Atlantic Pictures
NORDLYS
David and Annette Ridout
Fri 4 Apr 2008 20:14
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A pictorial version of our
passage
10:40N 61:38W
Chaguaramas, Trinidad
4th April 2008
We upped our anchor in Store Bay, Tobago at 0500hrs
this am. Yesterday was 'interesting'. A huge swell came into the
anchorage and getting ashore became hazardous. Ken and Janet in Aquila
were very nearly upended and did not manage to get ashore at all. We
entered the narrow gap into the hotel lagoon on a plane and left the dinghy
there. Very luckily we had friends from Lymington, the whateley - Smiths
staying there and we piggy backed on them. A trip to Scarborough, a lot of
hassle from the Immigration people and some help from the Customs and we
were cleared out. What a stupid business all this clearing in and our
simply to go from one port in the same country to another.
Anyway after a couple of hours of horrid lumpy seas
on top of the aforementioned big swells and only 10 knots of wind from dead
aft
we got ourselves into a stiff following wind of
force 6 and slightly smoother seas. Thus the 60 miles were rolled off by
1400 when we tied up to a berth in Cruise Inn Marina, Chaguaramus.
Trinidad. The boat is STILL for the first time since the middle of
February. Nirvana. So dear readers you have had a lot of my writing
and only a few photso for the last few months. Here are a few
photos. Not very good quality due to capacity constraints on the weblog
but here goes.
 Cape of Good Hope as we rounded in no wind and overcast.
Goodbye South Africa we will be back but not with
Nordlys
 toiling up 'those steps' St Helena'
 Half way and still smiling
 Jamestown nestles in a barren valley. All the coastal
areas are this
brown, lifeless, volcanic rock
 Longwood House, Napoleon's final home. Unfortunately we
were not allowed to
photograph inside. It is now French territory.
 His original burial site. A beautiful place surrounded
by tall trees and
everywhere splendid flowers. Far nicer than 'Les
Invalides' in Paris.
 This shows the contrast between upper central St Helena
and the coastal regions.
 Our crowd of passagemakers. Nationalities from left to
right round the table, German/American/American/English
American/German/American/German/German and finally Danish but
honorary English.
Purely by chance partners are not sitting together
incidentally.
 A dawn farewell to St Helena
 Anchored in Ascension. In front of us our South African
friends who are just
starting their circumnavigation. Indigo, who says they
will keep a webdiary
on mailasail. In front of them the beach where at night
the giant turtles
crawl out and lay their eggs. Then the barren coastal
strip and in the background
green mountain the only bit of Ascension with vegetation on
it.
 19th Century water catchment built by British troops on Green
Mt.
 Green Mt has its own micro climate. Cool and wet.
Rain catchers
can bee seen in the centre of the photo.
 Crawled out of the sea, dug hole, layed eggs, covered them and
now exhausted this
250kg monster trudges back to her element.
 Lunar type landscape where the original moon buggy was
tested.
Wideawake airfield can be seen in the background. Large area
of concrete is
parking pan. Runway is in front of this.
Landing a B747 here is interesting as the runway lies between
hills
that appear, but are not, VERY close to ones wingtips. I
did this
in 1984
 Diesel going down and no signs at all of wind.
 Almost at the equator. Wind had just risen and rain with
it but who cared.
Within a few minutes of taking this photo we had 25 knots from
well forward of the
beam, torrential rain and then out of the mirk appeared the
first ship we had seen for over a week!
 These beggars, goose barnacles, never grow on the boat until
we
have been at sea for over two weeks. At least the only
times we have had them have been
Galapagos to Marquesas (3005nm, 16 1/2 days)
and Ascension to Tobago, (3018nm 20 1/2 days)
They are the very devil to get off. An old plastic
credit card seems to be the best way. They only grow
at the stern and even when always going fast, not this trip
but the former, they come. Forward of them
the hull was irregularly very green. All in all quite a
few hours of energetic work were needed.
We are not planning on being at sea for over two weeks
again!
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