27th Nov, Steeple Jason and onward.
Sailed overnight from New Island bound for Steeple Jason where we were hoping to make a landing. Good winds and reasonable sea conditions allowed us to make good time. There were no formal watches but captain asked for volunteers so I stood up for 04.00 to 06.00 hoping for another special sunrise, didn’t work out though 🙁 . Steeple Jason’s claim to fame is that it is home to the largest breeding colony of Black Browed Albatross’ in the world. Oh no, I feel more Albatross pictures coming on :-). This island is also infamous for the reason that it is a very hard island to land on. When we arrived at the anchorage the sea was still running rather high but after a quick reccy our guide decided that a landing was possible and selected a small sheltered cove (just big enough for the Zodiac to fit) with shelving rocks that we could step out onto. So, in actual fact the landing was quite smooth despite the heavy swell running we didn’t even get wet!
Black Browed Albatross are generally monogamous with pairs returning to the same nest site year upon year but if one of a pair does not return for one or two seasons the surviving partner will pair up with another. Bonds between partners are reinforced by courtship rituals. They can live up to 70 years and start breeding at approximately 10 years old.
Bidding the Albert Ross’s as sad farewell we headed back to the Europa and prepared to sail to our next destination, New Island. With a South Westerly wind of up to 40knots this was the first time that the Europa really got into her stride, heeled well to port and making 10 to 12 knots she handled beautifully. On this leg I also learned a lesson on preparedness, we had safety lines out on deck a I was holding onto one of these whilst chatting to one of the other voyage crew when we noticed an unusually large wave coming our way. To reduce the wave’s impact I ducked into it, a big mistake! I was wearing my full waterproof but had the hood down and the top of the jacket open consequently, the water took the route of least resistance entering at the top of my jacket and exiting at the bottom. Drowned rat does do my condition justice but, at least my legs were dry.
Another occurrence on this leg was that we overhauled a yacht that was also heading for Hope Harbour on New Island and, next morning when we met the sailor, it turned out that he was an ex Europa crew member (from 10 years ago) and he took some pictures of us that he gladly shared – below. This was a great bonus as, of course, we never got to see the ship under sail so it was good to see how fine she looked.
