We are just getting ready to leave Ascension Island!

Its been a blast here from snorkelling with trigger fish and turtles, watching the female turtles lay their eggs ashore at night to a proper burger and fries on the US Airforce Base that is here!!

Here is a selection of pics for you!

One Life…you know the rest right???

Paul 🙂 xx

(by Audrey Adamson)

Yesterday evening, after 4 and a half days at sea, we reached the tiny volcanic mass of Ascension island, an island, north of St Helena, famous mainly from his military history. This island is approx 1,600km from the coast of Africa and 2,250km from the coast of South America, pretty much in the centre of the South Atlantic Ocean.

It is a British island used by both British and American military over the past century. A vital communication centre in the Atlantic, Ascension has a BBC World Service relay station at English Bay. Cable & Wireless established an Earth Station here in the 60s for the ever expanding satellite communications network. NASA were here in the 60s running the Apollo space programme. A runway and refueling stop built here for US aircraft 40s has been in use ever since. Ascension became essential to the Brits in the early 80s for the war in the Falklands, hence there’s a large Royal Airforce base here too.

800 hundred people live on Ascension, however no one can stay here permanently and locals are based here for work reasons only, unless they are under 18years of age. It’s a pretty treating island to approach by sea with aerials and antennae, towers and dishes adorning every hill and mountain top, testimony to the communications and military work here. As always the LUSH crew were delighted to drop anchor and celebrate another passage at sea along with new landfall. We were greeted by a load of turtles in the water around us, who come here from Jan to April to breed and lay eggs on the pristine beaches. These Green Turtles have come all the way from South America and make the mammoth journey every 3-4years.

Out of hours to clear customs last night, we passed our time away at anchor playing cards and fishing (catching 3 Black Jack fish!!) under a very starry twinkly sky! This morning LUSH was surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands, of BlackTrigger fish!! Donning our snorkles and diving into the tropical water (29 degrees C) wasn’t a difficult decision for us, and a great start to our time here in Ascension.

One Life.. Live it!

Audrey

 

Paul & Audrey were interviewed in Saint Helena aboard LUSH by Sharon Henry from SAMS Radio 1!

If you fancy an audio tour, step onboard LUSH with us and listen here:

Click Play Button Above to Listen!

 

(by Audrey Adamson)

We were honored to have HSH Prince Albert of Monaco onboard LUSH for a sail around Table Bay to watch the start of the Cape Town to Rio Race on the 4th of Jan. We had originally planned to do this race ourselves along with the rest of the Oyster fleet however there have been numerous security concerns along the Brazilian coast recently so none of the yachts are pulling in there now and we are opting to get to the Caribbean a few weeks earlier, how bad!

Anyhow we still got a taste of the race sailing around the bay that morning along with a hundred other spectator boats. Boy was I glad we weren’t racing on seeing the forecast of 60knots plus of breeze expected within the first 24-48hrs of the race. I would certainly question why the race committee didn’t delay the race with a forecast like that! Out of the 30+ boats who started 9 retired, returning to Cape Town, and one person lost their life from a dismasting on one of the yachts. Two yachts abandoned ship that night, one was in the race and the other was a French cruising boat. Gosh, when you hear stories like these it really does remind us of the might and ferocity of the ocean, and the importance of heeding the weather forecast. Cruising and racing yachts is great fun but you can’t take it for granted. Safety of the crew and yacht must always be to the forefronts of our minds and one can NEVER underestimate the power of our seas and weather.

Prince Albert certainly enjoyed his day onboard LUSH as did his wife, Princess Charlene. I was all hyped in the galley, to think I was cooking for Royalty!! When I accepted this job two years ago I never envisioned this, that’s for sure. From Marks & Sparks ready-meals in Dun Laoghaire to fine dining in Cape Town, wow I really have come a long way in cooking miles not to even mention sailing miles, of which I have 24,000 under my belt at this stage.

