and we are no longer a bucking bronco. We should also cross the equator today, and are hoping that we will get out of this unstable zone soon thereafter. I wonder what tonight will bring...??!!
Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.
Friday, February 9, 2018
Ascension Island, South Atlantic Ocean
Hi everyone ....Dave here and hoping this blog post finds you all well!!!!
As I write this we are at sea on the longest individual leg of our journey thus far...sailing 3,012 miles from Ascension Island in the South Atlantic Ocean to Tobago Island in the Caribbean. We are on day 6 of this passage with 2,135 miles remaining! So far all has gone well, and we are currently motoring through the doldrums as we are now 2 degrees south of the equator with no wind. Based on the weather forecast we anticpate we will have to motor for about 3 to 4 days to get into the northern hemisphere and the NE trade winds.
We had a wonderful 5 days stay in Ascension island. It is even more remote and less visited than St Helena, but such an interesting place with so much history.
We arrived on a Monday night at around 9.30pm and found a safe place to anchor in Clarence Bay which is just off the small settlement of Georgetown. The island is owned by the British and has really remained a military outpost since early settlement. It was first discovered in the 15 hundreds, but only occupied in the 18 hundreds when the British established a garrison there to ward off any possible attempt to rescue Napoleon imprisoned on nearby St Helena.
Ascension island was surprisingly interesting. We didn't know what to expect. There's all sorts of interesting stuff going on there. There are 2 military bases (1 British and 1 US), a BBC relay station and some other equivalent British agency like the NSA, listening to "stuff" with tons of weird aerials, antennas and satellite dishes and golf ball like looking radar domes. Super secret spy stuff, we think!!!!! The place is practically deserted, it's quite eerie. No-one on the street of Georgetown, but there are about 800 people living here. All contract workers or military. No permanent residents. Because of the BBC relay station, we were able to get BBC World News and BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) loud and clear, which made for a nice change!
On Tuesday morning we launched the dingy to try and go ashore to check in, but the swell was huge and breaking waves were crashing over the one and only landing spot, a small pier that juts out into the sea. After calling the authorities on VHF they advised not to attempt a landing as it was too rough :( So back to the boat we went and had a chill day which was a good thing as we were still not feeling 100 percent.
On Wednesday we were able to land and check in and walk around the small settlement. The landscape is like mars. Just red and black earth, dry, barren, lava flows, razor sharp rocks everywhere, and then one mountain called Green Mountain that is like a rainforest in the clouds! It was all a biological experiment dating back to the days of Darwin, to see if plants were planted on the mountain, if it would increase rainfall. It worked, but to think it's all man made is just unbelievable!!!! And of course the very few native plants are now endangered, 3 species already extinct! All fascinating stuff out here in the middle of nowhere!
On Thursday we met up with Andy Hobson, whom Hazel from St Helena had asked us to take some plants to, for his wife, Janet. So we met Andy on the pier in the morning and he was kind enough to give us a tour all around the island! As it turns out Andy was a former competitive Laser sailor in the UK....such a small world!
Our tour started with Andy opening up the museum and fort for us which was a great bonus as we had attempted to see it the day prior, but it only officially opens on a Saturday....lucky for us Andy had the keys :) We looked around at some fascinating artifacts, old photos and descriptions of life on Ascension Island over the past few hundred years. A quick walk through the fort reveled more of life back in the 18 hundreds.
Next up we drove through the American base and then the British base, and then to the small settlement called "Two Boats" town. It's called this as there were two old boats stood up right next to each other, and back in the day before cars, the boats were used as a stopping point to get some shade in the blistering heat.... Remember there are no trees or any shade on the lower part of the island!
We had some lunch at "Two Boats" and admired the view as it's situated up on a hill fairly high above sea level. After this Andy drove us up Green Mountain and the highest point on the island. What a contrast!!!!!! From a Mars like landscape on most of the island to just lush rainforest!!!!! It was spectacular!!!! We parked the car and proceeded to walk around the forest and to a collection point for the island's first fresh water supply. There was an old fort up high and now also some gardens that locals use to preserve some of the endangered species of plants.
After this we drove to the remote east part of the island where NASA had a tracking station for the early space expeditions and also the moon landings. Sadly the remote buildings are now closed off and abandoned, but it was amazing to see and think of the history just in this one location! In this same area we saw the area that the Ascension Island Frigate bird nest.... The only place in the world. These birds are HUGE, and coinsidently we had one circling our mast late yesterday looking like he wanted to attempt a landing, which would have been the end of our instruments at the top of the mast!
One final stop on our way back was Comfortless Bay where the poor folks that contracted Yellow fever back in the early days where abandoned and left as outcasts to die. There were a number of old graves from that time. Again the landscape is simply stunning, as baron and stark as you can imagine, with volcanic rock everywhere as though it was formed yesterday. Against this aridness was a spectacularly beautifully crystal clear turquoise blue water in this little bay. With that Andy dropped us back at the pier at around 5pm after a wonderful adventures day.
Andy thank you for taking the time to tour is around this beautiful island and explain so much of the fascinating history to us.... It was certainly the highlight of our stop and very much appreciated!
