St. Helena – First Landfall

JAAAAYYYYYYY! What an amazing thing!!! To see land after 16 days on board.
After seeing nothing but blue ocean in every direction, suddenly there it was. A black smudge on the horizon. All of us just had to scramble on top to see. By the way, it is possible to see land at 35 nautical miles away. That is, if it is as high as St. Helena.
We kept staring at it as it got closer. Took us about 7hrs to reach it. It was the same as zooming in on a picture – just VERY sloooowly. First you see only the outlines, then some colour. After a while difference in colour and then the 3 dimensionality of what you are seeing. We ended up going left around the island instead of the more usual right. There are so many “Smuggler’s Coves” around the bottom of the rock formations. All the kids agreed that Enid Blyton would have had a field day here. We passed Speery Island and Egg Island – really only little rock formations that seem to stand away from the main Isle.
After a very long day, we eventually motored into James Bay. Our first radio contact with St. Helena reminded us very much of the British influence here. A lovely, proper crisp voice: “Yacht Shang Du, Yacht Shang Du, Yacht Shang du, This is St. Helena Radio, St. Helena Radio, St. Helena Radio. We hear you loud and clear.”
We could not go ashore that night, but in the morning Port Control would come out to our boat to sign us in. For the first time in forever, we could all go to bed at the same time. No watches, no rolling, no noises from either “Sterk Gert” or “Slim Gert” and moored in only 18 meters of water!
We were safe. Thank you God for Your Mercy! And thank you all of you for your prayers.