Day 17 - 10.02.2026

« Plantation house and Jonathan »

We had a busy day again, started with our water delivery. We used about 300L during the last two weeks which is pretty good considering we cook, take short showers and do the dishes everyday. 

At 10:30 we had a guided visit planned at Plantation House, which is where the Governor lives and where officials stay over when they come to the island. This house is not a museum but a working place, so we were allowed to sit around. The best room was the library full of old books. We met a book restorer from Canada who is currently working with a team of volunteers to help preserve as much as possible by rebinding and re-gluing those who are in a bad state. 30% of all the books in this library date back to the 17 hundreds and 50% from the 18 hundreds. After the visit we were invited to have a some tea and scones, very British!

In the garden in front of Plantation lives the most famous Saint: Jonathan the tortoise. He is now the oldest tortoise alive (maybe even terrestrial animal), he is 194 years old and arrived at the house in 1834. We spent some quality time with him and the other three tortoises, he is very curious and will come up to you slowly to sniff about. He looks a bit like a very old wrinkled man, we hope he will be around for a long time, a very special encounter. 

Later today we finished the washing, hopped for the hundreth time on the ferry boat struggling in the swell to pick us up. We wish we could send videos of this ferry because the skills that this pilot has are mindboggling, he knows exactly the cycle of every wave and when to try his approach. Tonight we had a lovely dinner with a family of sailors that have circumnavigated for the last 4 years onboard a cat called Vamazoli. They are heading to Fernando de Noronha.

Tomorrow will be our last day here in St Helena and we have a very exciting adventure planned at 13:00 : snorkeling with whale sharks! We are crossing fingers that we will see them, they have been a bit scarce because of the currents.