We set off from Namibia on Monday 16th January to cross another ocean, our fourth since we set out in 2019. We have now closed the longitude loop from our start port in Deganwy, North Wales, and celebrated our personal circumnavigation once we arrived in St Helena; 17 38 South, 05 14 West!
We still have another continent to visit before we finish the World Arc Rally circumnavigation back where it started in St Lucia, Windward Islands, where we officially cross our own wake in Rodney Bay, from where we departed on January 11th 2020. We thought it was going to be a big year for us but it turned out to be a truly eventful year for the entire world! Our time in Namibia had been filled at every moment! If we weren’t visiting the desert or dunes we were organising provisions, laundry, boat maintenance and sail repairs. Any other spare time was spent socialising with the locals and our friends in the fleet at the marvellously welcoming Walvis Bay Yacht Club. So we were tired and rather dusty when we departed, correction, we were tired and Celtic Star was dusty! The wind that blew off the desert had covered her in an orange skin like fake tan which was difficult to wash off because there was no water pipes on the pontoon.
We cleaned the cockpit at sea using buckets of sea water, which is our usual daily practice, but the decks and spars remained grubby until they were doused with a good tropical downpour the day before we got to St Helena. We had a stuttering start to the sailing as the wind came and went and the engine went on and off but we settled into steady trade winds on day three. Our newly repaired spinnaker came out and we dropped it at night to avoid problems, but disappointingly it blew out again after a couple of days. Its an old sail and we have flown it for many miles, so we may need to invest in a replacement. There is a saying in the UK “ Sailing is like standing in a cold shower tearing up money!” Sailing round the world is an expensive process whether in a temperate or tropical climates.
After a few days of grey cloud and some drizzle we eventually made it into sunshine and warm weather though it remained cool at night for tropical latitudes. A late rising sliver of moon faded to moon dark which was excellent for star gazing when they weren’t obscured by clouds. The Southern Hemisphere summer stars are predominantly Orion, Taurus and the Milky Way. Crux (the Southern Cross) has been low in the sky but was now rising late in the night and at times the heavens were stunning above and phosphorescence shone like brilliant diamonds around us in the sea, we even generated our own phosphorescent Milky Way streaming out in our wake. Cape Fur seals continued to play and loll about on the water surface with one or two fins in the air but by the time we arrived in St Helena the sea temperatures had risen and they disappeared, however we saw the return of flying fish! The rest of the 8 day voyage was delightful, non drama trade wind sailing, which we managed well with white sails. One unusual feature was that we sailed in sight of our friends on Amazing Grace and Island Wanderer for the most part of the passage, arriving within an hour of each other. It rarely happens that you see another boat, usually speed or course vary so they are out of sight again in a few days, it nice to have neighbours for a change! However, that’s a sure sign our bottom needs a scrub! The greatest excitement was approaching the Greenwich or Prime meridian, which we crossed at 0900 on Sunday 22nd January and celebrated with a tot of rum! I was so thrilled to move from east to west that I wrote a poem and 2 songs about it! We have sailed over 12000 miles since June 4th 2022 when we crossed the Date Line in Fiji at 180 degrees and moved from west to east. Our ships clock was also set to UK time which was quite momentous after three and a half years, but as we continued to move further west to Brazil we had to keep changing our clock until arrival in Brazil which is 3 hours behind the UK!
Crossing the Meridian We lost a day last June, Taken from us at full moon. When we sailed across the date line, Which exists only in our minds. And now we’ve sailed to the other side, 12000 miles the earth is wide. From East to West we cross the meridian And Sigh with relief. Celtic Star’s almost home again.
Meridian Blues (Sung to 12 bar blues) I woke up this morning, A great day to drink rum. My boat it’s a sailing, A long way we’ve come. We’re still heading west now, Still chasing that sun. And there’s one thing we know now, We’ve had a long run. We’re back in the west now And we’ve had a good time. Johnny Cash don’t know nothing Cos we crossed that there line!
As you guessed ocean passages free the mind and there is plenty of time for creative thought, singing, games and sleep as long as the sailing isn’t too demanding. Our last 36 hours towards St. Helena were fast and fun, surfing a 46 foot boat down wind, down waves requires skill and concentration, which is what makes it so much fun! The 800m plateau of St Helena slowly rose from the horizon on Tuesday 24th January and we picked up a mooring off Jamestown at 1500 hrs, tired but exhilarated from our fabulous sail in.
Jamestown nestling in the valley between stark volcanic hills, was established by the English East India company as a strategic replenishment station company in 1659, but when the Suez Canal was finished in 1869 the islands economy collapsed. The Portuguese had first discovered this remote island in 1502 on their way to India and the Dutch had a go at grabbing it but the English fought to get it back. They were obviously concerned about losing control again because every hilltop has a fort and every potential access gully from the sea has a wall! The moorings off Jamestown were busy because another round the world rally was in Port too. We first got tangled with the Oyster Rally way back in Bora Bora last May and became friendly with some of the crews when we docked with them in Fiji last June. Since then we have seen them in some places and not others, but our routes and destinations are very similar and we are all moving from Cape Town on to Salvador next.
Once secure on our mooring we hailed the water taxi to go ashore to clear in with customs and immigration on the wharf. Getting on and off the ferry was quite adventurous, there were ropes to help you hold steady either alighting or boarding, and we managed to get the spinnaker sail, large laundry bag and two rubbish bins ashore without mishap!
