St Helena

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Geo: -15.9313, -5.7231

Tuesday 20/01/09

A great day hot & sunny with calm seas and temperatures of 28°C what more could I ask for ( don't answer that) Good fun was had by all with the crossing of the line ceremony which of course ended with the captain and most of the staff ending up in the pool. Just after the ceremony as if by some magical decree we were blessed with two large groups of dolphins performing on either side of the ship (the captain said he had ordered them in advance, yeah right), anyway these are the first we seen so far; every day there are shoals of flying fish leaping out of the water on either side of our wake and skimming the water for some considerable distance in the winds before effortlessly shooting back into the sea like some bullet fired from a gun. Norovirus is still a problem but no increases in cases have been reported so hopefully it won't impact on our ability to land in St Helena.

St Helena Thursday 22/01/09

Arrived early morning around 07:30 with every hope of being able to go ashore we've discovered that some of our fellow passengers have tried on 4 successive cruises to land here and have never made it yet. Access is only possible by sea and the mail boat only visits twice a year; however the seas relatively calm with the wind a pleasant force 2 so all seems in order.

Oh how looks can be deceptive the sea's nearly as calm as can be with just a slight swell but a closer look at the harbour shows the waves crashing into the harbour wall, racing along it full length and crashing over the adjacent road. After 4 attempts of the shore party landing, the last one of which damaged the landing tender and nearly deposited it on the quayside, the venture was declared too dangerous and upon the tenders safe return we set off with some extremely disgruntled passengers who once again had failed to reach terra firma on this famous and desolate Island It's little wonder that Napoleon having been imprisoned there never escaped. Oh well we needn't have worried about the virus making it impossible for us to land, Mother Nature made the decision for us.

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