Smoke and Roses - Walks, Whale Sharks And a Wise Choice
Logged 1286 Nautical Miles, 7 Days 16.5 Hours
172.5 Hours Sailing, 12.5 Hours Motoring
January 16 – 30, 2019
Walvis Bay, Namibia to St Helena
St Helena Island is one of the most remote places on earth. Situated in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, St Helena is a small British overseas territory. Our weeklong visit to this sub-tropical paradise included some spectacular hikes through rolling hills and rugged coastlines as well as an amazing whale shark encounter.
As we leave Namibia, we are heading mostly West and a little North on the South Atlantic Ocean for St Helena. It is just Dan and I on board and the 1300 nautical mile leg will take 7 2/3rds days. After fueling and clearances we are four hours behind some of the boats and “Cayuse” was last to leave. Shortly after departure we had another great seal show. There were hundreds of them alongside the boat jumping and bobbing around. In the afternoon Dan caught a Yellow tail then pan fried it for dinner, it was very good. It is cold and mostly cloudy; the sailing is good as we averaged 7 knots for the whole leg. Dan and I tried doing five our watches but it didn’t go well, I was kept awake while Dan was fixing the helm stand and he got woke up early to put a second reef in. Also we find it hard to sleep early evenings and mid mornings. I now have the sinus congestion that Dan had on the last leg. Together we made cheesy scalloped potatoes and ham for dinner, it was very tasty.
On January 21, we crossed the Prime Meridian, our longitude, the East West position was 000 degrees and 00 minutes, as we sailed back into the Western Hemisphere. It feels like the end of our World Cruise is fast approaching. The wind speed changes from 12 knots to 20, frequently. We started flying the new gennaker and kept it up all night even during some minor squalls with maximum wind of 23 knots. It is working well. The next night it was cloudy with light rain during my shift and Dan enjoyed stargazing during his.
Of our group of boats, we were the last in arriving in St Helena at 3:00 am Namibia time, 1:00 am St Helena time. Dave and Bones waited for us to arrive so they could escort Smoke and Roses to her mooring, in their dinghy and assist tying up. The large round mooring buoy with a metal ring on top would have been difficult to tie on to in the dark, we were grateful for the help. The mooring field in Jamestown had several hazards, large ropes tied between buoys and a ship wreck, making it difficult to navigate in a dinghy. Also the industrial dock was not a good place to leave a dingy so every hour a water taxi transported people from their yachts for 1 pound per person. At 8:00 am Manuel from World ARC met us ashore to escort us to customs; he arranged a taxi to take us to immigration and supplied us with the needed local currency for both. He provided this awesome service so the formalities would be completed in time for us to join the World ARC Island Tour. St Helena touches many aspects of World history and the islands remote location meant it was used as a place of exile for key prisoners. Napoleon was exiled to St Helena in 1815 and died there in 1821. During the World ARC tour we visited the three main sites that the emperor occupied; The Longwood House, his beautifully landscaped tomb in the Sane Valley and the Briars Pavilion. Another stop was the Plantation House built in 1792 for the islands Governors. It is also home to the world’s oldest reptile, Jonathan the tortoise who is estimated to be 185 years old. Other stops included a metrological station where we watched a weather balloon take off, Stitches Ridge, Clifford Arboretum, High Knoll Fort and Ladder Hill Fort, the main fort for the island with spectacular views. Jacob’s Ladder comprises of 699 steps from the deep valley of Jamestown leading up to Ladder Hill Fort. Most cruisers made the steep climb at least once for a challenging workout. Dan completed the climb in 13 minutes; I took my time and did it in 17 minutes. The Prize giving for Leg 15 and pizza dinner with live music was at the Mule Yard that evening. We were tired but did not want to miss it as the World ARC Fleet was leaving soon for Salvador.
The next afternoon we went on a snorkeling tour with whale sharks. St Helena is one of the best regions in the world to encounter whale sharks and the only location for recordings of mating of this world’s largest fish. These docile giants of the ocean can reach up to 40 feet (12m); they filter plankton and small fish with their colossal gaping mouths. It was exhilarating to swim alongside them while they were feeding close to the water’s surface. Each time I got in the water, it was like I floated effortlessly in the current alongside the whale shark who did not mind the snorkelers. It was awesome. That evening was a local fish fry at the St Helena Yacht Club for 6 pounds. The food was late and so was the over worked water taxi, it was somewhat frustrating.
Some of us, five boats to be exact are not planning to follow the World ARC route from ST Helena to Salvador Brazil a 1900 nautical mile leg, then form Salvador to Cabadelo and additional 500 nautical miles; a total of 2400 nautical miles. Instead we will cruise from St Helena to Ascension 700 nautical miles (another remote South Atlantic Island) then to Fernando, 1100 nautical miles and finally to Cabadelo 240 nautical miles for a total of 2040 nautical miles. We will travel less miles and meet the fleet again one month later, at the end of February in Cabadelo, Brazil. I was astonished to learn that some crews were not happy about us deviating from the World ARC Route. I would like to mention that even before signing up with World ARC, Smoke and Roses never planned to go to Salvador, in reading blogs from previous WARC crews, no one had anything good to say about Salvador. When I questioned Andrew Bishop (WARC owner) as to why they still go there, he mentioned the great history of the area. The World ARC fleet leaves St Helena tomorrow Saturday, January 26; we will stay until the 31st of January. It is not uncommon to be greeted by strangers walking down Main Street in Jamestown, St Helena is a very friendly place, unfortunately there is one tour operator that charged for tours and did not deliver, this has left a bad impression for some crews, with a later arrival, and we were not involved.
During the rest of our stay, we went on some great hikes around the island, secured our Ascension visas did some boat chores and started taking turns hosting a dinner on each other’s boats. For internet we paid $7.50 per hour and had to sit in a hotel lobby or restaurant. Sydney got a BMW rental car for $12 per day and since there are just two of us we split the cost with her and Matt from “Influencer”. The first day’s hikes were to Diana’s Peak and High Peak. Diana’s Peak path follows old military and flax plantation routes. It is the highest peak on ST Helena at 2700 feet (823 m) and gives stunning 360 degree views. The endemic tree fern flourishes at both Diana’s Peak and High Peak. That evening “Influencer” hosted dinner. In addition to crews from Aurora Polaris, Cayuse, Mad Monkey and Smoke and Roses, Misto was in the anchorage and joined as well. We all brought our own meat to be grilled and a salad or dessert. In honor of “Australia Day”, “Influencer” provided Tim Tams for everyone.
Another day we did a hike called Flagstaff through pastureland, scrub and trees with views of impressive colored stripes of eroded earth curving around the hillside. At the summit was a sheer drop down to the sea on the coastal side. Blue Point war our last hike through an area called the “Gates of Chaos” with heavy erosion revealing spectacular colors of soil beneath and a number of wind sculpted rocks. We walked in a mist-enshrouded cloud on a path that leads along the spine of the ridge. For such a small area, St Helena has an impressive range of walks and trails through diverse landscape, I’m going to miss the great hiking we have been doing.
“Mad Monkey” was next to host dinner, they made a variety of pasta and a sauce. Each of the other boats brought a sauce and or dessert. It was all very good. “Lydia” had arrived in St Helena and joined in the dinner party.
Jill from “Air Power” likes to knit while on watch and made me a beautiful pair of socks with a self -striping yarn. They are so pretty I don’t want to get them dirty and I will think of Jill every time I wear them.
St Helena was one of my top places to visit on our World cruise, it has been great. I am pleased that we had a little extra time here and I’m excited for the opportunity to visit another remote tropical island, our next stop Ascension.
Agnes Long