Day 390: St Helena to Salvador, Brazil – 31/01/11

Photo:  The sun starts to rise

Photo:  The sun gets more impressive

Photo:  I start to play with the settings on the camera

More of the same.  Still painfully slow although our marginally less painful progress in the night means that we can have the engines off for most of the day.  When we get down to 3.5 knots (however 1 knot of which is current going with us) the engine goes back on.

In the late afternoon I am lying in the sun, my music plugged firmly into my ears, dancing.  I can easily dance lying down – it involves a lot of wriggling around on my bum, arms and legs waving in the air, occasionally playing either my air guitar, or more often, my drums.   Oh, and I am singing, well, caterwauling more like, but to me it’s singing.  Suddenly I am awakened by Mike tapping me on the leg and when I look up he’s standing laughing at me.  I don’t know how long he’s been standing there but I probably look like a complete loon, lying naked, limbs flailing in the air like a bug on its back.  Oh well, it’s a good job he loves me!

 

Our position is:  14 deg 04 min S, 26 deg 24 min W

Distance so far:  21347 nautical miles

Day 389: St Helena to Salvador, Brazil – 30/01/11

I wish I could really say it’s Groundhog Day again but that’s the whole point of Groundhog isn’t it?  It’s the same thing all the time.

So, same lovely weather, same not enough wind, same eating, sleeping, reading and not catching any fish.

 

Our position is:  14 deg 15 min S, 24 deg 16 min W

Distance so far:  21242 nautical miles

Day 388: St Helena to Salvador, Brazil – 29/01/11

The night is calm and we continue to motor.  We normally use the starboard engine more than the port one but as the batteries aren’t charging we use the port engine more, and subsequently have almost scorching hot water.

When Mike gets up he tells me that I have to stay up for a while rather than going straight to bed as he has to sort out the problem with the starboard engine.  As this means pulling the bed apart in the starboard cabin and stowing it in our cabin, there is no way I can even get to my bed so I leave him to it, hoping that the solution will be a quick one.

Well, it’s not as quick as I hope but he does fix it.  It turns out to be a problem with the fan belt which he replaces after taking a long time deciding which of the many different sized fan belts that are in his spares cupboard it actually requires.  What the others are for is a mystery to both of us.

Over an hour later and covered in engine oil and muck, my little pig pen (Mike) has got everything working and the cabin put back together.  I just have to provide him with a bucket of hot soapy water to wash himself down with (I think a hose pipe and a long handled scrubbing brush would be better) before I escape to bed and sleep until 1.30 pm.  I would have been there longer except Mike gets lonely (hungry more like it) and comes to get me.

I provide him with ostrich steaks and ratatouille (although it’s made with green beans rather than peppers) and then he goes to bed.

It’s lovely in the cockpit in the afternoon.  There is just enough of a cool breeze to make the heat of the sun comfortable, and I happily lie and finish a really good book.

As usual, the sunset is beautiful and the sea is so calm that both Mike and I watch it from the bows of the boat.  Some time during the night we will be half way to Salvador.

Photos:  Sunsets are the only things available to photograph

 

Our position is:  14 deg 35 min S, 22 deg 14 min W

Distance so far:  21133 nautical miles

Day 387: St Helena to Salvador, Brazil – 28/01/11

Nothing to report today except really light winds and the prospect of the same to come for the next few days.  Consequently the engine goes on, but hey, it’s a beautiful day.

There’s a difference between the miles we travel through the water and the equivalent miles we travel over land which I am only just beginning to understand.  The miles travelled over land are just that – the distance over static ground.  However, the miles we travel through the water do not take account of any currents we have going with, or against us.  If we have current with us it appears that we are doing less miles as we are carried by the water as we move.  This means that we have actually covered more miles than my distance calculations show because most of the time we have travelled in the same direction as the current.