I didn’t get too stressed thinking of cooking for Royalty, sure I just reminded myself that he’s family. yes indeed folks Prince Albert’s mum Princess Grace Kelly’s grandfather came from Newport, Co Mayo (which is where I’m from). My Grandmother was Kelly and they were cousins. I have pictures at home of Princess Grace with my grandmother when she came to visit her ancestral home years ago. It didn’t take me long to explain the link to Prince Albert and he was thrilled with the connection as was my boss, EJ! Prince Albert himself came to Newport a couple of years back and had met my mum along with other cousins. We had such a laugh onboard LUSH that day and after taking a few pics I asked would he mind me sharing them on our blog which he was cool with. So see below for yerselves.. moi entertaining Royalty!! Da Royal Couz!!

We are now at sea on passage to Accession Island and we have been reflecting on the beautiful island of Saint Helena!

We have had an incredible time on Saint Helena!! It was pure class!

We had time for one final dive with Anthony from Sub-Tropic Adventures who took us into a massive underwater cave! Like all Ocean upwelling’s Saint Helena is packed with a rich bio-diversity so we saw loads of reef fish and also the pelagic’s and massive crayfish inside the cave!

At 1730 we were met on the dock by Sally who is the wife of Paul Hickling who set-up and runs the Saint Helena Distillery.

The Saint Helena Distillery is the most remote distillery in the world and it is Paul’s vision to be producing the local bottle that tourists take home with them on their return flight from the airport when it opens in 2 years!

Paul makes his spirits from scratch from sourcing the raw materials locally all the way through to bottling and its all done in his special extension on his house!

He is already supplying the whole island with his 4 different spirits, Tungi, White Lion, Jamestown Gin & Midnight Mist

We had tastings of all four and they are first class!

For sundowners, Paul & Sally served us, “Gunpowders” which is White Lion (His Spiced Rum) mixed with Sprite & Lime – they were delicious!

It was fascinating to spend a couple of hours with Paul & Sally learning about their vision! It’s always great to spend time with people who are real doers and are making their vision happen! Very inspirational!

Check out: www.tungi.co.sh

We had booked to eat in Wellington House that evening with Ivy who cooked us the most fabulous 3 course meal! We gorged on fresh tuna to start and then roast chicken with all the trimmings and finished it off with proper apple crumble!! Totally Delicious!!

We woke up the next day to find Al had caught 5 nice fish for lunch! Yum Yum!!!

So we are now back at sea sailing in light airs with calm seas!!

Accession Island is our next South Atlantic stop!!! Bring it on!!!

One Life.Make Sure Your Living it!

Paul :0) x x

What a morning we’ve had!!

Myself, Audrey, Lucy & Joe left LUSH this morning with one goal in mind…to swim with whale sharks!!

It wasn’t long before we found 6 Whale Sharks feeding off the corner of the island! These ocean giants ranged from 10 m to 15 m!! (30′ – 45′) and believe me when you are next to one you sure know it!!

You will see the scale in the pics with us beside them!!

This was one of the most amazing experiences of my life!!!

Swimming with these ocean giants that are so graceful and roam the ocean eating veggies was just awesome!!! 🙂

Here are the pics!! Enjoy!

One Life….you know the rest!!! 😉

Paul 🙂 xxx

We arrived safe and sound in St Helena on Friday evening to be greeted by some of the most friendly and fun people we have ever met!

We were greeted by 3 “Saints” which is what the local people are called! St Helena has 5000 “Saints” living on it and its only 10 miles long by 5 miles wide!!!

Yesterday afternoon we went off with Colin Corker in his 1929 Chevy and he drove us over to the house that Napoleon lived in when he was exciled here. He was on the isand for 6 years up until his death in 1821 when he was buried here for 19 years until France removed his remains to Paris. Ivy who was our host in the house was so knowledgable and gave us so much history! It was pretty awesome to be in the room standing next to his bed that he died in!

Last night we had the team from SAMS radio onboard and Sharon interviewed and have asked Audrey and I to be guests on the’ Juicy Mango’ show tomorrow evening with Richard!!! Darrin took a load of pictures for the local paper too!!
Al and his wife, Kizzy, were interviewed on the other local radio station at the same time!
Fame at last for team LUSH!! Well we all have to start somewhere!!!

