can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

BRIZO - Underway Again!



Our last couple of days on St Helena were quite busy: the island tour was great, viewing the Napoleon sites was very interesting and the island itself has a natural beauty which we were not expecting. The recent rainy season left all of the vegetation very green. We checked out the Jacob's Ladder stairway which is a prominent feature in Jamestown but Corinne was the only person to actually run/climb the ladder. She's still recovering!

After the tour we were regrouping in the bar at the Consulate Hotel and Lew met a marine biologist who was working on a two year project to catalog all of the marine species in the waters of St Helena. This has never been done before and the study is being called The Darwin Initiative because of the potential similarities between the Galapagos Islands and St Helena: both very remote places surrounded by deep ocean. In fact Judith has discovered three new species of invertebrates and agreed to make a brief presentation of her findings to Kathryn and Audrey the following day since they are both interested in marine biology (Kathryn's current career goal is to become a marine biologist). The girls enjoyed seeing the actual specimens and better understanding exactly what a marine biologist does.

The World ARC party at the St Helena Yacht Club was a lot of fun, the members organized a barbecue outside the clubhouse on the quay and we had a great time catching up with everyone. One of the few challenges encountered on the island is getting onto and off of the small ferry (water taxi) operating between the moorings and the town. There is usually a large surge in the drop off area and there are a series of ropes mounted to a steel frame so that you can climb onto the ferry between surges. This was particularly challenging on Friday when the surges increased. Ferry service was shut down by 6:45pm that evening and no one was able to go ashore...we were all held captive on our boats for the evening!

An unusual aspect of St Helena is that there is no airport and the only way to get here is by sea. The government of St Helena has awarded a contract to build an airport capable of handing aircraft from the UK and South Africa but it will take four years to build the airport. Everyone agreed that it will be interesting to see how the island will change as a result of this new access and increased development for tourism.

Friday was spent on the remaining provisioning chores, Corinne and Karson assure us we are well-provisioned, especially cookies for Lew, for the passage to Brazil. We departed just before 8:00 Saturday morning and have been sailing at a decent speed so far. This leg is known for light winds and we expect to use our engine a lot during this passage but since we do not carry enough fuel to motor the entire way, we need to be careful about our use of fuel. Whenever there is enough wind to sail at 5 knots or more, we need to take advantage of that. We have been sailing wing-and-wing with the wind directly astern and this has been working very well.

Previous | Next