The RMS (Royal Mail Ship) arrived this morning at 0600 hours and we're shortly going to wander down to the wharf to go through immigration and then board the ship. It's another beautiful day - a bit too hot in Jamestown, but with a cool breeze - and the sea looks flat calm and rich blue. It's always a bit sad to leave the island - and for some folk seeing their relatives off it is very sad as they probably won't see each other again for several years. I love this island, but I couldn't live here: it's just too remote and, like now, when the ship's been away for a long time, there isn't an onion to be had on the island. Imagine if it ran out of onions AND whisky!!!!!
Don't know why this picture of the ship is quite so small, nor why I can't get the text to the top of it. Not to worry - with WiFi costing £6 for an hour such niceties don't seem quite so important.
Our journey to Cape Town will take 5 nights and we're scheduled to arrive at 1400 hours on Friday. Whether or not that happens depends entirely on sea and wind conditions. The last two days before we get there will provide us with some superb birding - albatross being the stars of the show. Otherwise, it's five days of pure relaxation (punctuated by a few hours' work on the computer here and there) and I always enjoy it.
So this was just a quickie to let you know that the trip is going well and everyone's enjoying themselves hugely. It's lovely when a group of people get on so comfortably and it's nearly always the case with the St Helena trip as it tends to be a gathering of like-minded people all of whom have diverse interests and reasons for travelling. I guess it has to be one of my favourite trips - although others come close. On the ship this week I'm going to work on our trip to Christmas Island in just over a year's time. It didn't sell this time because of the lack of notice I think - a big one like that needs planning and preparation on the part of the traveller. I had put it together to include a week's birding in Western Australia but have decided, instead, to route the tour via Malaysia and include a visit to Langkawi Island, one of the projects supported by our Island Holidays Conservation Fund. I'm hoping to have full details shortly after I get back to the UK - say in the middle of November.
The other holiday which we have to book miles in advance is Lord Howe Island with Tasmania and New South Wales. We had it booked for March 2010 but, at the end of August, I had to release unsold rooms on Lord Howe Island and books flights from Sydney to the island - non refundable. In other words, as soon as the new dates are posted (soon after I get back to the UK) those of you wanting to go should jump in the direction of a booking form. Here's a link to the 2010 programme - it will be the same holiday but with slightly different dates (February instead of March).
And now I must stop - the continuation of this amazing tour calls.
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