This morning, Anthony took us for a dive at “Long Ledge” where we encoutered two 3 metre wide dervil rays (Slightly Smaller than the Manta Ray) and they put on the most amazing show for us circling us and swimming right up to us and playing for ages…it was an awesome dive!!! One of the best I have ever done!

Back onboard for a cup of tea and then we heard Audrey shouting from the back of LUSH saying quick guys…..we ran to the transom and there was a couple of 35′ Whale Sharks right next to us on the surface…..I just thought….’ONE LIFE’…..and whipped off the shorts jumping into the water in my boxers with mask, snorkel and camera in tow! 10 mins later Audrey and Lucy joined me to meet our new friends!

What followed was an amazing experience where the Whale sharks swam with and around us for about 30mins…in fact everywhere we swam he followed!! The girls did let a few yelps out of them as he was fully gunning for them at one point!! Totally safe though, these guys only eat plankton!! Its hard to get a across the scale of them in words…so look at the picture I took from behind one of the whale sharks and you will see Audrey & Lucy’s legs and asses tiny next to the shark!!! I can honestly say it was the best swim of my life. It’s just so rare to get an opportunity to swim with such awesome sealife!

So 2 days in the most remote island in the world as it has no airport and my God its been amazing so far!!!

As always….One Life…..Make Sure your LIVING IT! :0)

Paul :0) xxx

 

5, 4, 3, 2, 1…….whoo hoo!! Pop the bubbles!!!!

At 1925 UTC Lush crossed the Greenwich Meridian back into West Longitude!

The last time we crossed the opposite side of this meridian was in Fiji on the 180 Line back in June!!! My how time flys!!!

We celebrated with a glass of bubbles and also Lucy came up with the idea to send a message in our empty bottle of bubbles, pictures were taken on a polaroid camera and a message sent!!! Al sealed up the bottle and Lucy sent the mail off the back of LUSH!!! Hrmmm I wonder how long it will be before we get a reply! 🙂

We are only 452 miles from St Helena and we should arrive in on Friday!

We have had a repair to do on the leading edge of our mainsail so we set the cast iron topsail yesterday and the Cummins QSL 350 Lightweight Spinnaker will bring us in!

Thanks so much for all the messages from the people of St Helena who have been welcoming us through our blog prior to our arrival! We look forward to meeting you all very soon!

You know the message…..

One Life…..Make SURE you’re LIVING IT! 🙂

Paul 🙂 xxx 20. 50 S 000.00 E/W!

We left Cape Town on Friday and have had the most gorgeous consistent breeze since! The wind has been on average 20 – 25 kts right behind us and it’s allowed us to sail poled out and make great progress.

The South Atlantic is renowned for having very predictable and constant trades due to the large High Pressure that sits in the middle of it! Well, it’s certainly living up to that!

We are all excited about visiting the island of St Helena. As St Helena has no airport the only way in is by sea! Napoleon found this out when he was exiled there after he was defeated & captured.

As I write I can hear the everlasting sound of the ocean being carved out by LUSH’S bow and the miles are slipping under the keel as we sail up the planet!

It’s at times like these when you have a moment with the ocean that I always feel so grateful to be skippering such an amazing yacht and working with a fantastic team and all whilst undergoing a journey of a life time!!

In life I am committed to growth, learning, higher standards and ultimately becoming more every single day!

You see its not what you have that determines the quality of your life…it’s who you become!

When you focus on:

Becoming more,

Being the best you can be,

Pushing yourself past what you think you can do

You realise that life is such a precious gift that we all owe it to ourselves to really LIVE no matter what life throws at us!

This journey has no doubt changed our lives forever in a way that has removed the status quo and given us more passion, more enthusiasm and more belief to dream big and make our dreams a reality.

The message is simple….You can too!

Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, whoever your with!

One Life…. Commit right now to LIVING IT!!!

Paul  xxx

P.S. To all at St Helena Distillery! The world’s most remote distillery…..thanks for emailing! We are coming in and looking forward to tasting the Tungi!! :0)

Happy New Year 2014!! We thought we would send you a quick New Year’s Video! 🙂

One Life…Live It 🙂

Paul & Audrey 🙂 xx