Vibes from the Warm South Atlantic
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It is
a delight when you stumble across a little place with totally its own character,
and everything about Level
of about 1000 ft above the sea and nearly everyone has to live at that higher
level. There is a narrow Valley cut into the steep sided volcanic rock which leads
down to the sea and it is nestled into this that
the Shops,
bars and offices are based most of these buildings where built during
1800
and 1900`s. When ships where able to make it to South Africa without refuelling
there was no longer any need for a mid Atlantic Bunkering station.[fuel station]
So for the last 100 years or so the people
that Live
here have gone their own way minding their own business, whilst the British have
been sending out Governors and civil servants trying to decided what to do
with the people and place. The people
originate From
places like India, Courtesy of the British and Dutch East India Company, UK
America and a few French as a result of Napoleons imposed exile here until
his death. As a result of both their heritage
and Isolation they speak English in their own very strange
way, and if two ST Helena`s are speaking
together There
is no way that I would have a clue what they were talking about, Even when you
are speaking on a One
to one bases it is still very difficult to know what is being said and they have
to make a special effort To
speak for us otherworld people. The irony is that they are very often forced to
find work off the To
enable them to earn their living and a number end up working for the
As we approached the Island we were able
to see the houses all built up on the flat top of the hills with corrugated iron
roofs, we could only guess at this stage that that was indeed where everybody
lived, but At
that stage we could not understand why anyone would want to build a house on the
windy top of the Hills. It was only after we had done a little tour around
with one of the locals that we were able to see that
The
hills are to steep sided and unstable for building houses on only the tops of
hills are level enough. The Sole
method of contact with the rest of the world is Via a small passenger cargo ship
probably one of the Only
ones still in operation travelling on an Ocean in the world. So Should you wish
to visit you can board From
Need
there food and postal needs attending to.
The Blue
ocean and Sky, Their is Cricket played at the High school on a beautiful flat
green field, at one end of which is a 500ft drop into the lush green valley
below. The buildings down at the main town take you back
150
years and give a great feel to the place. The water around the
with
pleasure we were able to once again indulge in our favourite pastime of
snorkelling and watching the sea world
go by. As was apparent by my repeated attempts to send the photos with the last
web diary Internet links are not good and there are only 3 BBC TV channels, One
sad note is the Beer comes up from Cape Town so unfortunately is South
African. We had a very pleasant three day stopover
during which we had a tour of the Island Three persons
with One
guide and his taxi, taking in a visit to the Governors residency where we meet a
tortoise who was in Residency during the period that Napoleon was
on the And
Garden, All for the princely sum of
£10 per person very good value. Our
final day was fun because We
were trying to get things sorted out for departure, fill water and diesel tanks
stock up with fresh food Milk
ect, The problem was that their was a team of French mountain specialist working
on the hill directly At
the back and above the quay, they were removing the loose rock from the hill to
make the quay safe also The
buildings on the quayside had been taking a pounding from the falling rocks.
This meant we could only Get
access to the boat between 12.00 and 13.00 whilst they had lunch and we would
then be allowed back to The
boat at 17.00 when they finished work for the day. So our finally day included
periods of chasing around Getting things done punctuated by periods of hanging
around waiting to be allowed back out to the boat.
Our Final
contact sums Whilst out walking as we were leaving the ferry boat man
gave us a tin full of Home made Cakes and
some Homemade jam, for us to eat during our trip to
So we
finally got away at about 7.o clock Monday evening, this gave us a target to get
to Saturday the 15 which so happened to be both Paddy’s
day and the date on which the 6
nations was being Decided, with one other interesting twist
Us 11
days to travel the1900 miles, just a bit of a big ask of the Flying Carpet but
you never know with some Good
trade winds and a bit of helpful current it might well be possible. I always was
an optimist. Just like to Thank
Rob Cole for very kindly thinking of me and sending on the results of the Six
Nations Rugby, I am sure he was afraid that I might be unable to find out the
results and would be keen to know them. So
that`s Two
Welsh grand slams in 5 years I don’t believe it! well done anyway. Niamh
Andre and Tortoise outside the Governors
House. We Did have a very pleasant sail to
Behind us for most of the passage, we had to do a fair
amount of motoring and are new Spinnaker was
flown Nearly everyday, but it was just never quite possible to
cover enough miles each day. And during the last few days we had to calculate
our distance and fuel supply to see if we would have enough to get in. Luckily
the Wind
picked up and we had a great final 200mile sail in, leaving us with 60 litrse of
fuel in the boat enough For 130
miles of motoring. We finally arrived on Sunday night and had used about 380 litres since leaving
Feel
better about buying a new spinnaker in What
long distance sailing was all about, and we had given him a flavour of what it
is, mostly patiently passing the time and miles with the occasional small burst
of excitement. More of an endurance Test
than anything else. A good book or two is very helpful, and you can always use
up a few hours each Day
doing your sun sights and getting a fix for your From
windy Cape Town Sailing for 28 days
and only having winds above 20 knots for 4 of them was
a Bit
of a novelty I am sure. So I do hope you enjoyed it all thanks for all your
help, and good luck with all Yours
and your families plans back Home. He received his entry visa on Monday
afternoon and by Tuesday Morning
he was on a flight back to Break! You see how well he`s catching on to this way of
life.
So here
we are sat now in the smartest marina in Is a
dual carriage way behind which are a fair number of very run down houses in
which a number of Poor
people live, amongst whom are a number of young males who look across at this
place I am sure With
a fair amount of envy. As our route to town is to walk along the carriage way
for ½ a mile they Must
also very quickly be aware of where it is we are coming from. Within a couple of days of us
being Here a
German crew member from our neighbouring boat was mugged at knife point by a
gang of youths, This
was in broad daylight on a main street on his way back to the marina. He was
shaken by the experience And
lost his wallet, but no serious injuries thank goodness. Since that encounter I
have been using more taxies not taking out much money or credit cards and not
going out with a camera. So not to many
photos For
this city. Niamh has a small camera so she has been snapping a few shots. This is a massive city
there Is a
down town area by the docks with all the banks then you go up in the Elevators
to the main old town Full
of great 200year old grand buildings. This area is heavily policed and gets a
large number of tourist, it Is
also the area that you find all the live music for dance and drums. Because of the problems for us to
Understand the Language, Portuguese, it has taken us a
fair time to get to know our way around and are
just About
beginning to have our bearings sorted. Even getting places in a taxi can be
difficult if the guy has not Got a
clue what you are trying to say to him. As usual there are one or two bits to
fix on the boat which is very entertaining try to talk about fridges or
Hydraulic steering to a Brazilian. The joy of trying to keep a boat fully
functional in foreign countries. This web diary is courtesy of an enforced
morning on the boat waiting for the fridge And
not being able to keep fish fresh for long if we get to catch any on the next
trip. So there you have it When
Niamh lets me have some of her photos I will put some of the night street
scene’s on for a bit of Brazilian atmosphere but for now that’s all from me.
Inside Longwood Napoleon’s Home in Exile to be fair this
was the best room. No Flash photos allowed. Last
night we went up into the old town to listen to music and have a meal, It is
certainly an experience not to be missed this town sure does Rock to the sound
of Drums and Samba. You might get the occasional close
Contact with a person on the street when you have to hang
on to what’s in your pockets but with large number`s of police at every corner
things are generally peaceful. So the tourist walking around the old
District are looked after hopefully to encourage others
to visit. Penguin
sailing the trade winds from Lying
on the bottom of this bit of ocean.
New Spinnaker looks good though.
View To
left and then right of Penguin
parked at the
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