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Steve and Julie, who have previously written in Flying Fish 2002/1 and 2003/2, are in the final stages of a six-year circumnavigation aboard their Saltram 40 Dos Tintos.
Having neither a boat nor a crew that likes being hard on the wind, our passage from South Africa back to Europe took us via the Caribbean. The British islands of St Helena and Ascension lie close to the direct route, so it would have been almost rude not to stop there.
We left Cape Town on 8 January 2005, and with some strong southeasterly winds and a good push from the Benguela Current reached the anchorage in James Bay, St Helena at 0800 on 21 January – 1699 miles in just under 13 days. The highlights of the passage were passing through the Tropic of Capricorn for the sixth and final time of our six year voyage and crossing the Greenwich Meridian for the first time.
At 1000 miles off the West African coast and 670 miles from Ascension, St Helena is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The Portuguese navigator João de Nova first discovered the rugged 47 square mile island in 1502. Argued over by the Dutch and English for many years, it was formally proclaimed a Dutch possession in 1633. However the English East India Company took possession in 1659 and started the first permanent settlement, Jamestown, at Chapel Valley. It was visited by many famous figures – Edmund Halley in 1677, William Dampier in 1691 and James Cook in 1775. The Zulu Chief Dinizulu was exiled here for seven years from 1890, and 6000 Boer prisoners-of-war were held on the island between 1900 and 1903. However, its most distinguished visitor was Napoleon Bonaparte, who was sent here after his defeat at the battle of Waterloo in 1815 and remained until his death in 1821.
With no airport, and its only connection to the outside world the Royal Mail Ship St Helena which sails to Cape Town and back every six weeks, the island has remained fairly isolated. Direct dialling phone lines were not introduced until 1990 and television only arrived in 1995. It is a British dependency and in early 2003 the residents were given full British passports, which has resulted in the population dropping from 5000 plus to 3000 in just two years. The anchorage at St Helena
The harbour and anchorage is an open roadstead with a lot of local boats on moorings. We talked to Port Control on VHF Channel 16 and the harbour ferry came out and showed us where to anchor – in 17m of water (15°55.08’S 005°43.10’W). Thankfully there was little swell and we did not roll. The landing area is a fairly large stone platform with steps built into the sea wall, but due to the swell any dinghy used has to be hauled out each time. Fortunately there is a ferry service to take fishermen out to their boats and for £1 per person per day you get unlimited trips, which saves a lot of hassle with the dinghy.
St Helena waterfront, with Jacob’s Ladder in the background
Formalities are quickly completed on the quay. Immigration charge £11 per person for a one month visa, extendable to three months. The harbour office charge of £20 includes a shower on the quay and all the drinking water you care to jerry-can out from a tap at the landing steps. Customs nod and wink. Medical cover is required for non-British visitors, but this can be arranged on the island. Behind the quay, protected by a moat and castle, lies Jamestown. Access from the quay is over a bridge and through a gate in the fortified walls. The town itself runs inland along the bottom of a very steep-sided valley and is quite quaint. There are two hotels, three supermarkets, four pubs, five churches and numerous shops, so most needs can be catered for.
Jamestown, St Helena
One of the obligatory things for visitors is to climb Jacob’s Ladder. This is a set of 700 steps built in 1829, which climbs 600 feet straight up the side of the valley to the top of Ladder Hill. We did this in the early morning and felt stiff for the next two days.
The RMS St Helena was in when we arrived, and as a result there were no hire cars available. Along with the crews of Gwendolyn and Monitone we booked a guided tour with a local chap, Robert Peters. The four hour tour cost £5 each and took us around the island including visits to Longwood House, Plantation House and High Knoll Fort. Interior view, St Helena
The contrast between the coastal area, which is dry and arid, and the interior is quite dramatic. Above 500m the island is green and in some places quite lush, and the views are spectacular. The highlight of the tour, though, was the visit to Longwood House. Now owned by the French Government, this is where Napoleon spent most of his time on the island and where he died. It is now a museum, where we enjoyed one of the best guided tours we have ever experienced. Plantation House is the Governor’s residence and the grounds, which are open to the public, are home to four giant tortoises from the Seychelles. High Knoll Fort, completed in 1874, commands some spectacular views of the island. High Knoll Fort, St Helena
From a tourist perspective there are no sandy beaches but there are a lot of walks, and diving or fishing can be arranged. We stayed a total of six days and very much enjoyed ourselves, though a car would have enabled us to make even more of our visit.