Each day this week I have been having some sort of nautical lesson.  The difference between true north and magnetic north was one.  The difference between course and course over the ground was another.  As he tries to explain some of these things, I can see Mike almost going blue in the face trying to get me to understand.  Most of the time I give him my most cultivated blank look, not wanting to admit that actually, some of it is actually going in.  Whether it will stay is another matter.  Today he starts explaining about curves in sails and how the wind makes the boat move through the water even if it appears to be coming from the wrong direction.  He almost convinces me that it is the same principle that keeps airplanes in the sky, but I’m afraid that is my stumbling block and at this point, as my eyes glaze over Mike finally loses the will to live and gives up, saving his strength for another day.

Late in the afternoon, Mike realises that the starboard engine no longer seems to be charging the batteries.  That will give him something to think about tonight and tinker with tomorrow.  There’s always something with boats!

 

Our position is:  14 deg 55 min S, 20 deg 04 min W

Distance so far:  21020 nautical miles

Day 386: St Helena to Salvador, Brazil – 27/01/11

It’s a lovely day – blue skies, fluffy white clouds and a gentle breeze.  A bit too gentle of course – we could do with a bit more wind – but it’s a pleasant, easy sail which lets you sleep when you need to, prepare food easily and doesn’t give you bruises as you move around the boat, or, more importantly, make you seasick.

For the first time in days we see some commercial traffic.  There seems to be some sort of shipping lane although it’s not marked on the charts.

Photo:  Mike keeps an eye on passing traffic

Now the freezer is working, Mike puts the fishing line out but we don’t catch anything.  I’m not sure I’m ready for another blood bath in the cockpit anyway just yet!

 

Our position is:  15 deg 12 min S, 17 deg 56 min W

Distance so far:  20913 nautical miles

Day 385: St Helena to Salvador, Brazil – 26/01/11

When Mike wakes me at 2 am, I feel like one of the walking dead.  Usually, although not good at being woken up, I am pretty much alert within about 5 minutes.  Today I am not, and have to resort to putting the alarm clock by my ear, setting it every 15 minutes in case I nod off, which I do.

Just before Mike is due to come on watch, I see a squall developing on the horizon and see it grow on the radar.  As the wind starts to pick up, mindful that we have a full mainsail and genoa out, I decide to get Mike just as the wind suddenly whacks up to 28 knots.

We quickly roll away the genoa and enjoy the short period of flying at 9 knots before the winds die down again and we go back eventually to our 4-5 knots.  Still, it’s a lovely sunrise, yet again, made even more beautiful as the sun peers out from behind the storm clouds.

Photos:  Sun rise and storm clouds

Immediately things are ship-shape I scuttle back to bed and am asleep almost immediately.  When I wake up it is gone midday and Mike gives me the wonderful news that he seems to have fixed the freezer.  He had been conversing by e-mail with Bill from Crazy Horse who understands all about refrigeration (amongst other things) and asked all the pertinent questions to point Mike in the right direction.  Apparently, in at attempt to make sure the freezer didn’t run out of gas, the guy in Knysna overfilled it.  However, it turns out that if the pressure is too high and the voltage drops for any reason, the compressor will not be able to start.  When the voltage dropped (probably me on watch not putting the generator on quickly enough when the batteries were low) the compressor stopped and could not start again even when the voltage resumed to normal because the system had too much pressure in it.  When we first realised the freezer wasn’t working Mike’s first reaction was to shove more refrigerant in it which just made it worse.  Immediately he reduced the pressure, the compressor came on, stayed on and immediately froze everything in sight.

Of course, this is wonderful news, although naturally Mike’s euphoria had stopped him from removing the fresh vegetables that I had stored in the freezer as we were using it as a chiller when it stopped working as a freezer.  Still, just the two lonesome carrots and my ginger had frozen.  Everything else was OK.

On the basis that chicken curry, lovely as it was, is OK for two days running but a bummer for four days, I freeze the remaining portions for the next two Fridays – curry nights as you know!

We can now eat normally again.

It’s a beautiful day with a bright clear sky and fluffy white clouds.  As I lie alternately in the shade and sun in the cockpit, I enjoy our gentle sail through calm water, the boat making a delightful tinkling sound as we move through it, only marred by the occasional thwack of the mainsail as it fills with air.

