We had a magical experience swimming with Whale Sharks yesterday! It was a National Geographic moment snorkeling around and under these gentle giants, who didn't seem to be at all bothered by our presence. Apparently St Helena Island has about 30 of them resident in their local waters, and they run regular snorkel boats out each evening to swim with them. Definitely a bucket list item if you ever have the chance to do it, the experience is indescribable. Later on we had a large pig roast and lamb roast dinner at Anne's with several of the local townspeople and had a great evening. Earlier in the week we had an island tour on a 1927 Chevrolet truck, of all of the sights of St Helena, several of which were locations where Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled here. There was a lovely home where he spend his first 7 weeks as a guest, then the residence at the top of the mountain they built for him, and finally the beautiful grave site he chose to be buried in a grove of trees by a waterfall, where he was interned until his body was repatriated back to Paris.
We will miss St Helena and it's people, and would recommend a visit to anyone who can get here.
Finnbar continues to meet local relatives, I think we're up to about 9 now. It's been really special for him to connect with these local distant relatives and they've been very warm and welcoming to all of us. Brian and Catherine had dinner with us last night, he works in Customs and Harbor Control and she works for the local government. They brought a large family tree chart and walked us through all of Finn's relatives since part of his family came to the island many years ago.
Well...its with regret that we leave here this morning to begin our 2000nm voyage to Salvador, Brazil. St Helena will always have a special place in our memories.
Russ and Laurie on NEXUS 0800 1/24/2015 at St Helena Island