It was quite dramatic, in the early hours of the morning, to see the silhouette outline of the towering rock cliffs of St. Helena Island. As the light began filling in, the brown, textured cliffs began to show more and more of their beauty and power. We were very happy to be arriving, as our 9 ½ day passage from Luderitz, Namibia had been a rough one.

The mooring field, where we took a ‘big cheese’ mooring ball, is situated in front of an enormous, imposing rock face. Just barely visible at the top are the stone walls of a fort. It makes us wonder what it was like during the years when this was a thriving port being defended from marauders.

We did an island tour and saw the tomb of Napoleon and the house in which he was incarcerated and spent the last days of his life. We saw the tallest peak where Halley spent a year observing the stars and charting his namesake comet. Our ‘History on Wheels’ tour guide, a 79 year old resident, drove us around this picturesque island, which is surprisingly green and lush on the interior, telling us many facts about St. Helena and his family who have lived here for generations. I’ll post a photo album when internet is more available – most likely in the Caribbean in April.

Here’s a little background and history about St. Helena.
In 1502, Portuguese sailor, Joao da Nova sighted this island on the 21 of May, and named it for the feast day of St. Helena (the mother of Emperor Constantine). When he came ashore he found fresh water, gumwood trees and birds, but no inhabitants. He quickly realized that it was an ideal place for refreshing future sailing ships and it was kept it a secret for a few decades.
During the East India Company era (1659-1833), hundreds of ships stopped in at St. Helena each year filled with riches and many battles were fought with pirates wanting their treasures.

There was a great loss of trade when the East India Company stopped coming to St. Helena when the island was transferred to the Crown in 1834. Then, in 1869, when the Suez Canal opened, allowing a shorter route to Asia, more loss of trade occurred.

With the invention of the steam ship, the long 3 month-plus voyage to England aboard a tall ship, took only 2 weeks making it a more appealing destination. Now, ships no longer rely on St. Helena, but St. Helena relies on ships. All supplies and travel to and from the island are dependent on ships that travel between South Africa, St. Helena and Ascension Island. This leaves this quiet, mellow island of about 4000 people very remote. But watch out! There is an airport being built and nearly complete and plans for 5 star hotels are being made.

We talked about how this might change the island. The people here are super friendly, always smiling, waving and saying hello. St. Helena is an unspoiled, beautiful island with quaint towns and an easy feel about it. Will it become a tourist trap with shops and services aimed just at the tourist dollar, as we saw in many places, mostly Asia? We hope not! With all that said, we’ll probably never know, because who knows if we’ll ever be able to come back?

Today, (Monday, March 9), we will check out and set our sails for the Caribbean – about 4000 nautical miles from here. It will be our longest passage yet - taking, we figure, about a month. We are well stocked with food, water and school!!!! so we are good to go!

I will do my best to post regular updates along the way.