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
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