 

Our position is:  15 deg 27 min S, 15 deg 38 min W

Distance so far:  20791 nautical miles

Day 384: St Helena to Salvador, Brazil – 25/01/11

About half way into my watch the wind drops to almost nothing and I have to put the engine on to keep our speed up to the minimum required to get us to Salvador by 7 February when Johanne and Steve arrive.

Then, almost at the end of my watch, I hear a clunk and looking out of the window I can see that one of the mainsail battens has almost managed to work its way out and has hit the deck.  It is still just about in the sail at the other end but I realise that it will only be minutes before it comes out completely and then it will just slide overboard.  I rush down to wake Mike and he goes out to retrieve it just in time.  It’s the biggest one out of the mainsail and at over 20 feet, the only place to put it is inside the boat running from the port bow head to the stern cabin.  We’ll put it back in when we get some flat calm sea or in Salvador, whichever comes first.

Photos:  Twenty minutes later each day as we travel west, the sun rises

Photo:  The sun turns the clouds beautiful pastel shades

It’s sunny all day today and for the first time in ages it feels hot inside the boat.  Neither of us needs the blanket now and we both put the fan on for our daytime sleeps.

We continue to make inroads into the chicken curry and beef burgers.  I just hope the other stuff doesn’t defrost before we can eat everything that already has.

We motor all day and have over a knot of current with us around teatime which helps.  Finally, at around 10 pm we get enough wind for Mike to turn the engine off.  Bliss.

Photos:  And the sun sets

 

Our position is:  15 deg 27 min S, 13 deg 30 min W

Distance so far:  20679 nautical miles

Day 383: St Helena to Salvador, Brazil – 24/01/11

Same old.  Grey in the morning, sunny in the afternoon.  Lots of sleeping, reading and eating.  At least we sort of have an excuse for all the eating – it will be chucked over the side if we don’t.

On that basis Mike cooks all the chicken, all 4 days’ worth, as it has now defrosted, and makes a huge curry.  But delving into the fridge reveals some very soft beefburgers and semi defrosted fillet steak so they are today’s meals.

We trundle along on lumpy seas.  Mike and I have three ‘technical’ descriptions of our sailing speeds.  Flolopping is when we go really slowly, less than 5 knots, and wobble all over the place with light variable winds and waves that make more impact than the wind does.  Trundling is when the wind is steadier and we sail at 5 to 7 knots.  The best is romping, stronger but stable winds causing us to skip along over 7 knots.  Today is definitely a trundling day.

In the evening Mike’s headache, which he has had for the last two days finally disappears and I realise that all my bruises have now gone too.  Now if we could just go a bit faster ……!

 

Our position is:  15 deg 39 min S, 10 deg 17 min W

Distance so far:  20564 nautical miles

Day 382: St Helena to Salvador, Brazil – 23/01/11

I sleep when I am supposed to and am in a deep sleep when Mike wakes me and I find it very hard to come to.  Still, rather that than tossing and turning for ages.  The sunrise is glorious – a huge ball of fire which then disappears behind a thick wall of cloud – again.

Photos:  The sun rises gloriously but disappears behind the clouds

We make decent progress during the night with our reefed main and genoa, not fast but safe – we don’t like dramas at sea and have thankfully stood on the sidelines while other boats have had those.  We just get malfunctioning equipment.  Talking of which, the freezer is definitely not working.  I could scream.

When Mike gets up I sort out the best stuff from the freezer (which is now stuffed with towels to try to keep things as cold as possible) like fillet steak and the freshly caught tuna and wahoo (courtesy of Joe from Brown Eyed Girl) and pack it at the back of the fridge.  Mike has turned the fridge temperature right down and it has been freezing the stuff at the back for days so he figured it would keep some of our frozen stuff, frozen.  However, we will take no chances and eat like kings for a few days.  I will have a chicken curry cookathon once that starts to defrost.

I go down for my morning sleep and wake to find the usual clouds starting to burn away.  We have some of our wonderful tuna for lunch then Mike heads down for his sleep.  My afternoon is spent reading, fiddling with the sails (yes I move them from one side to both sides then back to one side as the wind shifts around) and very late in the afternoon, lying in the sun while Mike gets his sextant out and takes readings from it.

