St. Helena, UK – Happy St. Patrick’s Day! ♣

March 6, 2013 – March 20, 2013

The sail to St. Helena was busy, busy, busy! There was lots of schoolwork to do leading up to midterm exams, which we wrote on the final three days of the sail. It was a difficult sail because of that, but on March 16^th we celebrated the end of exams and our arrival in St. Helena! We anchored of the tiny island and after a long day of deck work, we cooled off with a swim call! We jumped off the main deck and into the perfect temperature water below. It was incredible to float there in the water next to a tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, looking up at the magnificent ship that has carried us so far.

swim call

St Helena

St Helena

The tiny island (with a population of only about 4,000) is nothing but a speck on the map in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, but it sure is an amazing place! We had a swim call every morning, and on the first day, the water taxi picked us up from the ship (the island is so small that we have to be at anchor) and took us ashore for a port program hike.

  

Once on land, we loaded up into taxis. The taxis on the island are pretty neat; the one I was in is an old style 15 passenger car! The open top car took us past bright green, rolling hills, and we could smell the amazing freshness of the air. The island is beautiful! The taxis dropped us off on a road where we met up with a hiking trail. The hike took us through the hot, humid fog to the island’s three peaks. Each has a lone pine at the top, and Diana’s peak is the highest point on St. Helena Island.

Diana's Peak hike

Diana's Peak

After the hike, a group of us made our way to an interesting little restaurant called Ann’s Place. The ceiling there was covered with all kinds of flags and t-shirts and such, because people who visit will often leave behind a souvenir. We saw a Concordia flag from when Class Afloat was on the island a few years ago, as well as some old Class-Afloat t-shirts signed by the crew. Our crew made sure to add to the collection by leaving a signed Sørlandet t-shirt during our time on St. Helena!

Just a short walk from Ann’s place was the Jacob’s Ladder: 699 very steep steps! We conquered the staircase, and then, hot and exhausted from the climb, went straight to the local pool by the waterfront .

Our first day on St. Helena, St. Patrick’s Day, ended with a traditional St. Helenian meal of fishcakes as we watched the sunset. Then night fell and after a talk from a local astronomer, we returned to the waterfront where the water taxis took us back to ship.

The following day began with another swim call – the perfect way to start the day! We had another port program, this time visiting Napoleonic sites. St. Helena is the island where Napoleon was exiled, and we visited the house where he was exiled and then died, as well as his tomb. To finish off the day, we had a BBQ at the Youth Centre where we got to meet some local students. 

The day after that, March 19^th, was our last in port. The swim call that morning was the best yet – we got to jump off of the bowsprit!!!! It’s much higher than it looks, and so much fun to jump off of!

That's me standing at the edge of bowsprit

Me making a splash!

After our usual swim, followed by colours and cleaning stations, we went ashore on St. Helena for the last time. On shore leave, my group swam across the harbour to look at a shallow wreck. All the locals were laughing at us, because apparently most people take a boat out there because it’s a pretty long swim! We had a great time though! After my second swim of the day, we stopped at a local burger stand for lunch, then set off for another adventure. We hiked to a local attraction: a heart-shaped waterfall. It’s just the rock face, not the actual water that’s heart-shaped, and there wasn’t even any water flowing at the time, but it was a beautiful hike nonetheless! We walked all the way up to the edge of a pond with the rock face rising up behind us, and it was so nice and quiet. We hiked back out, then walked down the windy road to Jamestown, the main town on the island, and where our ship is anchored. We were all so hungry as we made our way into town because it had gotten late and darkness had fallen, but the town is so small that Ann’s Place is really the only spot to eat. On the way, we stopped at a little shop where a couple of old ladies gave us jam tarts to snack on as we walked into Jamestown for our last supper at Ann’s.

Jamestown - see our ship in the background

 Departure day, once again, felt like it came too soon. We ended our time in St. Helena with a final swim call the morning we left, jumping off the bowsprit again! It was a great way to end another great port!