Febuary 18, 2012-Tomorrow Morning

Tomorrow morning, God willing, we will drop anchor off Jamestown, Saint Helena Island, in the South Atlantic Ocean, one of the more remote settlements on the planet.

We are excited about this landfall and because my morning watch has me on deck at dawn while the others will be sleeping, I will get the first view of it.

I have no anticipation of what I will see. I can think of other small, high, islands we have approached, and other historic towns at the water's edge in other remote places we have visited, but I know from experience that each place is unique, and until I set eyes on Saint Helena itself, I won't know what exactly it will look like.

But I can imagine.

We should be rounding the north end of the island at sun rise with both the wind and the sun at our backs, maybe with glorious blue skies like we had today, and as we turn the corner we'll sheet in the sails and work our way upwind towards the anchorage, tack on tack, beating in from the ocean. "Wings, arriving". The American flag will be flying at the backstay and the red ensign of Great Brittan will be at the yard. I am sure our whole crew will be on deck to drink in the whole experience our arrival.

We'll drop the sails and glide into a spot in front of the town, its historic buildings and streets filled with the morning light and reaching up the valley into the mountain in front of us, near Nepenthe, our friends who are already there. There will be fishing boats along the waterfront and maybe a ship or two, and our anchor will splash down amongst them.

Then we will be able to go ashore and walk the streets, smell the smells, hear the sounds, and meet the people.

And we will be in Saint Helena.

There will be nothing like it.

Fred & Judy (and Randy and Laura) SV Wings, on Passage, South Atlantic

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