St. Helena to French Guiana - Days 6 & 7

st helena to french guiana

Day 6

Miles to go: 2587

A lovely night of warm breezes and a starry sky, not quite as spectacular as the previous  night, but then if every night was that special, you couldn't differentiate it from the others. A bright sunrise promised a gorgeous, happy-to-be-alive day in the South Atlantic and it kept its promise. Days like this, when the sun is beaming, it's warm and we're moving along like a hot knife through butter...these are the days that make long passages so fine.

At the change of the watch, David recounted that we'd almost been run down by a large fishing vessel as I'd slept in peaceful ignorance. What happened? He spotted a red light on the horizon heading right for us. He checked the radar. Nothing. He checked the AIS...nothing on it either...yet it continued on its collision path towards us, the red light growing brighter and brighter. A stealth ship? An apparition? An alien invasion? No...it was the rising red planet, Mars, all fiery and aglow in a dark sky. We've had the same issue with the rising of  the moon and it makes for quite an adrenaline rush until you figure out what it is.

It was a calm enough day and I baked chocolate walnut muffins. David offered to cook dinner (I never say no to an offer like that) and rustled up a couple of black olive/onion/mushroom pizzas during the course of the day which sufficed not only for dinner, but will supply night watch snacks and probably tomorrow's breakfast as well ... with chocolate walnut muffin chasers.

Life is good aboard Nine of Cups. Glad you're sailing along with us.

Oh, in case you're keeping track, nary a flying fish last night. Passage total is still 4.

Day 7

Miles to go: 2,455

Seven days at sea already...a whole week and still 2,400 nm left. Based on today's stats, we've another three weeks to go. Starry sky during the night. David's been trying to spot the North Star, but it's been overcast to the north, so no luck yet. Nothing much on night watch. I did see a ship, more than 15 nm away...the first we've seen since we left St. Helena. The dawn was nothing special. No big display, and the rest of the day followed suit, but it was an okay day for wind.

SailMail, our email via radio, has been a challenge lately. Some stations are strong and fast. Others are weak and slow. Prime propagation times change. David's patient with it all. Certain frequencies are bothered by the autopilot, so he has to hand steer during transmission. The South African station was never reliable. He's  been using Belgium lately...reliable, but slow. The Trinidad station, though getting closer, never answers unfortunately. Transmission has been taking 15-20 minutes to send five text emails and receive about the same. Limiting ourselves to 5 outgoing emails has been difficult considering at least 2-3 emails include position reports, a blog and weather request daily. To all of you who gripe and whinge when there's a 10 second delay on Yahoo, we have no pity. Even slow, expensive St. Helena Internet looks good right about now.

We're only 8 degrees south of the Equator...about 480 miles as the crow flies...and the midday sun is becoming more intense each day. Since we practically live outside, we've been wearing hats and slathering on sunscreen, trying to avoid burns, unnecessary UV exposure and subsequent skin cancer...a real concern for sailors. We watched a gal at St. Helena sunning herself on the sea breakwater. Does anyone remember lying in the sun and slathering on tanning oil to insure a perfectly even, deep tan? Hmmm...how times change.

By the way, some folks have wondered how we manage to post photos when we're at sea and the answer is we actually don't. We edit and send all photos in advance to Gentry in New Mexico while we still have Internet and then when we write the blogs, she has a cache of pics to post with them.

Disappointed in the flying fish lately. We obviously hold no allure for them. Once again, zero on deck this morning. I'll have to take up another hobby.

It's also Talk Like A Pirate day today. If we were on land, I think we'd celebrate with a tot of rum and we'd dig out our bandanas and eye patches and have a pirate party.  As it is, we sail dry and I have no idea where our pirate garb is hidden, so we'll content ourselves with saying "Arrrrr" and "Shiver me timbers" a lot.

Enough pirate play. Come sail along. Days 8-10

Napoleon's Longwood

An Emperor's Exile on St. Helena

Napoleon Bonaparte, aka Napoleon I (1769-1821) was the greatest military genius of his time and perhaps one of the greatest generals in history. He created an empire that covered most of western and central Europe. He was defeated by the British in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and exiled to St. Helena Island later that year.

Everywhere you go on St. Helena, there are references to their most famous prisoner. Local shops have lots of books, prints, postcards and all sorts of Napoleonic themed souvenirs available. In fact, we drove out of Jamestown  via Napoleon Street.

Queen Victoria sold the land and buildings where Napoloen had lived and his burial site to the French. To this day, they maintain an official consulate in St. Helena and all the grounds are French territory. Though admission to the Napoleonic sites are free, reservations must be made in advance to visit the French territory.

There are three specific sites to visit and we set out to the Briars Pavilion first. When Napoleon first arrived at St. Helena, he was dissatisfied with the accommodations that had been prepared for him. He saw a beautiful home owned by the Balcombes and asked if he might stay there until the house in Longwood could be renovated to his liking. The Balcombes honored his request and he stayed for several months there while Longwood was upgraded.

