Day 14 - Passage to St Helena;
Misterx
Thu 20 Mar 2025 18:06
19/03/25
8:30 pm
Day 14
Atlantic Ocean
DTD : 60 NM
I was greeted this morning by a loud squawking... i definitely was not
expecting that!
A paille en queue, only know the name in Mauritian French, that white
slender bird with a very long thin tail, was circling around us at dawn. The
most beautiful bird with the most unattractive call! He stayed with us for a
bit and then disappeared, towards land! And i know where land is because we
are aiming at it, have been for days. Almost a biblical picture, the sun
rays slowly fighting their way through the cloud, and this lonely bird
high in the sky, circling around the mast, squawking loudly!
We have not seen a bird for many days now. the skies have been empty of any
living creature. So have the seas for that matter. It is one of the thing
that really amazes me, with the amount of time we have spent staring at the
sea, how little wild life we have seen... on the high sea anyway. The birds
tend to stay with us for a few days and then vanished. On this passage,
apart for a small shoal of tuna having a jumping competition, and the
customary squadrons of flying fishes, with a couple of them stranded on deck
every morning, we have seen nothing else.
We have been doing really well all day, with the computer expecting us to
arrive in the early morning tomorrow and then, as night fell the wind
dropped again... with us going at 3.5/4 knots, our arrival time is now
midday. As long as we arrive in daylight, it doesn't make a great deal of
difference. One thing we do not want is to find a anchoring place in the
dark, in a mooring field which is, by all account, already full. The
anchoring conditions are also a bit edgy, we have to anchor in 20m, which is
quite a lot of depth for us. We usually anchor in 8 to 5m usually. Here you
have no choice, the island is pretty steep in and out of the water. Added to
this the 20m shelf is also quite narrow, it drops down very sharply, so you
do not want to be too close to that edge. So it should be interesting all
round.
Can't wait for daylight, we should be seeing land by sunrise. Always a
special moment, first sighting of land after any passage really. You can see
the cloud first, not moving. The cloud over the land usually gives the game
away. And then there is the smell, every island has got it's own smell. Make
sense really, given that they will have different trees and plants growing
on it. Mauritius smelt very sweet, of cinnamon and spices. New Zealand was
sage brush and far more earthy... of course Ian is looking at me blank when
I mention the smell of the island!! He does the same thing, when i talk
about red wine tasting of raspberry and elderberry! some of us are not
blessed with very powerful 5 senses! Although I can confirm there is nothing
wrong with his sense of taste, just not working too well when it is too
subtle!
So we will plod along for the night, not too long before day break, and our
first sight of St Helena!
M