2018 SA Agulhas II Visit
Report and photos from Janine Lavarello
The arrival of the SA Agulhas for its annual visit is always a busy time on Tristan with the start of Tourism's cruise season. She arrived at Tristan on Wednesday 12th September 2018, and passengers were safely offloaded by helicopter to American Fence during the morning.
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Welcoming family and visitors as they arrive from the Agulhas II on the helicopter.
Many activities have been taking place, with hikes to the Patches and the Bluff, and also a trip to Nightingale Island in the RIBs. This was a really lucky opportunity, as due to the weather conditions trips to Nightingale sometimes do not happen.
Conservation RIBs returning from Nightingale Island with visitors.
Visitors on a walk to the Bluff (L-R): Susan Cooper, Steve Taylor and Gan Erez.
Further activities included a Craft Day at the Tourism Centre, where visitors came along to have a look, learn about the local crafts and have a go at the carding, spinning, making jewellery, bookmarks and much more.
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| Display of Tristan crafts on the Craft Day. | Visitor Gan Erez tries spinning wool during the craft day. |
An island wedding took place that same week in St Joseph's Church. It was a lovely calm, sunny day which was perfect for the great occasion.
The following week the hike to Pigbite had to be cancelled due to the wet weather, but the visitors still enjoyed their day at the Tourism Centre were they had a go at preparing a traditional Tristan dish “Snislens”, after all their hard work they then sampled their cooking with a hot drink in Cafe da Cunha.
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| Vistors making traditional Tristan snislens. | Visitors eating their snislens. |
Visitors also enjoyed a hike to the Hillpiece where they got the chance to see the views back towards the Village and out towards the Patches area. Before we knew it the Agulhas had arrived back from Gough and the rest of the unloading was completed. The Administrator held a reception at the Prince Philip hall for the community and visitors and it was a great opportunity for everyone to have a chat and catch up.
A planned trip to Burntwood also went ahead. Three visitors took part and they set out with two local guides early morning. Arriving back in the afternoon, they all had a great day and enjoyed seeing the albatrosses up close.
Visitors Susan Cooper and Steve Taylor on a hike to Hillpiece, with the Agulhas II offshore in the background.
Friday 5th Octmmber dawned and it was time for everyone to depart with the Agulhas. There were many sad faces around the settlement, for a visit that had gone way too quickly. Flights were scheduled for 1:00pm and by this time the rain had started and the mist came in. The helicopter arrived a few minutes after 1:00pm despite the rain. All departing visitors met at the school hall for a briefing by the pilots and then were sorted into groups of ten for each flight. This went quite quickly and by 2:00pm everyone was safely onboard. The SA Agulhas departed for Cape Town at 5:30pm, soon after however she had to divert to Gough Island due to a freezer problem there. The SA Agulhas II safely arrived in Cape Town on Saturday 13th October, and everyone was relieved to get off after such a long voyage. Some passengers who had connecting flights home headed straight from the ship to the airport, while others had a few extra days in Cape Town. It iss hard to believe another Agulhas visit has yet again ended and we hope all our visitors had a great and memorable time with us.
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| Loading passengers onto the helicopter for reembarkation. | Helicopter heading off to the Agulhas II. |