Buzzing Around The World With Fellette & Doug

Tristan da Cunha....

Reputedly among one of the remotest islands in the world, so they say.

We sailed in on one of the most beautiful days you could wish for. Lake Atlantic we are calling it today. The ship doesn't like to use it's tenders here. We saw that information ashore when it was posted to the residents.

About 15 residents came aboard and set up their tables on the open deck. The people are very pleasant, English accents and they all appear very happy. We went ashore in Zodiacs from the island, each boat holding about 10-12. We all had life vests on and were sitting on the sides of the boat like a group of school kids.

The ship was anchored about a mile ofshore, [I was misinformed when earlier I mentioned we could not anchor here.] The interesting part was getting in and out on the zodiacs. Zodiacs are fast rubber boats powered by a usually reliable outboard engine, that gained fame with Greenpeace efforts to stop whaling. On boarding or disembarking two strong men grabbed us and lifted us as the zodiac came up to the ship or dock with the swell of the water. Quite a task for some people.

The dock is tucked in behind a breakwater and it would have been a very tight fit for our tenders to get in and out without damage, even in the mild swells we experienced. The village is quite pleasant, somewhat like you would find in some of the Islands in Scotland and small villages in England. The roofs were originally thatched with flax, grown here, they are now metal clad, in a variety of colours. The homes are small, made of stone and brick, all very nicely maintained, painted in those lovely English colours, and whitewashing somewhere in the scheme of things. Most windows had lace curtains in them. The neat stone fences with picket gates and winding single lane roads all help to make it a very quaint setting.

The island is busy, full of life and much activity. There were many young people, more than I would have thought. Perhaps after living here for some time and if they have had a taste of "the other world' they prefer the island life. On this beautiful sunny day it sure looked appealing to me. They now have TV and Internet access, something quite new here apparently. Can we say that is progress?

We tried to talk to as many people as we could. Many or most I should say have a very well tanned look but I suggest it is more their ancestry than the sun that gives them that healthy glow. All the locals that we talked to appeared to be happy and content. We saw a notice in the village that indicated that locals could get aboard the ship. That is something that is not allowed in most ports. They encouraged families with youngsters to go out to the ship. The end result was that we had these young smiling faces aboard for a few hours, escorted through the ship. The ones I spoke to had that English-school-boy way of speaking, very well spoken and polite, you know, the way we wish our kids were! I am sure that kids are the same the world over. Fellette told me that for some of the kids that were on the ship today, it was there first time in their life that they have been off the island! Think about that people!!!!

I think that all the women must spend every spare moment, and there must be a lot of that, knitting. The tables were heaped with knitted wear; vests, sweaters, toques, [woollen hats for non-Canadians], gloves, socks and penguins. There was also the Post Office on board. There was lots of good stuff for collectors plus plain old stamps for the vast amounts of people that feel obliged to "send a post card from every port."

Our table mate got talking to a woman with goods on board for sale, they toured the ship from top to bottom, eventually ending up in the her cabin. The local's daughter is getting married, and the mother could only get a dress from "the shop," [that was like a 1945 Cloverdale womens wear store, we were in it], it is the only store on the island. Our table mate gave the woman a blue dress that she has worn only once on board. End of story. There are some good people in the world and people can relate to each other, no matter where you are in the world.

One neat treat at the museum was that a local woman brought down freshly caught and cooked lobsters for the visitors. Eat your heart out: $2.00. One of the main exports here is lobster.

The time is now 4:00 PM, the ship just sounded it's whistle, it sends a shiver up my spine, still. We sail for Cape Town at 5. Doesn't that sound exciting! It is,
we still cannot believe that we are doing this.

Tonight, being Valentine's Day we made arrangements to dine out with our friends Jim and Gail. Tonight is formal, that means Tuxedos. We have also been invited to pre dinner drinks with a couple of Canadians we met.

Does it get much better?

Three days to Cape Town, due east.

posted by Doug and Fellette @ 7:12 AM