1630GMT

15 29.3S 006 14.8W

At 1000 this morning we said a reluctant goodbye to St Helena after a truly memorable stay on the island. We have all been thinking of the best way to describe our experience and the best we could come up with was ‘ other worldly’. The island is a complex mixture of ancient volcanics which offer a wide variety of dramatic scenery – all of it steep – from bare multi coloured rocks to lush vegetation, almost every house on the island has a dramatic view, the governor has an ancient tortoise on his lawn, Jamestown is crammed into the narrowest valley imaginable, the roads cling to the edges of cliffs, landing at the jetty is a heart stopping experience, the island people are the most welcoming and friendly community we’ve seen for many a long year – they still base transactions on trust and there is little or no crime, internet and bank charges are extortionate, the locally caught tuna is cheaper than bread, the trekking is fantastic, there are as yet many undiscovered rock climbing venues and there are rumours that whale sharks are seen around the anchorage – needless to say we loved it all.

So now we’re on passage to Ascension island with 656 miles to go, we are running downwind in SE 15 – 18 knots with a moderate following sea doing just over 7 knots under partly cloudy skies and a temperature of 23C. All well on board