For us the day was not yet over as we had booked to go on a turtle tour that evening at 9pm. A huge conservation effort is going on and scientists studying green turtles, seabirds, land crabs and working on saving endemic plant species exists on the island today. So at 8.30pm we launched the dingy again and made a night landing at this tough pier. We walked up to the conservation center to wait for our tour. We could not believe our eyes when in walks one of the guides for the night, no other than Simon, who was the official that checked us in on Chagos Island last year July! It turned out that Simon's wife works on Ascension Island and he was visiting and volunteering with the turtle conservation efforts!
So after a brief catch up with Simon, watching a video on the turtles, we headed down to the beach in the dark to see if we could spot some laying eggs. These particular green turtles are pretty big and actually live and feed off Brazil, but come just to Ascension Island to lay eggs.... Quite a distance just to nest! We could see at least 6 turtles at various stages of making their way up the beach to laying eggs and making their way back to the water. The whole cycle takes a few hours. We found a turtle in the midst of laying her eggs. With the guides direction we positioned ourselves behind the turtle and with a red light (they can't see) watched as ping-pong sized egg after egg fell from her into a carefully dug nest. Apparently in this stage of laying eggs they go into a trance and are not even aware we were watching. It was truly spectacular to witness this miracle of nature and one we will always remember. We watched as she finished laying her eggs and then c
overed
them up at a painfully slow speed, obviously exhausted from the nights efforts. She rested for a while and then began the long journey of about 100 meters back to the ocean.
After saying our goodbyes to Simon we headed back to the boat in awe of what a day we had just experienced.
The following day we decided to just chill, and the day after on Saturday marked the final voyage of the resupply ship RMS St Helena, that has brought supplies and passengers from Cape Town to St Helena and Ascension Island for many years. I believe it was built in the 1980's and has become obsolete now that an airport has opened on St. Helena and is also too costly to continue running. Ascension has a military airport and receives some items through that as its primarily a military island and population. With this being a historic day for the RMS St Helena a big celebration was planned on the island which included guided tours of the ship on Saturday before its departure on Sunday. We were lucky enough to secure a tour, and along with the two other sailboats moored with us, Tangled Up and Alma, we enjoyed a trip out to the ship and a guided tour around.... Very cool to see and quite a historic event we were able to be part of. After the tour we headed into the groce
ry
store for one last stock up on some limited fresh produce, before saying our goodbyes to Jonas from Alma and then heading back to our boat for one last goodnight sleep.
The following Sunday morning we upped anchor at around 9am, waved goodbye to the island and RMS St Helena, and headed off into the deep blue South Atlantic Ocean. Ahead of us lay a huge distance of over 3,000 miles, probably about 20 days at sea, and 4 time zones to cross before we would see land again.... quite a daunting task, and one we have learnt to take one day at a time so as not to be overwhelmed by the task ahead. We've done lots of sleeping and reading and the kids have been doing some school work in the mornings. Yesterday we had pancakes for breakfast, always a treat on passage!
And so ends this blog update. We will hopefully write in the days ahead of how the passage is going and what we are up to. Please fee free to drop us a note on our satellite email address hibberd@myiridium.net .....we love getting updates from everyone and hearing from friends and people that follow our blog.... It's always a highlight of our day :) just please remember we can only receive a simple email with no attachments or pictures.
Take care and wishing you all the very best.
Cheers Dave
Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.
As I write this we are at sea on the longest individual leg of our journey thus far...sailing 3,012 miles from Ascension Island in the South Atlantic Ocean to Tobago Island in the Caribbean. We are on day 6 of this passage with 2,135 miles remaining! So far all has gone well, and we are currently motoring through the doldrums as we are now 2 degrees south of the equator with no wind. Based on the weather forecast we anticpate we will have to motor for about 3 to 4 days to get into the northern hemisphere and the NE trade winds.
We had a wonderful 5 days stay in Ascension island. It is even more remote and less visited than St Helena, but such an interesting place with so much history.
We arrived on a Monday night at around 9.30pm and found a safe place to anchor in Clarence Bay which is just off the small settlement of Georgetown. The island is owned by the British and has really remained a military outpost since early settlement. It was first discovered in the 15 hundreds, but only occupied in the 18 hundreds when the British established a garrison there to ward off any possible attempt to rescue Napoleon imprisoned on nearby St Helena.
Ascension island was surprisingly interesting. We didn't know what to expect. There's all sorts of interesting stuff going on there. There are 2 military bases (1 British and 1 US), a BBC relay station and some other equivalent British agency like the NSA, listening to "stuff" with tons of weird aerials, antennas and satellite dishes and golf ball like looking radar domes. Super secret spy stuff, we think!!!!! The place is practically deserted, it's quite eerie. No-one on the street of Georgetown, but there are about 800 people living here. All contract workers or military. No permanent residents. Because of the BBC relay station, we were able to get BBC World News and BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) loud and clear, which made for a nice change!
On Tuesday morning we launched the dingy to try and go ashore to check in, but the swell was huge and breaking waves were crashing over the one and only landing spot, a small pier that juts out into the sea. After calling the authorities on VHF they advised not to attempt a landing as it was too rough :( So back to the boat we went and had a chill day which was a good thing as we were still not feeling 100 percent.
