Living on St Helena Island South Atlantic - What is it really like????????

When I was first considering taking a job offer on the Island, like many before me (and probably since) I conducted vast amounts of research into island life, shopping, food, entertainment etc. Much of the information I found (including some of that supplied by St Helena Government) was considerably out of date. It would have been incredibly useful to have current accurate information, so I will try to give a fair and unbiased opinion to help others. This information is based as at July 2013. If you have read other posts, some of this information will be duplicated, but for completeness, I will repeat it here! Shopping! It has to be said it is very limited, but in some ways much more fun than in the UK. There are very few shops and those that do exist tend to sell a bit of everything. Some clothing exists (imported from places like Primark) but think one rail in a charity shop and you won’t be disappointed! Shoes are also in short supply, but if you were desperate and not fussy, you would be able to buy footwear. There are several shops where you can buy things like cards, souvenirs, trinkets and the like. The prices range from cheaper than the UK to 2 or 3 times the price. For example, I saw a long skirt from Primark today which was on sale for just under £20. I probably wouldn't pay more than £8-£10 for it at home. But on the other hand, there were some really trendy Puma trainers/ astro turf style boots for under £40 in a full range of sizes! Basic medicine is also available in several stores, so there is a readily available supply of paracetamol, ibuprofen, cold and flu remedies etc. There are also some things on the shelves here that you would have to get from the pharmacy or on prescription at home, such as Pholcodeine, diclofenac and others. They are not overly expensive either. I paid £2.00 for a bottle of Pholcodeine which is less than I’d pay in the UK. Other goods are also available most of the time. Availability seems to go in cycles here (usually dependent on how recently the RMS St Helena last visited) The RMS is currently in dry dock in Cape Town so currently on one of its longest periods away from the island. Fresh and frozen goods start to reduce in availability. I’m going to lose lots of weight because I won’t be eating much! Wrong! Some salad items and vegetables are grown locally, so these are available seasonally. I haven’t been able to get a cucumber for weeks, but found one this week. Tomatoes, lettuce and peppers are grown locally as are cabbages, broccoli and potatoes. Generally, the locally grown goods are an equivalent price to the UK. In actual fact is harder to get ‘healthy’ foods rather than the local specialities that usually involve a deep fat fryer. Naturally fish (again, seasonal) is often in abundance. Fresh Tuna and Wahoo – caught locally today is commonly available as are other fish such as Dorado and Conger Eel. I can only speak from experience when I say that Wahoo is more like chicken and tuna here is totally different as it is so fresh! Most fish is very cheap – You can get 6 tuna steaks, decent sizes, for £3.00 This brings me onto what you can’t get, or what you will pay a premium to buy! There are two main shops competing for your custom – Solomon’s – let’s call in Asda and Thorpe’s – let’s call it Tesco. So if you go to Solomon’s most of the cans, dry food, sauces etc. started life as Asda (even Smartprice is available, but often at the same price as regular goods) Some of it is even in date too! Solomon’s also stock an Iceland range. The frozen goods are anywhere from 100% to 150% mark-up due to the cost of importing. A £1.50 Iceland pizza sells here for £3.50, a £5.00 bag of chicken breasts is £10.00. It follows then that Thorpe’s stocks all things Tesco, including Tesco red label tea, coffee, Frosted Flakes etc. So what can’t you get? I suppose it depends how fussy you are. If you eat and shop like a local, there will always be something for dinner. If you want to replicate your eating and shopping habits in the UK, you might be disappointed. I have managed to find most things somewhere – it might take a bit of foraging and sometimes I have to wait a while to find it. Thai green curry paste was something I had to wait for, but when I did, it came in a large tub (probably enough for 6 months of curries) for £3.50. The only thing I can say is very expensive – if you can find it, is any diet sodas. Occasionally, you can get Diet Coke or Diet Sprite in cans, but the cans are over £0.70 each and no 2 litre bottles here. There are some strange full sugar sodas – Jive – a South African brand – bizarre flavours and no diet versions. There is no ‘proper’ milk here! That takes a bit of getting used to. The dairy herd was condemned by Brussels I understand for not meeting strict EU standards – a real shame as fresh milk would be a real bonus. Instead UHT is the order of the day. It’s really not too bad on cereal if it’s cold enough and it doesn’t notice too much in tea and coffee. Again it’s not cheap as it is all imported – around £1.50 for a 1 litre carton. The Island had become self-sufficient in eggs pretty much, but following the arrival of Basil Read contractors and the slowing down of the laying season, eggs go in fits and starts. Again for some reason today, having not seen many eggs at all, Solomon’s had local eggs as well as imported eggs on the shelves in abundance. Bread is baked locally, with rolls and loaves being available on baking days – commonly Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Most people order what they need in advance. This also ensures you will get some! Bread and rolls sell out quickly with the shelves often emptied by lunchtime. Alcohol is expensive and cheap depending what you buy – but mostly expensive! A half decent bottle of South African wine is around £8.00 - £10.00 a bottle. A bottle of Windhoek beer is around £1.50 as is a bottle of Savanna Cider. Spirits are very expensive if you want something familiar – A bottle of gin or scotch will set you back around £22.00 as duty is charged on all imported alcohol. There is a local distillery, producing a range of spirits from the Tungi cactus. Jamestown Gin, White Lion Rum, Tungi and Midnight Mist make up the range. The gin is nothing like gin, the rum is nothing like rum, Tungi is like Tungi – I suspect – and Midnight Mist is a coffee liqueur. But they range in price from £10.00 a bottle and would make an ok base for cocktails. Luckily, they sell a collectors pack that consists of 4 tiny bottles to try. Some people really like the various local spirits. I’m not sure I am one of them, but friends are big fans of the gin and rum versions. So is there anything you can’t buy? Probably not, if you are willing to either compromise on the variety – i.e. Frosted Flakes not Frosties, or willing to pay a big premium! I should also mention that it is relatively easy to shop on line at Tesco and Asda (non-perishables of course) and it will arrive on the Island around 8 weeks later. Some Ex-Pats do a bi-monthly shop and because of the mark-up (due to shipping costs) it doesn’t appear to cost any more than buying on the Island, with the added bonus of getting what you actually want! Personally, I think that takes the fun of the forage away and I like the challenge!