Day 103, Year 6 Getting Ready to Leave St. Helena
Date: Friday, February 4, 2011
Weather: Mixed Sun and Clouds, Very Few Sprinkles
Location: James Bay, St. Helena Island
Our day was spent doing all of the things that needed to be done to ready us for the long passage ahead. Some things were self-imposed like getting the photos on the website and mailing post cards while other things were necessary like checking out, doing the last laundry on shore, and buying the last fresh veggies and eggs. Much of the day was spent uploading photos to the website, and now I can finally say that all South Africa and St. Helena photos are uploaded and linked to the website! That took a huge effort but I am so happy that it is done. We spent most of the day in town getting these things done and waiting for the right time to Skype Heather and gang. The ‘right time’ was 1:30 pm our time, 8:30 am on Cape Cod, but unfortunately we had an impossible connection. We would be connected one minute and off the next. We tried for almost half an hour, but never had more than a couple of seconds of connection. We got a quick glimpse of Sam and Jonah, but that was it. Oma and Granddad were not happy campers, but there was nothing we could do about it so we just had to move on. After the attempted Skype connection, we headed back to Windbird to hang out the laundry I had done on shore and to deliver tons of water. We bought twelve 5-liter plastic bottles of drinking water in town and filled all of the jerry jugs to complete filling Windbird’s water tanks. On the way we made a quick stop at the St. Helena Museum. It was a good stop as the little museum is jam-packed with local history. We no sooner got back on Windbird than it was time to return to town, but I did get to hang the laundry out for an hour before bringing it back into the cockpit. It was almost dry. And Mark got the water tank filled and two of the water jugs tied on deck. The other two had to go back in with us for the evening for another refill.
The dinner at Anne’s Place with other cruisers was delightful. There were nine adults and two children-Dominique and Dominique of Kea, Larry and Mary Ann of Traversay III, Swante of Chaconne, Lisa and Paul of Kire (plus Arne and Karl), and Mark and I. The food was good and the chance to talk with one another was great. Everyone is heading in slightly different directions, but it was great to compare notes. Only Larry and Mary Ann of Traversay are headed in our direction, so we exchanged contact information and will hopefully be able to keep in contact along the way. We had arranged for a late night ferry at 9:00 pm, so the party ended and we headed home.
Once here, we thought we would try to contact Justin, Jo, and Ziggy via Skype. The connection in town is much stronger (supposedly), but JJ&Z were not home earlier. They just bought a new (used) car and needed to pick it up in Albuquerque. We thought we were not going to be able to talk to them at all, but the Skype connection from the boat tonight was far superior to the connection with Heather and gang earlier in the afternoon. We at least got to see Ziggy and he got to see us. When we are ready to send this log, we will give one more try at connecting with Heather and Jed. They should be home from work now and maybe we’ll have a lucky connection.
Tomorrow morning we will make one more quick trip into town before take-off. We were convinced tonight that the local rum is just too good to leave here without buying some. And I have a few more post cards that I’d love to post. So it will be early into town and off for the loooooooong passage to the Caribbean.
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| 110204 Day 103 St. Helena–Last Glimpses of Jamestown |