On Wednesday we were able to land and check in and walk around the small settlement. The landscape is like mars. Just red and black earth, dry, barren, lava flows, razor sharp rocks everywhere, and then one mountain called Green Mountain that is like a rainforest in the clouds! It was all a biological experiment dating back to the days of Darwin, to see if plants were planted on the mountain, if it would increase rainfall. It worked, but to think it's all man made is just unbelievable!!!! And of course the very few native plants are now endangered, 3 species already extinct! All fascinating stuff out here in the middle of nowhere!
On Thursday we met up with Andy Hobson, whom Hazel from St Helena had asked us to take some plants to, for his wife, Janet. So we met Andy on the pier in the morning and he was kind enough to give us a tour all around the island! As it turns out Andy was a former competitive Laser sailor in the UK....such a small world!
Our tour started with Andy opening up the museum and fort for us which was a great bonus as we had attempted to see it the day prior, but it only officially opens on a Saturday....lucky for us Andy had the keys :) We looked around at some fascinating artifacts, old photos and descriptions of life on Ascension Island over the past few hundred years. A quick walk through the fort reveled more of life back in the 18 hundreds.
Next up we drove through the American base and then the British base, and then to the small settlement called "Two Boats" town. It's called this as there were two old boats stood up right next to each other, and back in the day before cars, the boats were used as a stopping point to get some shade in the blistering heat.... Remember there are no trees or any shade on the lower part of the island!
We had some lunch at "Two Boats" and admired the view as it's situated up on a hill fairly high above sea level. After this Andy drove us up Green Mountain and the highest point on the island. What a contrast!!!!!! From a Mars like landscape on most of the island to just lush rainforest!!!!! It was spectacular!!!! We parked the car and proceeded to walk around the forest and to a collection point for the island's first fresh water supply. There was an old fort up high and now also some gardens that locals use to preserve some of the endangered species of plants.
After this we drove to the remote east part of the island where NASA had a tracking station for the early space expeditions and also the moon landings. Sadly the remote buildings are now closed off and abandoned, but it was amazing to see and think of the history just in this one location! In this same area we saw the area that the Ascension Island Frigate bird nest.... The only place in the world. These birds are HUGE, and coinsidently we had one circling our mast late yesterday looking like he wanted to attempt a landing, which would have been the end of our instruments at the top of the mast!
One final stop on our way back was Comfortless Bay where the poor folks that contracted Yellow fever back in the early days where abandoned and left as outcasts to die. There were a number of old graves from that time. Again the landscape is simply stunning, as baron and stark as you can imagine, with volcanic rock everywhere as though it was formed yesterday. Against this aridness was a spectacularly beautifully crystal clear turquoise blue water in this little bay. With that Andy dropped us back at the pier at around 5pm after a wonderful adventures day.
Andy thank you for taking the time to tour is around this beautiful island and explain so much of the fascinating history to us.... It was certainly the highlight of our stop and very much appreciated!
For us the day was not yet over as we had booked to go on a turtle tour that evening at 9pm. A huge conservation effort is going on and scientists studying green turtles, seabirds, land crabs and working on saving endemic plant species exists on the island today. So at 8.30pm we launched the dingy again and made a night landing at this tough pier. We walked up to the conservation center to wait for our tour. We could not believe our eyes when in walks one of the guides for the night, no other than Simon, who was the official that checked us in on Chagos Island last year July! It turned out that Simon's wife works on Ascension Island and he was visiting and volunteering with the turtle conservation efforts!
So after a brief catch up with Simon, watching a video on the turtles, we headed down to the beach in the dark to see if we could spot some laying eggs. These particular green turtles are pretty big and actually live and feed off Brazil, but come just to Ascension Island to lay eggs.... Quite a distance just to nest! We could see at least 6 turtles at various stages of making their way up the beach to laying eggs and making their way back to the water. The whole cycle takes a few hours. We found a turtle in the midst of laying her eggs. With the guides direction we positioned ourselves behind the turtle and with a red light (they can't see) watched as ping-pong sized egg after egg fell from her into a carefully dug nest. Apparently in this stage of laying eggs they go into a trance and are not even aware we were watching. It was truly spectacular to witness this miracle of nature and one we will always remember. We watched as she finished laying her eggs and then c
overed
them up at a painfully slow speed, obviously exhausted from the nights efforts. She rested for a while and then began the long journey of about 100 meters back to the ocean.
After saying our goodbyes to Simon we headed back to the boat in awe of what a day we had just experienced.
The following day we decided to just chill, and the day after on Saturday marked the final voyage of the resupply ship RMS St Helena, that has brought supplies and passengers from Cape Town to St Helena and Ascension Island for many years. I believe it was built in the 1980's and has become obsolete now that an airport has opened on St. Helena and is also too costly to continue running. Ascension has a military airport and receives some items through that as its primarily a military island and population. With this being a historic day for the RMS St Helena a big celebration was planned on the island which included guided tours of the ship on Saturday before its departure on Sunday. We were lucky enough to secure a tour, and along with the two other sailboats moored with us, Tangled Up and Alma, we enjoyed a trip out to the ship and a guided tour around.... Very cool to see and quite a historic event we were able to be part of. After the tour we headed into the groce
ry
store for one last stock up on some limited fresh produce, before saying our goodbyes to Jonas from Alma and then heading back to our boat for one last goodnight sleep.