Photo:  Mike playing with his sextant

The wind is variable for most of the day but OK overall.  I wish it would be a little more consistent and just a bit more of it although I suspect those words will come back to haunt me next time it’s blowing a force 8 gale!

The decision on what to have for dinner is made by rummaging around in the back of the fridge and the freezer to discover what feels the softest then I think about what to do with it.  Consequently, tonight it is meatballs and salad (while we still have some fresh stuff).  In a couple of days it will just be cabbage with everything.

 

Our position is:  15 deg 48 min S, 09 deg 02 min W

Distance so far:  20448 nautical miles

Day 381: St Helena to Salvador, Brazil – 22/01/11

We’re up bright and early to get ready for our island tour, dicing with death once more as we run the gauntlet of the water taxi.  Safe on land, I wonder if I can make it one more time before we leave.

Saturday morning is exceedingly quiet in Jamestown, and I walk up the main street marvelling at the lack of people.  Most of the shops shut at lunchtime and I was told yesterday that the stores have little in the way of fresh produce left by Saturdays anyway.

Photo:  St Helena police station complete with canons

Photo:  The archway into Jamestown from the harbour

Photo:  The church and high street bustling on a Saturday morning

Robert, our guide and taxi driver is waiting for us outside the tourist office and greets us with a warm handshake and a smile before outlining the itinerary for the tour.  He explains that he will stop at various places and give us ‘yarns’ and history lessons about the island – and he does.  Robert can really talk, but he is an engaging man who has lived in England for some years working at a stately home in Somerset when he was a young man.

Photo:  Robert with his taxi

We start off at the harbour where he points out the tip of the SS Papanui which caught fire in 1911 with 364 emigrants on board and tells us about the RFA Darkdale which was sunk in the bay by a German submarine 1n 1941.  Later when we look at the war memorial which has the names of all the names and ages of the crew who died, it’s horrifying to see how many of them were under 25.

Once through Jamestown we look back – it’s an incredible sight.  Nestled in a valley between two almost vertical hills, it sprawls in a thin line inland. 

Photo:  Jamestown

Photo:  The heart-shaped waterfall

He points out houses that Napoleon stayed at when he was imprisoned on St Helena until his death.  One house he only lived in for one day and another while he was waiting for Longwood House to be renovated.  We then have a tour of Longwood House given by a lovely little lady called Ivy.  Although some of the furniture is original, much of it is reproduction as the originals were taken back to France by a nostalgic nation.

Photo:  Nelson’s parlour – he laid his maps out on the pool table

Photo:  Nelson’s deathbed (with Ivy standing guard!)

Photo:  Longwood House

We decline to look at Napoleon’s tomb (his body isn’t there any more – it was taken back to France about 19 years after his death) as my knee is playing up and it’s a 20 minute walk downhill which will kill it.  I must have twisted it slightly when getting off the water taxi yesterday – I knew they would get me one way or another.

St Helena was formed by volcanic activity.  Rising dramatically form the South Atlantic, the island has sheer barren cliffs that are intersected with deep valleys which slope steeply from the central ridges.  There is little flat land and no sandy beaches.  On the high central ground, bush and semi tropical vegetation is abundant although this changes to grassland and pastures before the terrain becomes drier and almost barren below 500 metres to the sea.   After seeing the rocky and barren exterior of the island as we approached yesterday by sea, the interior of the island is a complete surprise, its lush beauty consistent with the higher rainfall there, some of which falls on us today.  When it starts, Mike and I hastily get out of the open back of the truck and get in the cab with Robert.  There’s just enough room for three.

Photo:  The exposed volcanic ‘dyke’ called Lot

Photo:  Lush green pastures with cattle grazing

Photo:  A more volcanic looking terrain

Photo:  The Boer cemetery

We visit the graveyard of the Boer POWs who arrived and were imprisoned here between 1900 and 1902 during the Anglo Boer war in South Africa.

We visit the grounds of the Governor’s residence, Plantation House, its garden complete with giant tortoises, Jonathan (the oldest one), David, Emma, Myrtle, Fredricka and Speedy, that were brought over from the Seychelles.  We meet two of these who rise up on their legs when we walk up to them and allow us to stroke them.