Our host at Briars Pavilion was Trevor Magellan (great name, huh?) and Trevor knew his stuff. Only one room is open for viewing at the Briars, but Trevor's stories made the trip worthwhile. Interestingly, many pieces of original furniture and mementoes are on loan for the bicentennial commemoration of Napoleon's exile to St. Helena being held this year in France.

We next drove to Longwood, Napoleon's primary residence for his six years of exile in St. Helena.

Unfortunately, photography of any kind is prohibited (which riled me no end) inside Longwood. Our guide provided a well-practiced spiel as we walked from room to room...perhaps 6 or 8 rooms all told. On display was furniture including his bed, mementoes, lots of paintings and prints and even Napoleon's death mask ...all of which would be more interesting if only I could share photos with you. Grrr! One bit of trivia we learned was that Napoleon had carved peepholes in his shutters so that he could spy on his guards without them spying on him.

The house itself, though quite dark and damp inside, is lovely on the outside. Napoleon had gardens planted around Longwood through which he wandered and they are still beautifully maintained.

Napoleon died in 1821, having lived for six years on the island under constant surveillance. While there has long been speculation that the cause of death was arsenic poisoning, it is now believed that he died of cancer. He was buried with all the pomp and circumstance a small island could muster in a lovely meadow under willow trees, a spot he himself had chosen in the lush, green Sane Valley. The French exhumed his body in 1840 and his remains were returned to Paris. His empty tomb remains.

By the way, though Napoleon was probably the most famous person to be exiled on St. Helena Island, he was by no means, the only famous person to be exiled here. Several Boer generals were exiled here, as was Dinizulu, a famous Zulu chief.

The tiny HM Prison still houses a few prisoners, but none so grand as France's Emperor.

See a bit more of Napoleon's St. Helena at http://nineofcups.com/StHelenaAscension.html

Still some St. Helena stories left. We packed lots into a few days. Next, some time with Saints and a postbox walk up Flagstaff Hill.

Two Forts and a Fine Museum

There's so much to see and share on St. Helena Island, we're feeling a bit pressed to fit it all in. High Knoll Fort is certainly one of the premiere sights/sites on St. Helena Island. The British originally established a settlement here on St. Helena in 1659 in order to provide a provisioning stopover for transiting ships and to establish a military presence in the South Atlantic. When Captain Dutton first arrived on the island, he was commissioned “to settle, fortify and plant”. Over the years, the island's fortifications were improved and the remains of several of the forts are open for visitors. The easiest fort to access is the Ladder Hill Fort, at the top of Jacob's Ladder, but it's in sad repair.  Some of the buildings are used and some are crumbling. Ladder Hill was fortified early on, but not completed until 1873. We were able to see the WWII gun emplacements from Nine of Cups and reckon it would have been a good place to spot approaching ships and give them a good artillery pounding, if warranted.

High Knoll Fort stands majestically “high” above Jamestown as its name suggests on High Knoll. The road leading up to it, was once again, steep and winding. The fort is quite massive and we were on our own for the visit with nary another soul around.

Building of the fort began in 1798. The idea was to build several defensive structures on the island, each designed to cover the other. Initially, a tower was built and cannons mounted with munition stores, and a small garrison kept guard. When a mutiny broke out in 1811 over alcohol rations (or lack thereof), six mutineers were hung in the fort.

Over the years, more buildings and barracks were added and in the 1870s outer defensive walls were built and the main gate was completed. The fort has been utilized for many different purposes. When slavery was abolished, liberated Africans were housed and schooled here. Some Boer prisoners were incarcerated here c. 1900. During the 1940s-1960s, the fort was used as an animal quarantine station. Today, some of its walls have collapsed, but it's still a place for visitors to wander and a venue for island events.

You can feel the history of the place by wandering the walls and ducking through the thick doors leading into small, dark rooms.

The views from the top of the fort's parapets are stupendous.

Back down in Jamestown, we decided to visit the St. Helena Museum.

Housed in an old warehouse on Back Way just across from Jacob's Ladder, it's the perfect venue for learning about St. Helena and her history. We visited back in 2007, but with our memories, it was all new information. For a small island/town museum, the Saints have done a fine job of sharing their history, unique culture and their island's flora and fauna. Admission fees are by donation and Liz, the docent in charge while we visited, was pleasant, welcoming and very knowledgeable.

On display is everything from giant earwigs and scorpions (yuck!) to a working replica of Jacob's Ladder and examples of St. Helena lace made by local women.

There are two floors of well-displayed memorabilia. There's a working seismograph (this is a volcanic island, after all) ...

and even an old-fashioned bathtub.

As we walked through the city gates back to the ferry dock, we marveled at how much St. Helena had changed since we'd last visited, but how much it had stayed the same over the centuries.

A visit to the Napoleonic sites next … stay tuned.