The following Sunday morning we upped anchor at around 9am, waved goodbye to the island and RMS St Helena, and headed off into the deep blue South Atlantic Ocean. Ahead of us lay a huge distance of over 3,000 miles, probably about 20 days at sea, and 4 time zones to cross before we would see land again.... quite a daunting task, and one we have learnt to take one day at a time so as not to be overwhelmed by the task ahead. We've done lots of sleeping and reading and the kids have been doing some school work in the mornings. Yesterday we had pancakes for breakfast, always a treat on passage!
And so ends this blog update. We will hopefully write in the days ahead of how the passage is going and what we are up to. Please fee free to drop us a note on our satellite email address hibberd@myiridium.net .....we love getting updates from everyone and hearing from friends and people that follow our blog.... It's always a highlight of our day :) just please remember we can only receive a simple email with no attachments or pictures.
Take care and wishing you all the very best.
Cheers Dave
Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.
Saturday, February 3, 2018
St. Helena
I had every intention of bringing you all a nice description of our experiences in St. Helena, that tiny island in the South Atlantic Ocean, along with great photos, and what happened? We left you hanging on Day 8!! (But we made it, obviously! And I write this now, as we prepare to leave Ascension Island on our 3,000 mile passage to Trinidad and Tobago).
There are two WiFi hotspots in Jamestown, Anne's Place (a snack bar/restaurant) and the Consulate Hotel. Shortly after we arrived, we bought a voucher at Anne's Place for £3.30, which got us 30 minutes of internet time. I had to send forms to Ascension Island (our next stop after St. Helena) to get an entry permit, and, when my email, with only a small attachment, was still sitting in my outbox at the end of my 30 minutes, I realized that I would never be able to upload any photos, or do a blog update via the internet! So I'll have to do the photos at a later date, which is a pity, because words cannot fully describe the vast differences in landscape, the old buildings and forts and friendly people that we encountered here!
We arrived in the early hours of the morning on Thursday, January 18th. The only indication (other than our chart plotter) that the island was there, were a few lights warning mariners of the dangers ahead. Slowly, as dawn broke, the mammoth rock that is St. Helena started to form, and we wondered again of the Portuguese explorers of the past, who discovered this island in 1502, and how on earth they possibly came upon it. It must have been by accident, because it is literally in the middle of nowhere. They must have been so excited to find a new land, but was their excitement short lived, when, on first sight, it seems that it is just a barren lump of rock sticking out of the ocean? How long did it take them to discover the lush, green interior and the beauty of St. Helena?
Our trusty spinnaker had pulled us for days and nights on end to our destination, and after 10 days, we finally lowered it and motored the last mile to the big mooring buoys that are made available to visiting yachts. Since we arrived early, we used the time to clean the boat and get everything back in order (if you haven't realized by now, Captain Dave runs a tight ship!). He and the kids washed the salt of the 10 day passage off the outside, and I scrubbed and cleaned and wiped and tidied the inside. Soon it was time to go ashore to clear in at customs. We'd heard different reports regarding check-in – some boats reported they had to go ashore to check in, while others said the authorities came to them. In our case, Port Control asked us to come ashore, so we hailed a water taxi and went on our way. There is no safe place to land your dinghy in St. Helena, so they run a water taxi, for a small fee, that ferries yachties to and from their boats to the wharf. The
only
painful thing with check-in here, were the fees: £35 harbor dues, £17 per person at immigration (£68), £2 per day mooring fee and then the taxi fee, which in the end was about £20. But we were here, and after our passports were stamped, and our fees paid, we were free to roam about the land!
Jamestown in nestled in a valley between 2 very steep, very barren mountains. There is one street, and you enter through an archway, part of the old castle, that has been there since 1832. On the one side, is Jacob's Ladder, 699 steps that go straight up, as if it's a ladder climbing up into the sky! It used to work on a pulley system, where they would bring supplies up to Ladder Hill Fort, strategically sitting on top of the mountain. On the other side, on Munden's Point you can see the remnants of more fortifications, a reminder that this island was a strategic port of call during the British Empire.
On Friday morning, we decided to take a walk to the "Heart Shaped Waterfall". We walked and walked, out of town, up windy roads, asking locals along the way, if we were on the right track. "Oh yes! It's just around the corner…just keep going", was the usual response. So we kept going. Eventually, we saw a tiny sign off the road, that said "Heart Shaped Waterfall". Yes! We were almost there! Well, not quite. That sign took us just to the start of the track to the waterfall! Another 45 minutes or so later, we finally stumbled on the waterfall, which turned out not to be a waterfall at all! No-one had told us that the waterfall only falls in winter, during the rainy season! As we sat at the base of the waterfall, all 4 of us strained to try and see this famous heart shape. We looked at it from every angle, trying very hard to imagine any type of heart shape. No-one could see it! It was only the following day, when we took a tour, and the tour guide s
topped
on the side of the road, and pointed it out to us, could we clearly see the heart shape! I then also read a small caveat at the bottom of the description "the waterfall is best viewed from the road". ARRGGHH! We had walked almost 3 hours to see it, when all we had to do, is view it from the side of the road! But never mind, it was good exercise, and the walk, once on the track, was lovely, as we walked through ever changing landscape, from dry, grassy land, to lush, green forest, and the base of the waterfall was gorgeous, even if there was no water falling, just a light rainy mist!