Photo:  Plantation House, the governor’s residence

Photos:  Mike and I being brave – they can give quite a bite these things!

Finally we arrive at the top of Jacob’s Ladder which was constructed in 1829 to haul manure and send goods back down.  It’s a long way down (699 steps) and Mike’s legs go to jelly even when standing behind the wall.  I stand on the top step taking photos.  If it weren’t for my knee I would give it a go (and how glad am I to have an excuse not to!).

Photos:  Jacob’s ladder with the wharf and Jamestown below

We say goodbye to Robert at the distillery where we have an appointment to meet the owner at 2 pm.  He makes his own spiced rum and gin, but we wait until 2.15 and he doesn’t turn up.  We decide to leave as we want to get going while there is some wind.  I manage to get on board Jeannius without mishap and find another cabbage on the cockpit seat left by Dick.  At least if I eat all the cabbages, and we find there is no wind out at sea, I can provide my own!

Sure enough, out of the anchorage the wind dies and we have to motor, although after a few miles, once out of the shadow of the island we are able to put the sails out.

I go down to get something out of the freezer and find the bloody thing is not working again and while Mike attempts to top up the gas, a can of sprite, which was precariously balanced in a place where it should not have been (I was distracted while putting things away) falls and sprays its sticky contents everywhere.

What a great beginning to a long passage!

 

Our position is:  15 deg 51 min S, 06 deg 38 min W

Distance so far:  20387 nautical miles

Day 380: St Helena – 21/01/11

We wake up at a civilised time and after tea and breakfast, Mike goes ashore to deal with the customs and immigration formalities while I wait just in case the fuel boat arrives.  To get to shore you have to use the water taxi and those of you who have been reading the blog for some while will know that I have very unpleasant memories of water taxis from Puerto Ayora in the Galapagos Islands, basically taking a tumble from one, as did Jim.

Mike calls me from town and says that if I want the washing done I should get it ready and when the taxi brings him back, I can take it in to town while he waits for the diesel.  Great.  So now, not only am I going in, but I am going in alone.  I feel a tumble coming on!

I tidy up, sweep the floor (still enamoured with my little green floor wizard) and finish applying teak oil to all the bits I missed last night.  Jeannius is looking pretty darn smart.  Then I hear the dreaded arrival of the water taxi and as Mike gets off, I get on.  I warn the driver that I am hopeless and he comes to grab me before I make an exhibit of myself.  So far so good.

We pick up crew from Eowyn and Ariane and I stare with horror at the harbour wall as we approach.  There are knotted ropes suspended that you have to grab hold of as you step from boat to cement dock.  As the waves pound the boat heaves up and then drops.  I throw the washing bag ashore, followed by my camera (I don’t want that going for a swim again).  Luckily there are three men around me to help ensure that I don’t fall in and I time it right, grabbing onto a rope and an arm on the way up.  Phew!

St Helena is a little gem of a place as it turns out.  It’s a bit like a little British market town in the 1950’s and everyone smiles.  It’s almost uncanny – someone you don’t know walks past and says hello and you almost do a double take as you think you’ve just walked past someone you know.

I leave my washing at the tourist office as it will be picked up and returned by 3.30 pm then go and check out the local shops.  I’m not expecting much as the supplies ship doesn’t come that regularly and therefore I am not disappointed.  There’s lots of tinned goods, dried goods and the like, but not much in the way of fresh stuff which is what I am after.  I buy a cabbage.  That’s it.  But the town is pretty, all brightly coloured stone cottages, just like an English seaside town.

I walk past the prison – apparently there are 10 cells and only 4 of them are occupied at the moment.  There are cannons galore adorning the police station and facing out to sea.  And then there’s Jacob’s ladder – a flight of steps up the sheer face of rock from just above the harbour – all 699 of them.  Not for me – going up would probably kill me and coming down with my dodgy knee would be suicide.

