A Change in the Weather

This time last year in my first week on St Helena, it felt positively boiling hot! A year on and having just spent several months basking in temperatures in excess of thirty degrees, there’s definitely a chill in the air (that’s a 22 degree chill!) Typical autumn weather, I guess – bit of a nip in the air first thing in the morning and from late afternoon. During the day, the sun has been out most days and the temperature rises rapidly.

The usually calmness of James Bay, has been replaced by ‘rollers’ and large swells. The waves have been crashing over the waterfront, bringing large stones with them – not the place to park the car at the moment!

Picture by Mark Stevenson - winner of picture competition 2013

The RMS St Helena was in from Cape Town last week and for the first time since I arrived, there was some difficulty disembarking passengers due to the swell. The normally slick and speedy process was delayed by several hours as the highly skilled coxswain fought against the waves and swell to bring passengers safely to shore.

Passengers alighted and attention was turned to the cargo and containers. Usually the RMS ways anchor on the right side of the bay, closest to the wharf and cranes. This visit was no different, but it soon became clear that the swell was forcing the ship to list precariously from side to side. For the first time since I arrived, the RMS had to be moved to the opposite side of James Bay where the Ocean was a little calmer. This resulted in it taking much longer to crane cargo off the ship onto the waiting pontoons and the pontoons still had to ‘run the gauntlet’ of waves to get the containers/vehicles etc safely onto the wharf.
All of this meant that when the RMS departed for Georgetown, Ascension Island a couple of days later, cargo that should have been offloaded was still on board.
Andy Crowe – Piccolo neighbour and Housing advisor here, is returning from oversea leave on the RMS when it returns from Ascension Island. Our cat sitting duties will cease – Jo will be pleased to see Andy, I am sure. Andy will be arriving with the new Chief Secretary Roy Burke and his wife, Jill.

Let’s hope it is nice and calm later today when the RMS arrives! The current voyage is V209. We will be leaving the Island for overseas leave on V212 – so close now
It also means that our dog sitting duties are also nearly up. The Governor, Mark Capes, will be on the RMS when it returns from Cape Town on 17th June. Wellington will return to his much more up-market residence of Plantation House, but I know he will miss playing with our two dogs. Housing status isn’t everything after all, for Sir Wellington Capes LOL