St Helena

So we finally made it to St Helena! Everyone's mood brightened considerably the morning we arrived. Upon arrival, we anchored in the bay and took a small ferry to the immigration and customs office to let us on the island. Then we went and explored the island while shopping for provisions.

St Helena is also the island where Emperor of the French, General Napoleon Bonaparte, was exiled to after the Battle of Waterloo. I'll have more on this in a seperate post.

Land ho!

Quite the sight to see after 11+ days at sea.

The island has striking cloudy views. More to come.

Jamestown coming into view.

Closer pics of Jamestown.

Random boats in Jamestown bay.

Doug getting ready to drop anchor.

Battlement atop the cliff.

Some old house near the customs and immigration office. Who knows if it has any significance.

Impostor!

The Real Pura Vida.

Yacht club.

St Helena main street. I keep forgetting it's Christmas season.

Of course I had to stop for one of these.

Jacob's Ladder. More on this later.

Random pic of the helm.

More battlements protecting the old Governor's house.

Main Street at night.

Car plates on St Helena are given sequentially and this was the lowest number we saw until we came across #74. They are up in the 5000's now.

Rough seas during the day.

Rough seas at night.

Close up of the old Governor's house at night. He doesn't live there anymore.

Jacob's Ladder taunting us.

More rough seas.

The walk back to the ferry.

While we're waiting for the ferry to Pura Vida, Kim is nervously wondering if her husband is going to go full Tarzan into the water.

Ferry ride back to Pura Vida.

Almost home.

More battlements.

So you've seen a few pics of Jacob's Ladder already, and I suppose these steps serve a purpose other than tormenting tourists with a challenge. We did see a few people on the stairs during our short stay on St Helena but not many. I finished Jacob's Ladder in 17:39, and when I told my wife that, she didn't believe me. Rude! Doug finished in just over 15 minutes.

Doug ready to conquer Jacob's Ladder!

Yup... that's a lot of steps!

Steep too.

Victory!

WWII pill box.

WWII fortification with youngsters playing below.

At a fish fry the last night on the island. The sauvignon blanc wasn't bad either.

The last ferry ride to Pura Vida. This is Tyler, one of two ferry drivers we had. Nice guy.

Raising the main sail, preparing to get underway.

So long St Helena.