Tristan da Cunha

We both woke very early as we wanted to make sure we didn't miss the first sighting of Tristan da Cunha. It was still dark outside when I switched on the TV to see where the ship was located. The display showed we were just a few miles west of the island.

Approaching Tristan da Cunha after five days at sea

I dressed and went up on deck. It was pitch-black but slowly, as the dawn broke, I could start to make out the outline of the volcano with its steep sides. Then at 6.30am, I heard Stefan's morning wake-up call telling everyone we had arrived at Tristan da Cunha.

Will was up on the forward deck and he told me how he had just gone round the ship, looking for birds that had been attracted by the ship's lights. They land on the decks where they become trapped by the guard-rails. Will carries out this task most mornings on the trip.

Dawn breaking at Tristan

By now, many of the passengers had come up on deck and it wasn't long before we could see the first lights coming from the settlement, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas.

The lights shining from the buildings of the settlement

As it became lighter, it was possible to see the true shape of the island and also the waves pounding the shore. It was obvious to me that a landing was becoming increasingly unlikely, but we were still hoping for a change in the weather. The captain announced that we would sail to the north side of the island and then turn round in the hope that a landing could be made a bit later on. We were then told that the harbour officials had said it was too rough to attempt a landing by Zodiac. There was disappointment all round!

Tristan with Edinburgh of the Seven Seas

We waited in the protection of the leeward side of the island, so that we could pick up the Government Official and his wife, who would be brought out to the ship by fishing boat. We all stood and watched as the speedboat got closer and closer to the ship and then drew up alongside to transfer the two passengers, as well as several crates of Tristan spiny lobsters, potatoes and some locally made tourist items. The weather by now was glorious sunshine, but the wind was still quite strong and there was plenty of swell.

The boat carrying the Government Official and his wife

Transferring to Silver Explorer

Once the transfer was completed, we started to move back towards the settlement, going past the site of the 1961 eruption. You could clearly see the volcanic cone on the side of the mountain and the long snaking pile of solidified lava that ended in the sea. I was interested to see how close the eruption was to the settlement and it was easy to understand why the islanders felt they needed to leave Tristan da Cunha while the eruption was taking place. In fact, everyone was evacuated from the island and brought to the UK, where they lived in an army camp in Hampshire. Several years later, virtually everyone voted to return to the island.

Disappointed passengers looking wistfully at Tristan

The 1961 eruption site

Everyone out on deck looking at the island

Edinburgh of the Seven Seas is located on the one area of flat land on the island and is hemmed in by steep mountains. I thought the place looked like a prison!

Edinburgh of the Seven Seas

A close-up of the settlement

Another photo of the 1961 eruption site

More views of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas

We cruised past the settlement and then carried on past the potato patches, the area where they grow their fresh produce. I estimated the flat area of land on Tristan, where nearly 300 people live, is no more than 5kms by 1 km!

All the time we cruised along the island, we were accompanied by wonderful birds - Antarctic terns, Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross and spectacled petrels. It is a birder's paradise!

We finally headed away from the island for a circuit of Nightingale Island. As we left Tristan behind us, I took this photo which shows just how small the habitable area is on Tristan da Cunha.

Looking back at the potato patches

After we left Tristan, we went back down to our cabin and on the way we met Sean and Marina Burns, the Government Official and his wife, who come from Eastbourne. We had a brief chat and said we would like to hear more about Tristan da Cunha from them during the voyage to Cape Town.

The cruise across to Nightingale Island took about a couple of hours and was in brilliant sunshine. In the distance on our starboard side was Inaccessible Island, which we would not be able to visit.

Inaccessible Island on the way to Nightingale Island 

Nightingale Island

Nightingale Island was named after a British admiral, Gamiel Nightingale. As we approached the island, we saw thousands of great shearwaters feeding in the sea. They were an impressive sight as they flew off in a huge flock.

We could see Northern rockhopper penguins on the shore and sitting on the rocks. We cruised round the island and went past the site where the freighter, Oliva, ran aground two years ago. Prince Albert II, as Silver Explorer was called then, rescued some of the crew from the sinking ship. Several of our expedition crew took part in the rescue.

The seas were really quite rough with huge waves pounding the rocks, sending up great clouds of spray.

Nightingale island

As we left Nightingale Island, one of our friends took this photo of us. A great reminder of a very special moment in time for us both: our brief visit to Tristan da Cunha and Nightingale Island.

A couple of photos of the magnificent sea birds that inhabit this part of the South Atlantic.

A Spectacled Petrel

Atlantic Yellow-Nosed Albatross

Having done our circuit of Nightingale Island, we sailed back towards Tristan, before heading due east into the South Atlantic and the start of the five days sailing to Cape Town.

Our last view of Tristan da Cunha in the clouds

We had lunch on the aft deck with Cliff, Jean, Philip, Chris and Dick. It was a lovely way to say goodbye to the remotest inhabited island in the world.

Fred, our restaurant manager, came up on deck and we got him to hold on to the guard rail so we could take a photo of him with Tristan in the background.

Fred and Tristan da Cunha

Lunch on the aft deck

Happy travellers!!

I was very sad to sail away from Tristan da Cunha, knowing the likelihood of returning to this remotest of islands was very slim indeed.

After all the excitement of the circuit of the islands, we went back to our cabin and started going through our photos to select the ones we should enter in the photo competition. Wendy went to Stefan's lecture on earthquakes, while I stayed in the cabin.

In the early evening, we went to the daily briefing and Sean and Marina were introduced to us all. They then answered our questions about Tristan and life on the island. It was a fascinating hour, which gave us all a much better insight into how a small group of people can survive in such isolation.

We had dinner with Jean, Philip, Chris and Dick and were served with delicious Tristan lobster which had a totally unnecessary vanilla (or was it custard?) sauce. Also served were Tristan crushed potatoes which were excellent.

We decided to miss the whiskey tasting in the Panorama Lounge and went back to our cabin. There was no more news from London. It had been a very long day, so we were both glad to get into bed.