Arrival to Tristan da Cunha
Good sailing in the Tristan Archipelago.
A couple of numbers say it all. 1750, 2088.
1750nm from South Africa, 2088nm from South America.
98 square kilometers, just over 11 kilometers in diameter and a surprising 2062m above sea level.
Tristan da Cunha, considered the remotest inhabited island in the world.
Isolation has made it a special place on earth for its unique ecology, politics and ethnography.
It took 12 days of sailing for us to reach it since the Europa set sail from South Georgia.
But it is not until nighttime when we reach the anchorage just offshore of the only settlement in the Island, Edinburg of the Seven Seas. It was after a good day of sailing in quite strong but variable winds.
The day started just like yesterday, overcast, squally and with a general tendency of the wind-field to ease down, making for setting more sail. Top Gallants are sheeted down and hoisted, sails that during the day come up and down on a couple of occasions.
Land a’hoy can be heard in the early morning. The ship sails as close to the wind as she can between Nightingale at her starboard side and the impressive Inaccessible at her Port.
Nightingale, with its 4 square kilometres is the smallest of the main islands of the archipelago, and together with the islets Stoltenhoff and Alex is the first land we spotted today.
Not much later the cliffs that surround Inaccessible came into view. With their 500m in height they are the main feature of the entire coastline, paying a good tribute to its name. A characteristic that has kept the island in an almost pristine condition, creating perfect breeding grounds for many seabird species, including the Spectacled petrels which nest nowhere else in the world. But the landbirds are no less astonishing. Inaccessible rail, Inaccessible bunting and a subspecies of the Tristan thrush can be found only here too.
But our goal lays about 20nm ahead, the steep sided and highest of all Tristan da Cunha, not visible yet due to the low clouds and rain.
We are in a remote archipelago that came to existence after a series of large volcanic eruptions and intrusions, resulting in complex geological structures. The oldest one is Nightingale Island dating from 18 million years ago, whereas the oldest rocks on Tristan are less than million years old. A long period of isolation that offered a great opportunity for the divergence on speciation for several animal and plants. Although the diversity is not very high (not many reached this far to colonise the islands), many of the ones that actually made it evolved in endemic species and subspecies.
Northwesterly winds have been blowing pretty hard during the day, making for a good approach under sail. But the gusts, showers and wind changes are now frequent, sailing between the islands. At times it funnels between them, then suddenly shoots down from the high cliffs to the sea, moments later, in the calm shelter of Inaccessible. Soon again it picks up and the seas build. Hand over hand we pull down the Outer Jib and crew is busy at the bowsprit furling it.
In the afternoon, veiled by grey raining clouds the large volcano of Tristan comes to view. Even in these conditions of low visibility the sight is impressive. 600 to 700 metres of almost vertical cliffs shield the perimeter of the island, climbing then even higher up to the 2060m of Queen Mary’s Peak. The very top of a massive volcanic building that rises from the deep depths of the Southern Ocean, 3000 meters below our quill. Only for a few minutes in the evening its tip show up amongst the clouds.
At this point we find ourselves at the Southern coast of the island, while the winds still blow hard from the north, right from the direction where we need to head now. Sails come down, sails are furled under the rain, engines try to push us through to reach the settlement Edinburg of the Seven Seas, at the northwest tip of Tristan. Not a convenient option if we have a look at the forecast. This strong winds will die out pretty soon, and even turn to a light South-easterly. By then it will be much easier to cover the last few miles instead of fighting with the headwinds. So a quiet late afternoon follows, with the ship drifting at the shelter of the island, awaiting for the good chance to resume her way.
At this point the voyage crew watches are dismissed and everybody can enjoy a good evening together. And indeed it was. After dinner a couple of activities were to come. First the results of the famed South Georgia Photo Competition, followed by the closing up of our trip’s chapter on South Georgia. An animated auction of exclusive items donated by the Museum in Grytviken to raise money for the South Georgia Heritage Trust projects.
What would be a better place to do it than here, with our only night since departure from the island on quiet conditions. Furthermore, in Tristan, the last port of the Quest Expedition in 1922, before they head to Cape Town, after its leader Ernest Shackleton died in Grytviken, where his tomb still remains.
The anchor rattles down to the steep sea floor at half past ten. The weather is still rainy, the swell gently rolls the ship making us feel as we are still sailing. We all hope for good conditions tomorrow morning that would allow us to set foot ashore.