SVS Grenville and MV Pacific Askari depart Cape Town for Tristan da Cunha

Two ships sailing from Cape Town

Sean Burns reports on two January 2017 Cape Town Departures from Cape Town

Two ships have departed from Cape Town bound for Tristan ahead of the first scheduled voyage of Oventones fishing vessel MV Edinburgh expected on 14th January.
SVS Grenville

The SVS Grenville is the National Geographic expedition ship for the 'Pristine Seas' project. It departed Cape Town during the afternoon of Sunday 8th January 2017 bound for Tristan da Cunha where it is expected to arrive a week later on 15th January.

On board SVS Grenville are twenty members or the Pristine Seas National Geographic Expedition to the Tristan da Cunha Islands, six contractors who will work on further refurbishment of Calshot Harbour and seven islanders: Chief Islander Ian Lavarello, Dilys Green, Andrew Green, Tanya Green, Emma, Ryan and Tyler Swain. Ovenstones vessels only carry 12 passengers and so the Tristan Government is immensely grateful to organisers of the National Geogrpahic Expedition to have chartered a ship with enough capacity to enable seven islanders and six contractors to travel out to the island at a busy time.

Photo from Kelly Burns of the Pacific Askari arriving at Tristan on 28th October 2016

MV Pacific Askari departed Cape Town on 10th January at 18.00 local time. The vessel has been chartered by the Camogli Healthcare Centre contractors Galliford Try to transport another ten workers to join the team already working on the new facility, plus one contractor to join the Calshot Harbour work team. Expected arrival is noon on 17th January.

The Tristan Government have a big problem accommodating the large group of contractors, numbering 29 on arrival of the Pacific Askari, in addition to 31 other expatriate workers, their families and visitors already on the island. The total of 60 may be close to a record which we will check, with further arrivals expected on MV Edinburgh before the end of January.