SIMMER'S BLUE WATER VOYAGE

4-04-02  So how to we begin to tell the tale of an island so remote and isolated that it was deemed the safest place to send Napoleon?  Here's a bit of information.  St. Helena is a British Dependent Territory (read 'colony') and was discovered by Portuguese admiral João Da Nova Catella on May 21, 1502.  He named the island St. Helena because he arrived on Saint Helena's birthday.  St. Helena will celebrate their quincentennial (500th year) anniversary next month.  The tiny island is 47 square miles and the sharp contrasts between lush pastures, barren desert and volcanic peaks is fascinating.  The population about 5,000 - a lovely mix of British, Malay, Chinese, Indian, Boer and African descent and are about the friendliest people we have come across.  Everyone greets you in the street and waves from their car or porch front as you walk by.  The currency is the St. Helena pound (equivalent to British pound), but can only be used on St. Helena and Ascension Islands.  During the 1600's St. Helena was a site of frequent hostile interactions between Portuguese, British and Dutch as they sailed from Europe and around Africa to the East Indies.  In 1679, the British East Indian Company took possession of the island and started the first settlement in Jamestown.  St. Helena is probably best known as the place where Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled after his loss at Waterloo in 1815.  He died on the island in 1821 after six years of exile, and his two residences and tomb are a few of the "must-see" attractions on the island.  Napoleon was exhumed and his remains returned to France in 1840, but the tomb still remains.  We hired a car and drove around the island yesterday with a Scottish cruising friend.  It was eye-opening to see all the green pastures and lush vegetation after only seeing the dramatic volcanic coastline.  We thoroughly enjoyed our quiet, peaceful time here and wish the best to all the 'Saints' we met.  We're off to either Ascension Island or the Caribbean from here - depends on winds.

4-10-02  Arrived Ascension Island   (Lat 07°55'S/Lon 14°25'W) after 6 days and 18 hours of sailing the 705 mile passage from St. Helena.  Ascension lies on a steep sea mount along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and is a volcanic island.  The landscape is volcanic peaks, ash fields, high antennas, satellite dishes, huge "golf ball" radomes and sandy beaches. The top of one peak, Green Mountain (850 meters high), is covered with tropical vegetation, while the rest of the island is quite barren.  We learned from the police today that we are only the 13th yacht to visit the island this year.  We only had a quick glance at the main settlement of Georgetown after clearing in, then back to the boat for a rest.  While ashore, we did see wild donkeys and sheep lazily roaming the streets.   Should be an interesting place, tomorrow more exploring....

4-13-02  What great timing, it's the peak of the green turtle nesting season and we're glad we decided to stop at Ascension.  It's estimated that 3,000-5,000 females nest on Ascension each year.   Last night we went out on a beach walk with the conservation officers to see female green turtles laying eggs.  It was an unforgettable experience.  About 100 turtles come ashore each night to lay their eggs.  We sat behind one and watched for an hour.  The guide held a dim torch light on her hind end so we wouldn't disturb her.  She deposited her clutch of eggs and then covered them up with sand.  And while we were quietly sitting there a few baby turtles hatched from another nest and made their way over to us, attracted by the torch light.  They are so adorable with their tiny shells and over-sized flippers.   We carefully redirected them to the sea. The conservation officers have placed transmitters on some of the adult females and track them by satellite.  The green turtles are amazing creatures, they travel between Brazil and Ascension Island to breed, a 6-week, 1,200 mile journey.  They are herbivores (plant eaters) and only eat while in Brazil, since not much in Ascension to eat.  It's thought that they go without eating for 3-6months of the year - just breed, breed, breed, then swim back across the south Atlantic Ocean to Brazil.  Can you imagine?  In the early years of Ascension, the turtles provided meat for passing ships and with the establishment of the garrison settlement, they became and important part of the residents diet.  A turtle pond was built to keep turtles from returning to Brazil to ensure adequate meat throughout the year.   Luckily that practice was discontinued.  We're going to the beach tomorrow just before dawn to help more baby turtles make their way to the sea and hopefully get some digital pictures. Ascension is also an important seabird breeding site in the tropical Atlantic - frigates, boobies, and terns.  The frigates especially love to feast on baby turtles.  It's estimated that only 1 out of 1,000 hatchlings survive to adulthood.