We also had another treat in St. Helena. Dave's sister, Kim, organized for us to stay 2 nights at "The Consulate Hotel", and then the owner, Hazel, threw in another night for free! The hotel was empty, and she said it made no difference if we stayed 2 or 3 nights. Hazel is possibly the kindest person we have ever met. She took us under her wing, and spoilt us rotten! The hotel itself was so full of history, it was amazing. In the dining room, one of the beams on the roof was the original wooden mast of a ship, called the "Darkdale" that caught fire and sank off the coast of St. Helena in the late 1800 or early 1900's. Also in the dining room was the steering wheel and other original artifacts from the ship. The hotel itself also had a long history, being built in the 1800's, and you could still see the walls that are about 2 feet thick! It was such a treat to stay there, and be off the boat and away from the rolly anchorage for 3 nights!
On Saturday morning, we were able to take a quick tour of the island, with one of the local tour guides, Robert Peters. Unfortunately, Robert had another tour in the afternoon, and had to be back at 1:30pm, so we felt our tour was a little rushed. Our friends on Shuti, who arrived on Saturday morning, took the same tour on Monday, and they were underway for the entire day, from 9:30am to about 4:30pm, whereas we only had 3 hours, which was unfortunate. But it was still great to do the tour, as it gave us a good general overview of the island, and we were able to get a car on Monday, and go back to the places we either had missed, (like the Napoleonic sites), or wanted to see again. And we were able to see the incredible differences in vegetation, from the dry, desolate, rocky landscape, to lush, green rolling hills with forests and meadows! It's quite bizarre and amazing to see! While Dave and Benjamin relaxed in the hotel on Saturday afternoon, Gaby and I went for a
walk,
and ended up climbing Jacob's Ladder! It took us about 20 – 25 minutes (we unfortunately didn't time ourselves), and took in some spectacular views at the top!
Absolutely everything closes on a Sunday in St. Helena, and it was a ghost town! Gaby and I went for another walk, this time exploring the 3 Sisters walk and up along Munden's. It provided some spectacular views of the anchorage and Jamestown. We had also planned to meet Shuti in the afternoon, to all climb Jacob's Ladder together, but by this time, Benjamin had come down with a nasty cough, fever and flu-like symptoms. He was not feeling well at all, so we thought it best not to do the climb, and had to give Shuti the bad news. They climbed it without us, and we watched as one by one, they reached the top: First Yoav, then Eyal, then Momi, then little Dror, who had been with Lilach the whole time, but suddenly got a burst of energy and left her behind!
First thing on Monday morning, Dave headed off to the tourist office, to see if we could get a rental car. We'd been told that there were no cars available, but Dave was determined! He came back with two thumbs up – he'd secured one! So on Monday, we packed up our stuff and quickly took it back to the boat, and then headed out to explore in our rental car. Poor Benjamin was not well at all, and slept for most of the drive. First stop was Napoleon's tomb. Napoleon was brought to St. Helena as a prisoner after his defeat in the battle of Waterloo in June 1815. It took 2 months for the HMS Northumberland to sail to St. Helena, and Napoleon landed at Jamestown on 17 October 1815. He spent the first night in Jamestown, and then spent 2 months in a house called "The Briars", which we saw from a distance. Soon after, he moved into "Longwood", a beautiful house in the hills, where he spent 5 and a half years before his death at the age of 52, in May 1821, aft
er a
prolonged illness. It is said that he was frustrated at being confined on the island, but he had free reign, and would ride his horse around, and explored pretty much the whole island. He loved the beauty and tranquility of the Sane Valley, which is where he was buried and where we visited his tomb. Almost 20 years after he was laid to rest, the French exhumed his body in 1840 and took his remains to France.
The island's remote location meant it was an ideal place for the exile of key prisoners, and along with its most famous prisoner, Napoleon, the island also housed some 6,000 Boer prisoners, brought here from South Africa, during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. We visited the sites where thousands of Boers were housed in rows upon rows of white tents. Also brought to the island in 1890 as a captive was Chief DiniZulu, the son of Zulu king Chetswayo. We drove all over the island, marveling in the sheer magnitude of the dry, barren rock faces, and then the lush, green hills and forests that could have convinced a soul you were in England. Many of the hillsides are covered in flax, which was imported from New Zealand, and was a thriving industry until the 1960's. The fibres from the leaf of the flax plant were used to make rope, and the flax was exported to many parts of the world. For a long time, donkeys were used to transport items around the island, and today, ther
e is a
donkey sanctuary for those poor little guys who are now living their last days out in peace!
