Having left the UK in May 2013, I was certainly looking forward to a well-deserved break and family/friends time. That’s one thing I wasn’t prepared for. No-one (generally) has holiday other than their mid-term leave! This means that you literally work every day (bar public holidays of course) without a break. To be fair, you don’t really notice it as everyone is in the same boat. But in the UK we’d often take long weekends way with friends or days off to go on a day out. On St Helena, because leave is o precious, it is saved up. Saints often go off the Island for breaks in excess of three months so it’s just a different way of doing things.
So at the end of July, having arranged for suitable care for the dogs, we boarded the RMS St Helena for the first time together as a family, Cape Town bound.
I had been working with Customs and Excise on the Wharf for several of the last ship arrivals and even the most intrepid of sailors had found the swell a bit rough. So it was with a little anxiety that I stepped on board and headed straight for the Hospital/Doctor for the sea-sickness jab. We set sail at little after 11.30am , so it wasn’t long until ‘Eat O’clock’ commenced – lunch at 12 noon. Taken either as a full a la carte in the restaurant or as a lighter buffet style in the Sun Lounge. We opted for the latter. Afternoon tea (cakes and sandwiches) followed at 4pm, followed by a 7 course dinner in the restaurant at 8pm (we opted for the late sitting – there’s an earlier 6.45 one and an even earlier one for young children)
After a few drinks in the bar we retired to bed after an uneventful first day at sea. We were awoken at 6am by an excited Henry. ‘Look at the sea, Mum’. The sea was almost a smooth as glass with barely a ripple and hard to believe that we were in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean!
The voyage continued to be exceptionally smooth for the next few days, with only a slight increase in movement mid-way, which then subsided. We had an almost perfect cruise and, as usual, the crew of the RMS were exceptional in service, entertainment and hospitality. It was almost a shame to have to say goodbye on the 6th day when we rounded the Cape of Good Hope, which although notoriously rough, wasn’t on this day and we docked in Cape Town a little after daybreak. Disembarkation was relatively pain free and we were met at the Seafarer’s Mission for onward transportation to our hotel.
We stayed at the Commodore Hotel, which was comfortable and centrally located for V and A Waterfront shopping and restaurants.
We spent a day and a night in Cape Town before flying back to the UK. The 11 hour plus flight is at least overnight with no changes, but still quite tiring. We arrived at Heathrow earlier than scheduled and after a quick collection of luggage, we made our way home to the South Coast.
We had lots of visits, lunches and dinners, plus evenings out scheduled with friends and family. We also had other things to do, like checking out our rented property, moving some items from one storage site to another, not to mention shopping! It soon became apparent that we would be spread quite thinly – and it was certainly enjoyable, if not incredibly tiring! We also managed to fit in a 5 day break in Jersey and an overnight stay in Bridport – more of those later.
After a hectic few weeks, we had to say goodbye and return to Cape Town in time to board the RMS St Helena for a very enjoyable and much needed 6 day break sailing back home to the Island.
