Day 11 - Passage to St Helena;
Misterx
Mon 17 Mar 2025 00:54
16/03/25
8:30 pm
Day 11
Atlantic Ocean
DTD : 402 NM
We passed the Greenwich Meridian this morning around 10, and as is
customary, we did share a libation of rum with Neptune to thank him for a
safe passage all the way back home to the Greenwich Meridian. Still a lot of
miles to go under the keel of Mr X before we get there, we'll need all the
help we can get!
The wind has picked up as was forecasted and we are now back at our usual
cruising speed of 5.5 knots on average and in the right direction. And it
does make a lot of difference on the miles eaten up at the end of the day!
115 NM today, it is going down!
The skies are still grey and cloudy, the sun only shows up in the afternoon,
just as i am getting up... ready for a nice lunch in the sunshine.
We've been doing very well with our fruits and veg, guess you could say we
have a bit of experience by now! Only casualties so far, a couple of
mandarins, the oranges were absolutely fine, a pepper that went mushy and a
big tomato went bad on us, it got bruised and from then, it is usually where
it does get bad. We are impressed with the grapes, they usually do not fare
so well, but we still have 2 punnets holding on pretty good. As for the
carrots, they are still in good shape, well wrapped up in newspapers. We
were lucky to meet some local in Langebaan and they did take us to a place
where the fruits and vegetables were of exceptional quality, and sold in
bigger quantity at discounted prices. The trouble with most of the
supermarket is that a lot of their produces are refrigerated, and once they
are they do not last long if kept outside of the fridge. Given our limited
space in the fridge, finding a place that actually sells stuff at room
temperature makes a huge difference in the longevity of the goods. And we
need them to last weeks! The market in Panama before we crossed the Pacific
was the best though... and so much fun! We had wheelbarrow full, and had to
split the 25 and 50kg bags of stuff between a few of boats ... The putting
away was also fun! We had to dedicate one of the back cabin just for food!
We have been warned that there will not be much opportunity of victualing in
St Helena... The supply boat only comes once a month and with a population
on over 4,500 people things are a bit tight. Apparently the influx of
cruisers at this time of year is always playing havoc with the supplies
situation, especially when the cruising rallies turn up.
Our friend L, our link to the outside world, sent these rather concerning
messages earlier this week.
"Shock horror, I just read yesterday, that St Helena has run out of beer!!!
Some mob of yachties came through and cleaned them out."
A couple of days later, this was received
"Re the beer drought, I don't know whether you have read the chatter on the
sail to SA WhatsApp but apparently yachts are bringing up to 25 cases each
to help restock the island. As someone quipped, yeah they leave Cape Town
with 25 cases, but how many do they arrive with? Good question."
I am guessing that there is huge consternation on St Helena at the moment...
not a drop of booze to be had... and it's St Patrick's Day tomorrow... the
cruising community might not be welcomed in St Helena for much longer!
Hopefully these helpful people carrying supplies will arrive before we do,
so relationships can be repaired!
Hope there are still plenty of bubbles!
M