On Friday 29th December 2017 and with the ticket and border formalities out of the way, I boarded the RMS St Helena with 113 other passengers and 55 crew on Voyage 267.
This is scheduled to be the second last voyage ever and the last to visit Tristan da Cunha en-route to St Helena. That said, the original end of the RMS St Helena service was about a year ago, but her schedule was extended whilst ongoing issues with the new airport on St Helena were ironed out, so never say never, the trusty old RMS may continue yet.
She is the last true ‘Royal Mail Ship’, with one remaining in name only being the Queen Mary II. Since entering service at the end of the eighties, she has operated pretty much non-stop between Cape Town, St Helena and Ascension Island with occasional trips to Tristan da Cunha and to the UK.
At around 1700 SAST we set sail from Cape Town leaving behind the iconic view of Table Mountain and setting course West by South for Tristan da Cunha, about five days sailing.