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American Spirit II - Day 382; We Arrive in St. Helena; See a Sunrise Green Flash (No. 30); & Have a Good Day in St,. Helena; Thursday, January 22, 2015



Up at 6:00 AM. St. Helena is 20 miles away. At 6:15 PM I can see the lighthouse on St. Helena; a rotating light every 20 seconds. The sky is still full of stars; the wind is 12/13 knots and we're moving at 5.6 knots thru the water and 5.8 knots over the land. I adjust the auto pilot to go 15 more degrees to port as we're heading too far right of the rumb line.



At 7:23 AM the island is obscured by clouds; maybe rain clouds. Like all islands in the tropics, each small island has its own weather system. At 7:35 AM I check in with St. Helena port control. Adela calls me at 7:35 AM and says they saw me on AIS all night long. However, I can't see their AIS. I'll have to talk to Peter when we get in and let him know he may not be transmitting properly. Adela is 3 miles ahead of us.



At 7:45 AM I see mountains rising out of the ocean. A layer of clouds cuts off the top of the volcanic mountain that is St. Helena. I see that the lighthouse is highly elevated on the east end of the island. St. Helena is about 10 miles across from west to east and 5 miles from south to north.



The sun rises at 8:01 AM Cape Town start time, or 6:01 AM local St. Helena time. Jeanine and I see another sunrise Green Flash, No. 30.



I turn on the water maker for 2 hours at 8:19 AM.



Joel puts up the yellow quarantine and the St. Helena flag on two of our shrouds at 8:24 AM. The yellow quarantine flag must stay flying until we clear thru Customs and Immigration.



We jibe the boat at 7:00 AM. The mainsail is now on the starboard or right side; and the jib is on the left or port side. We're still sailing wing-on-wing.



We're approaching St. Helena from the southeast and will round the northeast corner of the island and turn left. We enter the lee of the island at 8:06 AM and the boat speed drops about 1 1/2 knots to 6.0 knots.



At 8:13 AM we cross the finish line for the first part of this leg across the South Atlantic Ocean. Two minutes later we get the keel wrapped in a line going off an orange buoy. Joel goes into the water to unwrap it as I grab the buoy line with a boat hook from the forward deck. It only takes a few minutes to free ourselves.



At 8:56 AM we're on a yellow mooring buoy, and Avocet's dingy helps us stern tie to another buoy to keep us from swinging into Avocet. Our bow is on buoy no. 20.



The first order of business is the customary Captain Morgan rum and coke arrival drink. Then I cook breakfast: bacon,eggs, cut up potato, chilled pear halves and brown bread.



We then hail the harbor taxi on channel 16 and head into town. We're dropped off at a concrete dock that has ropes hanging from a bar to hang onto when you get off the taxi in the up and down swell. It's truly amazing...and fraught with risk.



Our first stop is the yacht club office, where we sign up for a tour of the island tomorrow, starting at 9:30 AM. Then its off to Customs and then Immigration. In talking to Customs, we find out that St. Helena has a population of 4,000; that the British government supports the island to the tune of 32 million pounds a year (8,000 pounds per person per year); and that an airport is being built that costs 250 million pounds.



There is no cell phone service on the island. Zero. So our cell phones are useless. And their is no ATM on the island, either; so you have to go to a bank to get local currency. And credit cards are not used on the island. So everything is cash. I pick up some post cards for myself, Joel and Jeanine; and check out the local food stores.



We stop at Ann's Place for a beer and soda. I order an egg roll, which I assume is a Chinese food item; and receive a roll with an egg on it. Not what I had in mind. Bradley from Alpheratz stops by and shows us 2 videos that have him catching 2 fish using a gaff, a pole with a hook on the end of it, as they're sailing along at 7+ knots. They are traveling thru a school of skipjack and land the fish without a fishing line. An amazing video.



On the way back to the boat we stop at a museum at the base of Jacobs Ladder. A very good, small museum. About the history of St. Helena and the effects of World Wars I and II had on the island. Perhaps the most famous aspect of St. Helena's history is that Napoleon was exiled and died there. More on the history of St. Helena and what to do on St. Helena tomorrow.



At 4:15 PM Joel and I are back at the boat. On the water taxi ride back to the boat it starts to rain lightly but the wind is howling. Glad we brought our light jackets. The cost of the taxi out and back is 2 pounds per person; about $3 US. Once back at the boat I shower as I really need it. Jeanine stays at Ann's Place to do internet and Skype calls. Its slow going and expensive. My Apple phone does not connect to the internet, so I gave the one hour time I had purchased to Joel to use.



At 6:30 PM Saphir, on a mooring behind us, advised us that our stern line has wrapped around their rudder. So we have to take that off and instead of tying our stern line to their mooring buoy, we tie it to their transom. The only problem is that the line is now 3 feet out of the water and I'm concerned that the water taxi will get close lined by it if it drives between Saphir and us, like they did this morning. We then take the water taxi into the town to go to the yacht club for the chicken curry dinner. The cost is 7 pounds. Not bad.



Just before 9:00 PM the sun sets, and we see another, albeit small, Green Flash (No. 30). Thomas from Alpheratz talks to us about using a 'teaser lure.' Its a lure designed to attract fish, but it has no hook on it to catch fish. It draws them near the lines that actually have hooks on them. Their 'teaser lure' is a small board that they tow behind the boat. On this last leg they actually had a shark trying to eat the board, and when they pulled it back onto the boat it had scratches and teeth marks on it. Amazing! We'll have to make and use one of those on our next leg to Brazil.



We're back on the boat at 9:35 PM. Its scary going thru the anchorage as there are lines darting everywhere between boats and moorings. The water taxi's have a tube around their propellers so they actually drive over these lines. Something I'm not used to feeling comfortable about yet.



Jeanine get back at the boat around 10:30 PM. She used the public showers while in town and said that there was no hot water.



Joel and I each have a glass of wine, his red; mine port. Then I go below and type 2 logs. Its 11:31 PM now, but we changed our clocks earlier today so it feels like 1:31 AM.



Brian Fox


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