L'Eau Commotion Westabout

7:00pm Saturday 21st October 2017 ( UTC ) It was a fortunate coincidence that we passed abeam of the island of St. Helena this afternoon on the very date of my daughter Helen's birthday. We were able to chat briefly on the Iridium sat phone on a very clear line at 3am - either the St. Helentians weren't up by then or maybe they've gone over to fibre optic. Having seen very little land on this trip I was keen to catch an early glimpse of this fabled Isle but showers and cloud hid it till ten miles away and we passed by about a mile offshore. Last time I came this way they were just finishing off a new airstrip and I was keen to find out what sort of plane they could build an airport for - the island is so rugged you would think they would find it difficult to find a suitable location to land a Super Cub - but to my surprise I saw a Boeing 737 / Airbus 320 size plane obviously coming in for a landing. I will be interested to see how they fit this airport in such mountainous terrain. The town of Jamestown is all built on what looks to be a steep hillside and I was also surprised to see that it was quite large. The sailing has been fast and free with solid steady SE trades of around 18 knots and we should pass by Ascension in four or five days time - hopefully also in daylight.