Photos:  Views of Jamestown, St Helena

After my little bit of shopping I head back to the harbour to pick up the water taxi and manage to make it in, back to Jeannius and off without mishap.  Mike and I have a spot of lunch and it hardly seems any time at all before we have to go back to town to pick up the washing and see if any more vegetables have miraculously appeared in the shops.  However it is now high tide and getting off the water taxi is even more precarious.  The waves are breaking over the dock and looking at it I am terrified.  Again, and this time, God knows how, I manage to get off without drowning and then I stand and watch others attempting to get on the water taxi.  Scary stuff.

Photo:  Terror at the water taxi dock

We pick up the washing and find out that our free tour is now not free as we are the only people who want it (everyone else went this morning and yesterday).  We try to get a hire car but there isn’t one to be had so we book a little man for 4 hours in a taxi for £30.  Then I go in search of vegetables, finding some green beans, green tomatoes, butter and a butternut squash – not much for two weeks worth of ‘5 a day’ but it can’t be helped.

We manage to buy a new ‘clicker’ for our gas hob so that I can light it instead of calling the match man (Mike) and go to Ann’s place, a restaurant thoroughly recommended but totally devoid of any character, where we connect to the internet and publish the blog.  Then it’s back to the boat to dice with death once more getting on and off the water taxi.

Less than an hour later and it’s time to go out for dinner, this time to a Chinese that has been recommended.  Unfortunately, although we have a good evening, it’s in spite of the food rather than because of the food. and the crews from Tzigane, Tucanon and Voyageur all feel the same.  It is a very disappointing meal, no flavour at all.  It’s after paying for a meal like this that I realise why we enjoy eating in so much – we can cook and we buy good ingredients.

Photo:  It’s the wine that makes us smile, not the food

One last dice with death and it’s back to the boat.  We have our island tour tomorrow and we might leave in the afternoon or leave it until Sunday.  We’ll wait until tomorrow’s weather forecast to make our decision.

Day 379: Cape Town to St Helena – 20/01/11

We continue to motor as at times we have less than 4 knots of wind.  Just for an hour or two during the night we suddenly fly at 7 knots but that performance is sadly not repeated during the day.

Again we have a cloudy morning and a sunny afternoon.  It’s around midday that St Helena comes into view in the distant haze.  She is a volcanic island that rises straight up from the ocean bed, 5000 metres below the surface, and continues upwards for another 800 metres.  She has a population of a few thousand and the only way of arriving here is by sea.

It takes another 7 hours after she comes into view for us to be making our approach to the anchorage and just as we are about 5 miles away the fishing line screams out.  I run to put the boat into tick over and Mike starts to bring it in.  It’s heavy but what he’s pulling in doesn’t fight that much and we end up landing a lovely big black fin tuna.  Then the fun begins.

Because the boat is still so clean, I watch in horror as Mike spreads copious amounts of blood everywhere as he cuts it’s head off and guts it.  Tuna is a bloody fish at the best of times and this one is big hence more blood.  I spread a plastic sheet over the table to protect it but the blood drips over the edge landing on the floor.  In Mike’s feeble attempt to ‘clear up as he goes’ he wipes across it with sea water which of course just waters it down and makes the bloody mess go even further.  I can’t bear to watch – thank goodness for the sea water pump!  When he’s finished with his carnage, we hose everywhere down although it means that we will have to wash it down again later with fresh water.

Photos:  Mike and our tuna

We gun the engines again and enter the anchorage at around 6.30 pm local time.  There is a ‘take your own meat’ barbecue tonight at the St Helena Yacht Club which starts at 6 pm but by the time the anchor is down and Mike is happy, it’s almost 7 pm and we decide not to go as we are both tired.  Instead, we break open the bottle of champagne that Ana and Brent gave us in Elliot basin.  She is right.  It is just as good as the French stuff – absolutely delicious.

Photo:  Champagne and a sunset – what a combination!

Photo:  Sunset over the anchorage

We rinse down the cockpit with fresh water and I give the table another coat of teak oil.  For dinner we eat lunchtime’s leftovers then collapse into bed, glad that neither of us have to get up 5 hours later.

 

Our position is:  15 deg 54 min S, 05 deg 43 min W

Distance so far:  28174 nautical miles