We were also curious to check out the new, controversial airport that has been built on St. Helena. Up until the last quarter of last year, when the airport finally opened after many delays and problems, the only way on and off the island was by ship, the RMS (Royal Mail Ship) St. Helena. This ship is a combination of cargo and passenger ship, and has been serving the island for the last 27 years, and its predecessors for many years before that. Many "Saints" (the name given to local St. Helenians), were opposed to the airport, thinking that easier access to the island would destroy its unique character and completely change the dynamic of the island. The airport, however, has been fraught with its own problems, and we heard many different stories as to what those actually are, but we understand that because of St. Helena's sheer cliffs, the wind shear on the runway is so strong, that bigger planes cannot land, and while originally they had planned for 737's to be
able
to land, now, only a small Embraer plane, which can carry only 74 passengers can land. Now, each Saturday, a plane that flies between St. Helena and Cape Town brings a handful of tourists to the island. Supplies will still have to be shipped in by cargo ship, but the RMS St. Helena is being retired after many years of service, a sad ending to a way of life for so many Saints. (We will have the privilege of seeing, and boarding the RMS St. Helena as it makes it last stop in Ascension Island, before being decommissioned).
We returned our car and headed back to the boat. We spent the following day just relaxing on the boat. Benjamin spent the day in bed, and took a while to recover. We put him on antibiotics as it sounded like the cough had gotten into his chest. On Wednesday, Dave, Gaby and I went for a quick snorkel on the wreck of the "Papanui", a passenger ship that had been transporting 360-odd people to Australia in 1911, when it caught fire and sank in the harbor of St. Helena. No-one died, and the survivors were cared for by "Saints" until another ship could come and take them to their destination. Dave also spent 3 hours in the cold water, scrubbing the hulls, so we would have a clean bottom for our trip to Ascension!
We then went to shore to get our final provisions and say our farewells to Hazel and Kathy at the Consulate Hotel. Timing is everything in St. Helena with regards to shopping and/or eating. On Wednesdays, the shops close at 1:00pm, so we had to rush to make it before they closed, but I managed to get a few oranges, two loaves of bread, some frozen veggies and, very importantly, some chocolate, before the doors closed for the day! We then went to see Hazel, who loaded us up with her whole kitchen, it seemed! She gave us a case of long life yoghurts, carrots, tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce, all from her farm, and the most precious commodity on the island: eggs! Eggs are almost impossible to come by on St. Helena. Hazel has some chickens on her farm and had been saving eggs for us over the time period we were there! We felt so incredibly spoiled. She wouldn't accept payment for any of the food, and asked only to "pay it forward". So, as a start, we gave some egg
s to
"Shuti". Gaby declared that Hazel is possibly the kindest person she had ever met, and we certainly agreed with her!!
So early on Thursday morning, January 25th, while it was still dark, we let go our mooring lines and headed off in the direction of Ascension Island, some 700 miles to the NW. We had a good passage with relatively light winds, which was fine, because no sooner had we left than Gaby, and then Dave got sick with whatever Ben had had. Coughing, fevers and body aches, the virus we'd picked up was pretty nasty. Luckily, we have plenty of antibiotics on board, and a direct line to Dave's sister, Kim, who is a nurse, (and also has direct access to doctors!), and who told us what to take and what to do. We arrived 5 days later at Ascension Island, a volcanic outcrop even more remote and more stark than St. Helena, an island that we didn't have much information on, and didn't really know what to expect, but that has certainly exceeding any expectations we had!
Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.
There are two WiFi hotspots in Jamestown, Anne's Place (a snack bar/restaurant) and the Consulate Hotel. Shortly after we arrived, we bought a voucher at Anne's Place for £3.30, which got us 30 minutes of internet time. I had to send forms to Ascension Island (our next stop after St. Helena) to get an entry permit, and, when my email, with only a small attachment, was still sitting in my outbox at the end of my 30 minutes, I realized that I would never be able to upload any photos, or do a blog update via the internet! So I'll have to do the photos at a later date, which is a pity, because words cannot fully describe the vast differences in landscape, the old buildings and forts and friendly people that we encountered here!
We arrived in the early hours of the morning on Thursday, January 18th. The only indication (other than our chart plotter) that the island was there, were a few lights warning mariners of the dangers ahead. Slowly, as dawn broke, the mammoth rock that is St. Helena started to form, and we wondered again of the Portuguese explorers of the past, who discovered this island in 1502, and how on earth they possibly came upon it. It must have been by accident, because it is literally in the middle of nowhere. They must have been so excited to find a new land, but was their excitement short lived, when, on first sight, it seems that it is just a barren lump of rock sticking out of the ocean? How long did it take them to discover the lush, green interior and the beauty of St. Helena?
Our trusty spinnaker had pulled us for days and nights on end to our destination, and after 10 days, we finally lowered it and motored the last mile to the big mooring buoys that are made available to visiting yachts. Since we arrived early, we used the time to clean the boat and get everything back in order (if you haven't realized by now, Captain Dave runs a tight ship!). He and the kids washed the salt of the 10 day passage off the outside, and I scrubbed and cleaned and wiped and tidied the inside. Soon it was time to go ashore to clear in at customs. We'd heard different reports regarding check-in – some boats reported they had to go ashore to check in, while others said the authorities came to them. In our case, Port Control asked us to come ashore, so we hailed a water taxi and went on our way. There is no safe place to land your dinghy in St. Helena, so they run a water taxi, for a small fee, that ferries yachties to and from their boats to the wharf. The
only
painful thing with check-in here, were the fees: £35 harbor dues, £17 per person at immigration (£68), £2 per day mooring fee and then the taxi fee, which in the end was about £20. But we were here, and after our passports were stamped, and our fees paid, we were free to roam about the land!
