14o45S 6o18W

On a hot leg, where all the sounds from above-decks reach the back bedroom through open hatches and the body is not knocked unconscious by Southern-Ocean exhaustion, sleep, though welcome, can be fitful and restless. Many of us swap stories of bizarre dreams once on deck and sometimes things seem a little surreal upon waking! When I lay in my bunk and heard the cry of 'Land Ho!' at dusk yesterday, I thought that I must be dreaming, but on climbing the companionway steps, sure enough, there was a murky outline of hills on the port beam. This was the island St Helena - and, as usual, Christian was the first to spot land and give the call.

We had not expected to actually see the island (a British colony since 1834), but Cop and his watch had gybed westwards during the afternoon and this was a welcome surprise to the oncoming crew. Close though we came, we did not pause even for the briefest look though - if we had made a pit-stop, we would certainly have been in interesting company. Since being discovered by the Portuguese navigator, Joao dã Nova, on 21 May 1502, St Helena has been visited by such illustrious characters as Edmund Halley (1677), navigator and explorer William Dampier (1691), Captain Cook (1775) and Charles Darwin - who stopped on his homeward-bound journey in 1836. During the nineteenth century it was the haunt of numerous exiles - Napoleon Bonaparte (1815), South African Zulu Chief Dinizulu (1890) and over 6,000 Boer-War prisoners from the Anglo-Boer War. When he arrived, Chief Dinizulu would have been greeted by St Helena's oldest inhabitant, Jonathan the tortoise. Already 50 when he arrived in 1882, he is now over 170 years old! Today, Jonathan shares his home with 5,000 other citizens, most of whom make their living from work in the Public Services, fishing or at the fish-freezing facility. Some 1,000 St Helenians also work offshore, in Ascension or the Falklands.

It seems that the sheer cliffs intersected with deep valleys, the rocky shores and rolling hills, subtropical forest and grasslands found inshore can expect to remain largely unspoilt. For the tourists who enjoy these sights, along with St Helena's lush semi-tropical vegetation, are few. The island has no airport, no safe anchorage for yachts in heavy seas and little space aboard the passenger/cargo ship RMS St Helena, so tourism is unlikely to develop rapidly.

This must be a relief for Jonathan who no doubt has got used to things as they are and it seems a shame that there was no time for us to enjoy a brief visit, but as ever we are being hounded by another little inhabited island - Isle of Sark. As we fly through the gloom towards a new day they are hot on our heels and almost within shouting distance! It feels like our own private form of exile; our fate to sail the seven seas forever more, head to head, neck and neck with Captain Gillespie and his determined crew.