St Helena to Ascension Day 6 - Arrival escorted by dolphins greeted by turtles

Caduceus
Martin and Elizabeth Bevan
Tue 14 Feb 2017 09:52

Position                    07:55.191 S 014:24.796 W

                                 (Position of anchor)

Date                          1550 (UTC) Monday 13 February 2017

Distance run             in 15hrs 50mins 83nm over the ground, 84nm through the water

Passage total            713nm over the ground, 689nm through the water

Average                    Speed over ground 5.7knots, Speed over water 5.5knots

Distance to go          0nm

Planned distance      St Helena to Ascension 705nm

 

Ascension Island appears out of the haze

 

As warned by others the wind increased as we rounded the south west corner of the island, not as dramatically as warned but nevertheless 20 knots was blowing through the anchorage as we manoeuvred to get the anchor down and marked in 15 metres.  Another warning received was that it is essential to have a marker buoy with a tripping line as the bottom is foul.  On our approach, we had a great display from what must have been Spinner Dolphins, a couple performed tail stands directly in front of the boat.  Entering the anchoring area there appeared to be many very large green turtles to avoid.  With 20 knots of wind and a brisk chop running it was an east decision to put off going ashore until tomorrow.  In the evening the wind dropped to 15 knots and our new, Richards Bay, barbeque coped with this without blowing out.  You do require the boat to be facing into the wind for this to work as the barbeque is specifically designed to take the wind from its right hand side and hence be mounted on the port rail.

 

The anchorage at Georgetown, Ascension Island, viewed from or approach.  There is one catamaran at anchor.  The landing steps are somewhere on the right and yet to be found.

 

With averages of SOG 5.7 knots and SOW of 5.5 knots this has been a slow trip but we have sailed it all bar getting out of St Helena and into Ascension and show total diesel consumed of just 50 litres, most of that being used by the generator.; a very pleasing result.