Jamestown in nestled in a valley between 2 very steep, very barren mountains. There is one street, and you enter through an archway, part of the old castle, that has been there since 1832. On the one side, is Jacob's Ladder, 699 steps that go straight up, as if it's a ladder climbing up into the sky! It used to work on a pulley system, where they would bring supplies up to Ladder Hill Fort, strategically sitting on top of the mountain. On the other side, on Munden's Point you can see the remnants of more fortifications, a reminder that this island was a strategic port of call during the British Empire.
On Friday morning, we decided to take a walk to the "Heart Shaped Waterfall". We walked and walked, out of town, up windy roads, asking locals along the way, if we were on the right track. "Oh yes! It's just around the corner…just keep going", was the usual response. So we kept going. Eventually, we saw a tiny sign off the road, that said "Heart Shaped Waterfall". Yes! We were almost there! Well, not quite. That sign took us just to the start of the track to the waterfall! Another 45 minutes or so later, we finally stumbled on the waterfall, which turned out not to be a waterfall at all! No-one had told us that the waterfall only falls in winter, during the rainy season! As we sat at the base of the waterfall, all 4 of us strained to try and see this famous heart shape. We looked at it from every angle, trying very hard to imagine any type of heart shape. No-one could see it! It was only the following day, when we took a tour, and the tour guide s
topped
on the side of the road, and pointed it out to us, could we clearly see the heart shape! I then also read a small caveat at the bottom of the description "the waterfall is best viewed from the road". ARRGGHH! We had walked almost 3 hours to see it, when all we had to do, is view it from the side of the road! But never mind, it was good exercise, and the walk, once on the track, was lovely, as we walked through ever changing landscape, from dry, grassy land, to lush, green forest, and the base of the waterfall was gorgeous, even if there was no water falling, just a light rainy mist!
We also had another treat in St. Helena. Dave's sister, Kim, organized for us to stay 2 nights at "The Consulate Hotel", and then the owner, Hazel, threw in another night for free! The hotel was empty, and she said it made no difference if we stayed 2 or 3 nights. Hazel is possibly the kindest person we have ever met. She took us under her wing, and spoilt us rotten! The hotel itself was so full of history, it was amazing. In the dining room, one of the beams on the roof was the original wooden mast of a ship, called the "Darkdale" that caught fire and sank off the coast of St. Helena in the late 1800 or early 1900's. Also in the dining room was the steering wheel and other original artifacts from the ship. The hotel itself also had a long history, being built in the 1800's, and you could still see the walls that are about 2 feet thick! It was such a treat to stay there, and be off the boat and away from the rolly anchorage for 3 nights!
On Saturday morning, we were able to take a quick tour of the island, with one of the local tour guides, Robert Peters. Unfortunately, Robert had another tour in the afternoon, and had to be back at 1:30pm, so we felt our tour was a little rushed. Our friends on Shuti, who arrived on Saturday morning, took the same tour on Monday, and they were underway for the entire day, from 9:30am to about 4:30pm, whereas we only had 3 hours, which was unfortunate. But it was still great to do the tour, as it gave us a good general overview of the island, and we were able to get a car on Monday, and go back to the places we either had missed, (like the Napoleonic sites), or wanted to see again. And we were able to see the incredible differences in vegetation, from the dry, desolate, rocky landscape, to lush, green rolling hills with forests and meadows! It's quite bizarre and amazing to see! While Dave and Benjamin relaxed in the hotel on Saturday afternoon, Gaby and I went for a
walk,
and ended up climbing Jacob's Ladder! It took us about 20 – 25 minutes (we unfortunately didn't time ourselves), and took in some spectacular views at the top!
Absolutely everything closes on a Sunday in St. Helena, and it was a ghost town! Gaby and I went for another walk, this time exploring the 3 Sisters walk and up along Munden's. It provided some spectacular views of the anchorage and Jamestown. We had also planned to meet Shuti in the afternoon, to all climb Jacob's Ladder together, but by this time, Benjamin had come down with a nasty cough, fever and flu-like symptoms. He was not feeling well at all, so we thought it best not to do the climb, and had to give Shuti the bad news. They climbed it without us, and we watched as one by one, they reached the top: First Yoav, then Eyal, then Momi, then little Dror, who had been with Lilach the whole time, but suddenly got a burst of energy and left her behind!