The population of St Helena is now 4000+ and the resident or “Saints” were friendly and welcoming, with an accent something like a mix of Cornish, Cape Town and Kentucky! Wi fi connection was pretty limited in Jamestown, though I believe It was better up the hill, so we couldn’t use debit/credit cards to pay for anything at all, there weren’t any ATM machines, and we had to visit the bank on more than one occasion to get cash. Here there were several old fashioned wooden counters with tellers who instructed you to complete a form, produce ID and then charged 5% for cash withdrawal of GBS. St. Helena does have it’s own currency notes, but they are not accepted anywhere else not even in the UK.
We had a wonderful but frantic few days exploring the town, the island and the underwater life as well. A dive on Thursday morning revealed a plentitude of fish and when we ventured inside a cavern and swam past a blow hole, we were pushing through the shoals. Visibility was crystal clear and whilst there was very little coral, the rocks and shapes were very pleasing and we saw a variety of colourful fish, two large moray eels, a scorpion fish and lobsters. It was wonderful to be back in the water, which was a delightful 24 degrees centigrade and did not contain any dangerous creatures likely to kill you with a bite or sting! In the afternoon we travelled in the opposite direction in a fast RIB in search of Whale Sharks. These docile creatures are the largest cartilaginous fish in the sea and we were lucky and privileged to snorkel with two of these incredible creatures for about 45 minutes which was the maximum allowed. Diving with them is forbidden, giving them freedom to dive and escape from the curious earthlings if they wish to.
It was an exhausting day and we had a delightful dinner with our fleet before rushing to get the last ferry of the day at 19:30hrs. There had been a late night ferry, 21:30, on the previous evening to encourage trade at the local Yacht Club’s taco night, but it was all far too busy for the afternoon ferryman and he was quite grumpy because of the additional trips and call outs, so we tipped him well in the hope he wouldn’t leave us standing on the dock overnight!
On Friday we took a taxi tour of the island. The interior was a complete contrast to the volcanic, basalt and barren cliffs we were moored near, it was green and lush with valleys and hills and we had a pleasant trip out. Our first stop was Napoleon’s tomb which was in a delightful flowered glade in the corner of a valley that he had chosen himself before he died in 1821.
His body was recovered by the French in 1840 and now lies in a far more salubrious tomb on the banks of the Seine in Paris. We then visited Longwood House where he was imprisoned from 1815 after his defeat at Waterloo until his death.
It was fascinating to read the history and view the gardens where vegetables would have been grown and even enter his own garden grotto with a view. It was a much nicer prison than Mandela’s on Robben Island! After we left we headed to the Governor’s House, which is still used by the present Governor.
Here we saw Jonathon the celebrated 200 year old tortoise, originally given to the Governor in 1840 as a gift from the Seychelles. The house itself was classical and called Plantation House because of the fertile gardens which now make excellent allotments.
Further along the road we arrived at the garrison and the 639 steps of Jacobs Ladder, which was built directly up from the harbour to transport goods and supplies. Luckily, the ladder was closed for reconstruction, so we didn’t have to test our fitness by ascending or descending it, we just enjoyed the spectacular view instead.
Our next job was to provision for the two weeks passage ahead. Despite visiting the numerous small shops, supplies were limited, especially of fresh produce, but we bought what we could.
Richard and Sue scrubbed the bottom of the hull to clean any weed off while I prepared our passage plan and stowed the shopping. I had the easier job as we hadn’t much shopping and the plan was simple; “head west” with actual headings and some detailed bits at the destination in Brazil, so I did help out with the scrubbing too. After that it was a final sundowner, cheese and crackers and board game before our last full nights sleep. We dropped off the mooring on Saturday 28th January and cleared the remaining boats before hoisting our sails and heading west again towards Brazil, 1950 miles away. Light winds made a frustrating start but we flew the spinnaker and managed 156 miles in our first 24 hours. The rest of the fleet all left within 24 hours of us, some had already gone the previous afternoon and evening and a couple left later the same day. Our spinnaker blew out again on day two which was miserable but the wind became strong enough and steady enough to continue sailing with white sails, wing on wing, or goose winged and we added our emergency stay sail to make a cutter rig and add a tiny bit of extra canvas! The passage was fabulous sailing, very steady winds in the right direction, the sea wasn’t rough, there were very few squalls and they were not severe, so there wasn’t much sail handling or helming to do, it was the opposite of our Indian Ocean experience! We saw very little wildlife but the stars and waxing moon were wondrous, the unbroken expanse of ocean and sky were a constant reminder of our inconsequential smallness in the vastness of the universe!
With not a lot to distract us on the 3 hours on watch and 6 hours off, time passed slowly, the ships clock went back an hour on days five and ten making two even longer days. This passage offered us the psychological endurance challenge of keeping busy and intellectually stimulated whilst transiting the planet’s surface slowly in a small boat. The twice daily fleet radio net was something we all crowded around the radio to hear and the daily challenge, set by whoever was net controller on that day gave us something to puzzle over, or limericks, jokes and songs to create and practice.
My most exciting watch happened at about half way when I saw a plane’s vapour trail in the sky and a cargo ship came within 1 mile of our bows, they were the only visual contacts I saw for 10 days, so you can tell that there wasn’t a lot of other excitement. The weather gradually got hotter and hotter and the socks and fleecy blankets were abandoned for shorts and swimwear. We even went for a dip off the back of the boat one calm day!
Thirteen beautiful sunsets and glorious sunrises, two green flashes and 1950 miles of water later, after many books, games and jigsaws (new app!), meals cooked and eaten, cleaning, sleeping and one large tuna fish caught, we finally arrived in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. We are looking forward to three weeks in Brazil and the Mardi Gras Carnival! Now the party really starts!
For those following our tracker https://my.yb.tl/CelticCruising We now have two lines crossing the Atlantic Ocean, one in the north from 2019 and our current track, showing we really have gone all the way round!
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