On 27 January we departed for Ascension Island, 700 miles to the northwest. We had light southeast winds and were poled out the whole way. On Day 5 we celebrated logging 50,000 miles on the clock, but saw just one ship, en route from New York to Durban. We completed the passage in six days, arriving in Clarence Bay at 1600 on 2 February.
Discovered in 1501, Ascension was visited by passing ships whose crews collected turtles and birds’ eggs for food. It wasn’t until 1815 that it was settled by Britain, to prevent it being used as a staging post for a rescue attempt of Napoleon from St Helena. At the end of the 19th century the first undersea cable was laid by what is now Cable & Wireless. It was administered by the navy until 1922, when it became a dependency of St Helena. The US military has had a base here since 1942, when they built the airfield which was used in the Second World War as a refuelling stop and more recently during the Falklands War. Approaching Ascension Island
The first thing you notice on approaching the island is its volcanic, barren, arid nature; the second is the hundreds and hundreds of aerials of all shapes and sizes. Communications is the name of the game on Ascension these days, with the BBC, Cable & Wireless and various other agencies using the island as a relay or Earth station.
We were directed to anchor ‘anywhere’ in Clarence Bay, so long as we avoided the long floating fuel pipe which neatly dissects it. We dropped in 11m with a sand bottom (07°55.25’S 14°24.71’W). Once again we were lucky, as although there was a long, low swell dumping heavily on the beach the anchorage was comfortable. There is no ferry service and landing by dinghy is interesting. A small pier juts out into the ocean and you land on a narrow set of steps built into its end. There are some mooring lines to leave the dinghy tied to, and an old hard dinghy is secured between the mooring and the steps for getting the last person ashore. Going back out it was often easier to swim to the dinghy, as the water was 28°C. Coastal lava plain, Ascension Island
Historically, due to the military nature of the island, visiting yachts were not welcome and were normally only granted a 48 hour stay. Little or nothing was available ashore. Today nothing could be further from the truth – by the time we got ashore immigration was closed, so the police suggested we have a beer and come back for clearance the next day, which we did.
A very pleasant lady does clearance at the small police station. She wears three hats – customs (no charge), harbour dues (£10) and immigration also £10 per person, for up to three months. They are clearly trying to encourage tourism. Water is an issue, as it is all desalinated, but there is a tap at the small swimming pool which yachts are allowed to use. Other than the police station there are various administrative buildings, a post office, a hotel, a small, well-stocked supermarket, a few shops and three bars. Most of the population live inland at Two Boats, where there is a small shop and a pub, but there is also the American base which has a bar and restaurant which visitors are welcome to use. All in all, very friendly. The view from Green Mountain, Ascension Island
For tourists there are two game fishing charter boats which are yours for €1000 (£680) per day. For the more economically minded there are a couple of gorgeous beaches – and turtle watching. The breeding season was in full swing while we were there, and every morning there were hundreds of new tracks over the beach where the turtles had been ashore to lay their eggs. During the day we saw turtles mating just metres from the boat.
The hotel has a dozen or so cars for hire at £20 per day, so we were able to make a leisurely tour of the island. Ascension is almost totally barren, the western side being a flat volcanic plain with hundreds of aerials sprouting like metal trees. The eastern side is hilly with sparse scrub growing in patches. In the centre, overlooking the community of Two Boats, is Green Mountain, which rises 859m and is covered in green vegetation. Half way up is the Governor’s House – high enough to be cool but below the cloud layer. Then there is a small farm and the Red Lion, an abandoned pub covered in clouds.
On 7 February 2005, after a very memorable visit, we upped anchor to head for Fortaleza in Brazil, 1464 miles to the west. We would highly recommend a visit to either island if you ever find yourself passing by. |