First thing on Monday morning, Dave headed off to the tourist office, to see if we could get a rental car. We'd been told that there were no cars available, but Dave was determined! He came back with two thumbs up – he'd secured one! So on Monday, we packed up our stuff and quickly took it back to the boat, and then headed out to explore in our rental car. Poor Benjamin was not well at all, and slept for most of the drive. First stop was Napoleon's tomb. Napoleon was brought to St. Helena as a prisoner after his defeat in the battle of Waterloo in June 1815. It took 2 months for the HMS Northumberland to sail to St. Helena, and Napoleon landed at Jamestown on 17 October 1815. He spent the first night in Jamestown, and then spent 2 months in a house called "The Briars", which we saw from a distance. Soon after, he moved into "Longwood", a beautiful house in the hills, where he spent 5 and a half years before his death at the age of 52, in May 1821, aft
er a
prolonged illness. It is said that he was frustrated at being confined on the island, but he had free reign, and would ride his horse around, and explored pretty much the whole island. He loved the beauty and tranquility of the Sane Valley, which is where he was buried and where we visited his tomb. Almost 20 years after he was laid to rest, the French exhumed his body in 1840 and took his remains to France.
The island's remote location meant it was an ideal place for the exile of key prisoners, and along with its most famous prisoner, Napoleon, the island also housed some 6,000 Boer prisoners, brought here from South Africa, during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. We visited the sites where thousands of Boers were housed in rows upon rows of white tents. Also brought to the island in 1890 as a captive was Chief DiniZulu, the son of Zulu king Chetswayo. We drove all over the island, marveling in the sheer magnitude of the dry, barren rock faces, and then the lush, green hills and forests that could have convinced a soul you were in England. Many of the hillsides are covered in flax, which was imported from New Zealand, and was a thriving industry until the 1960's. The fibres from the leaf of the flax plant were used to make rope, and the flax was exported to many parts of the world. For a long time, donkeys were used to transport items around the island, and today, ther
e is a
donkey sanctuary for those poor little guys who are now living their last days out in peace!
We were also curious to check out the new, controversial airport that has been built on St. Helena. Up until the last quarter of last year, when the airport finally opened after many delays and problems, the only way on and off the island was by ship, the RMS (Royal Mail Ship) St. Helena. This ship is a combination of cargo and passenger ship, and has been serving the island for the last 27 years, and its predecessors for many years before that. Many "Saints" (the name given to local St. Helenians), were opposed to the airport, thinking that easier access to the island would destroy its unique character and completely change the dynamic of the island. The airport, however, has been fraught with its own problems, and we heard many different stories as to what those actually are, but we understand that because of St. Helena's sheer cliffs, the wind shear on the runway is so strong, that bigger planes cannot land, and while originally they had planned for 737's to be
able
to land, now, only a small Embraer plane, which can carry only 74 passengers can land. Now, each Saturday, a plane that flies between St. Helena and Cape Town brings a handful of tourists to the island. Supplies will still have to be shipped in by cargo ship, but the RMS St. Helena is being retired after many years of service, a sad ending to a way of life for so many Saints. (We will have the privilege of seeing, and boarding the RMS St. Helena as it makes it last stop in Ascension Island, before being decommissioned).
We returned our car and headed back to the boat. We spent the following day just relaxing on the boat. Benjamin spent the day in bed, and took a while to recover. We put him on antibiotics as it sounded like the cough had gotten into his chest. On Wednesday, Dave, Gaby and I went for a quick snorkel on the wreck of the "Papanui", a passenger ship that had been transporting 360-odd people to Australia in 1911, when it caught fire and sank in the harbor of St. Helena. No-one died, and the survivors were cared for by "Saints" until another ship could come and take them to their destination. Dave also spent 3 hours in the cold water, scrubbing the hulls, so we would have a clean bottom for our trip to Ascension!
We then went to shore to get our final provisions and say our farewells to Hazel and Kathy at the Consulate Hotel. Timing is everything in St. Helena with regards to shopping and/or eating. On Wednesdays, the shops close at 1:00pm, so we had to rush to make it before they closed, but I managed to get a few oranges, two loaves of bread, some frozen veggies and, very importantly, some chocolate, before the doors closed for the day! We then went to see Hazel, who loaded us up with her whole kitchen, it seemed! She gave us a case of long life yoghurts, carrots, tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce, all from her farm, and the most precious commodity on the island: eggs! Eggs are almost impossible to come by on St. Helena. Hazel has some chickens on her farm and had been saving eggs for us over the time period we were there! We felt so incredibly spoiled. She wouldn't accept payment for any of the food, and asked only to "pay it forward". So, as a start, we gave some egg
s to
"Shuti". Gaby declared that Hazel is possibly the kindest person she had ever met, and we certainly agreed with her!!
So early on Thursday morning, January 25th, while it was still dark, we let go our mooring lines and headed off in the direction of Ascension Island, some 700 miles to the NW. We had a good passage with relatively light winds, which was fine, because no sooner had we left than Gaby, and then Dave got sick with whatever Ben had had. Coughing, fevers and body aches, the virus we'd picked up was pretty nasty. Luckily, we have plenty of antibiotics on board, and a direct line to Dave's sister, Kim, who is a nurse, (and also has direct access to doctors!), and who told us what to take and what to do. We arrived 5 days later at Ascension Island, a volcanic outcrop even more remote and more stark than St. Helena, an island that we didn't have much information on, and didn't really know what to expect, but that has certainly exceeding any expectations we had!
Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.
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