Exploring St. Helena

Friday January 28, St. Helena island is at 15 56S, 5 46W in the South Atlantic Ocean, measuring 6 by 10 miles, the land area is 47 square miles. It is a British Overseas Territory. Discovered in 1502 by Portuguese, later was under Dutch rule, the East India Trading Company, then became a British possession. It was an important port until the opening of the Suez Canal. It’s remote location made an ideal place to exile prisoners, the most famous being Napoleon. He was exiled to the island in 1815 and died on St. Helena Island in 1821. His residence, Longwood House still stands as well as the the location of his tomb. He is no longer entombed there, his remains were reburied in 1840 in Paris, France.

Here in Jamestown, there is a ferry service for a fee that will come to your boat to take you ashore. On the hour 6am to 6pm by request. You can take your dinghy in, but the landing area is quite rolly and would be very wet. At 12 noon, along with Susan on s/v Lost Girl, we caught the shuttle and went ashore. She arrived on Wednesday also, sailing from Cape Town. The three of us went to the port captains office where we were met by custom and immigration, passports stamped.

Next stop was the bank to get cash. Only cash is used on this island, no credit/debit cards. There are no ATM’s on the island. The currency is the St. Helena pound, good only here and on Ascension Island.

We had lunch at the Consulate Hotel. Sundowners on our boat with locals Case and Kyle who are staying on a boat near us.

Saturday January 29, Happy Birthday Ben! Dan and I walked around Jamestown most of the day. After lunch we met up with Susan, we had an early dinner, then took the ferry back to our boats.

James Bond continues with evening showing of “Die Another Day” and “Casino Royale”.

Sunday January 30, together with Susan, we hired a tour guide to show us around the island, Aaron from Aaron’s Adventure Tours. Born on St. Helena, he came highly recommend by several people throughout the town.

The roads on the island leading to the interior and across are single lane, hilly, very curvy with multiple switchbacks having frequent pull off areas to allow cars to pass. Car going uphill have right of way to those going downhill.

s/v Moyo has been here at St Helena fir over a year. There son is going to school here too. Early evening they stopped by our boat after returning from a day fishing and brought us as well as other boats at anchor here lobsters. We cooked them up right away, froze some of it.

Tonight’s movie, James Bond, “Quantum of Solas”.

Monday January 31, Happy Birthday Luke! Today we had a late start going into town as it rained all morning. After catching the 11am ferry, we walked to Annie’s Launderette where we dropped off three bags to wash. They should be ready by Wednesday for pick up.

We stopped in The Market for lunch only to be joined by Steve from Port Control.

For dinner, pasta with lobster in a garlic olive oil sauce.

Tonight’s movie, James Bond, “Skyfall”.

Tuesday February 1, Happy Birthday Dan!❤️ went into town on the 9am ferry, had breakfast at Ann’s Place.

This morning we met a local woman Joyce Henry. She knits turtles, you can purchase them at the Arts and Crafts, a store where locals sell handmade goods. We purchased one from her directly.

Dinner tonight, Linguine Alfredo with lobster and a refreshing South African white wine.

Tonight’s final James Bond movie, “Spectre”.

Wednesday February 2, we spent 2.5 hours at the doctors office today. Dan had a cut on his foot we felt it best to have it looked after before departing here. On the way back down the hill we picked up our laundry then had lunch, purchased 2 hours of WiFi, had two Jerry cans filled with diesel, by late afternoon we headed back Trance.

Our friends arrived today from Cape Town, Ohana and Northern Pearl. Sea Dancer arrived late Tuesday afternoon. They are all in quarantine, will have their COVID test tomorrow.

Thursday February 3, provisioning day. We purchased items that need refrigeration, took them back to the boat, went back into town for produce. Johnny the ferry operator gave us a nice filet of tuna this morning too, that will be tonight’s dinner! Tuna steaks with a honey soy sauce glaze with sautéed potatoes and carrots.