4-14-02  Yesterday we visited the museum to learn a bit more about the history of Ascension.  We didn't know much about the island before we sailed here - only that is another British Dependent Territory and it has seen American involvement since WW II..   The island is a bit smaller than St. Helena at 42 square miles and the temporary population is only 650 or so.  There are no indigenous people on Ascension - only people who work here in support of the British, American and French stations.  There are a few military personnel stationed here, but the majority of the population is civilians - British, American, St. Helenians, and French.  There hasn't been any volcanic activity for over 150 years, but the Maersk Gannet is a  permanently stationed ship in Clarence Bay which acts as fuel storage and emergency evacuation means.   Here's a few key events in Ascension's 500-year history.  For additional information about the island, check out their website at www.ascension-island.gov.ac.

4-23-02  Left Ascension Island unexpectedly a few days ago, as a huge Atlantic Ocean swell rolled in and made the anchorage uncomfortable.   Would've like to stay another week or so, but Mother Nature had other plans for us.  We're now offshore, halfway to Brazil at 05°48'S/24°55'W.   It's about an 1,100 nm passage from Ascension to Fernando de Noronha Archipelago off the NE coast of Brazil.  We've had 2 instrument failures on the passage:   knotmeter and wind speed/direction indicator.  It rained so hard during one of the squalls, that water leaked into our electronic knotmeter display through a tiny switch on the face plate.  (The knotmeter tells us how fast we are moving, and also distance traveled.)  Once the rain stopped, we took it apart and dried out the electrical contacts and applied a liberal dose of WD-40® to drive out the moisture.  Happy to report, it is working again!  Our wind speed/direction indicator is another story though.  The indicator is positioned on the mast top and consists of a wind arrow (for direction) and an anemometer (for wind strength).  During one of our middle-of-the-night squalls we noticed the display was showing very erratic wind speeds and when we looked up, the indicator was no longer mounted, but dangling about freely.  It was only connected by the electrical cable that runs the length of the mast, internally.  We had to leave it that way until daylight, as it wasn't safe to go up the mast at night in those conditions.  Hearing the instrument swing around up there all night was frustrating, as we knew it was bashing itself to bits.  The next morning Pat hoisted Colleen up the mast to retrieve our broken indicator.  (Not fun offshore in waves.)   We believe the mounting bracket failed due to a large booby bird landing on it.  We usually have several terns and boobies land on various spots on the boat when on passage.  The boobies are so big and generally clumsy landers, we cringe when they show.  We've been lucky until now.

4-28-02  Arrived Fernando de Noronha yesterday (03°50'S/32°24'W), it's about 200 miles off the coast of Brazil.   The archipelago consists of 3 main islands and a dozen or so tiny rock islands.  We're anchored in St. Antonio Bay off the main island of Fernando.  The island has a few resorts and an airport as Brazilians fly out to this holiday spot.  It's pretty scenery and the entire archipelago is a marine conservation area.  Haven't been ashore yet,  tomorrow we'll try to find a market and bakery.   Right now, it's just nice to be anchored.  The last four days of the passage were filled with rain squalls and variable winds.  As we approach the Equator and the South American coast, it rains quite often.  We'll most likely have the same conditions all the way to Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean.  Just figured our actual passage totals for the South Atlantic.  Since leaving South Africa we've sailed a total 3,503 nm in 27 days, 18 hours in three legs:  RSA to St. Helena, St. Helena to Ascension, and Ascension to Fernando de Noronha.   Our favorite software program, Visual Passage Planner (VPP), had calculated 31 days for the same three-leg passage.  We did it in less time due to stronger than usual tradewinds.  The standard tradewinds for March-April timeframe are 10-15 knots.  For some reason,  we've had reinforced trades at 15-20 knots.  We only had to run the engine for 3 hours during that our passages, when the wind dropped out.  It's very rewarding to fully utilize the wind for locomotion, especially on such a long trip.