Day 14 – 07.02.2026

« First day on land »

This morning at 8 :59 the little ferry boat was ready to pick us up, definitely British punctuality ! We happily hopped onto it and he brought us to the pier where the harbour master and customs office are located, we met a very friendly guy named Nick (the harbour master) and once done with all the paperwork he offered to drive us to town. The island seemed at first, as quite bare, very rocky and dry. On the way, we got a first glimpse of the spectacular views of Jamestown, quite a narrow but long town, located in a green valley surrounded on either side by 900ft cliffs of lava. The architectural style is a mix between the British and South African culture, probably because the nearest building material supplier is SA, there are many older buildings dating back to the 17th century. The center of Jamestown is quite lively, people are talking to each other and having long conversations, it feels like we went back in time. We quickly get the hang of it and start talking to everyone too which helped us a lot in getting intel, we were constantly amazed by how easy it is to get help from people here. Our first enquiry was about finding a man called « James » that grows fresh fruit and vegetables, after finding his car at said possible location, we waited for him to show up. James was so enthusiastic to see us that he started telling us all about his sailing trip around the world with his family and that he would deliver to our boat as much fresh produce as we wished. We are looking forward to trying out his mangoes, passion fruit, pawpaws and other tropical fruit ! His wife Hannah also rocked up and she already knew who we were (thanks Tracy). The shops on the island struggle to get fresh products because they depend on a cargo boat that is sometimes delayed from time to time and the island doesn’t produce enough for everyone. The shops here are quite amazing, they sell a bit everything but nothing too specific.

Another topic many St Helenians were keen on talking about was the momentarily non-functioning airport. This airport was built in 2016 and apparently the population was not really asked if this was what they wanted/needed. By what we understood, the UK government thought this would boost the tourism economy…but people are now complaining that heavy freight, for building purposes for example, don’t come by plane. Since the arrival of weekly planes, the Royal Mail boat has been decomissioned. Funny enough this evening at a restaurant called Ann’s Place, a lady started talking to me and ended up mentioning that a large group of tourists had flown in 4 days ago and now they were stuck probably till around the 22nd of February ! A few people today were joking that the only way off the island is with a boat…I’m starting to understand why.

This evening before going to the restaurant we first went up « Jacob’s Ladder », a staircase consisting of 699 steps…(900ft) going from sea level Jamestown to the top of one the cliffs where there used to be a fort. Amazing how many canons we spotted today, there’s a bit of a military/prison vibe to some areas here. From the top of the ladder, we had a view over the sunset and the bay where our boat is anchored. We were also surrounded by Tropic Birds, pretty long-tailed white birds, endemic to this island.

We also learned at the museum that Charles Darwin had spent time here in 1840 studying all the species of animals that are very unique to this island. Of course, Napoléon is also a big topic, but I will leave this chapter to when we will visit his house on Monday.

Later on we also walked passed the Yacht Club, met the friendly commodore and got instructions for the washing machine, I was suprised to see two machines and he answered that the other one was used for spare parts…ahaha, you get the vibe ;)

So many things to say about today, it feels like we lived through two weeks worth of conversation/views/experiences in just one day ! Last but not least, I randomly started talking to someone near the wharf asking if he knew someone that could rent us a car and voilà, 5 minutes later I was on the phone organising a car for us. At 6pm today, there was our car – an electric blue Jeep Wrangler- proudly waiting for our future land adventures. Did you know that there are more cars than people on the island ?