Day 15 - 08.02.2026

« Discovering the island »

First thing this morning, we headed to our flashy rental car and started driving up the narrow mountain passes. After 5 minutes of steep roads and sharp turns we suddenly saw a lot of green grassy fields, trees, ferns, flowers and some cows. It felt like a mix between Switzerland and the Azores, it didn’t look at all like the volcanic cliffs we were used to in Jamestown. We felt cooler air up here, which was a pleasant relief from the heat near sea level. We also saw some coffee plantations, apparently St H’s coffee is worth more than 80£/125g at Harrods, so people told us to grab a few packets to take with us! 

Our first stop was to see Jame’s fruit and veg farm located completely on the opposite side of the island in an area called Sandy Bay. After 45 minutes of very narrow and steep mountain roads we finally got to the farm and received a very warm welcome. We met some of their newly implanted Welsh friends helping them harvest the crops and we started talking for at least an hour after James showed us around…such friendly people! His enthusiasm was so vigorous that all we could do was listen to all his stories. We ended up with lots of home grown bananas and pawpaws (papayas). They will deliver all the other fresh provisions tomorrow to our boat. We could really understand why James and his family only come down to Jamestown twice a week…the drive is so long because of all the sharp turns even though it’s only a few kilometers away. 

We were planning on doing a hike around Sandy Bay (just behind the farm) but got discouraged by the trail that was traced in a landscape ressembling Mars : no trees, just pure volcanic rock under a very hot sun. There was also a pretty beach there with black sand but after reading the info board we quickly realized it wasn’t possible to swim on that side of the island (south side). The sea there has very strong currents and the Portuguese Man-of-War, a tiny little jellyfish that has 10m long tentacles, is very common and to be avoided. 

Instead we hopped into the car and drove back into the luscious center of the island in search for the « Heart-shaped » waterfall. After what felt like a million turns, we parked the car and decided to hike the trail leading to the waterfall. We walked and walked, climbed up many stairs and rocks to finally get to it. I had a bad feeling about what we’d find before starting the walk and it proved to be partially right. We ended up at what should have been a waterfall and desperately tried to refresh ourselves in a teeny weeny little amount of water ahahah, we called it the aquarium water.

There was about 20cm of water so we managed to get wet by splashing around, the scent of this water reminded me of our pond back in Belgium. We will remember this funny outcome, we were sure that everyone on the island was aware that it had momentarily dried out and that our little expedition didn’t go unnoticed (people just know what you’re up to here).

Back in Jamestown, with a nearly empty petrol tank, we tried out the local pub before heading back to the boat. Quite something to witness, these locals watching football on one TV and Youtube Neil Diamond videos on the other. « Sweet Caroline » will be sticking in our heads for a while…

Heading back to the boat via our little ferry, we noticed a gigantic freight ship behind our boat. It’s the long awaited Karoline (yes, like the song), bringing food and materials to the Saints! Tomorrow morning it will be the big rush here to get that boat empty and by Tuesday, the fresh produce will have reached the shops.