Vous vous en doutez, à voir sur la carte, Tristan, ce n’est pas la porte à côté. Et ça l’est d’autant moins qu’il n’y a pas d’aéroport ici, ce qui fait de cette île la moins accessible du monde…rien que ça. Dès lors, il n’y a pas 40 alternatives, la seule valide, c’est le bateau au départ de Cape Town. De là, comptez entre 6 et 10 jours de mer, suivant les conditions et suivant le navire. J’ai eu la chance d’embarquer sur l’Agulhas, qui est un brise-glace sud africain. Chaque année, une mission l’amène dans les parages, lorsqu’il va relayer les scientifiques de Gough Island, coincés là-bas pour 1 an, à 6 personnes. C’est un beau bateau, pas tout neuf, mais bien entretenu. Beaucoup de matériel lourd à bord : ça va des 2 hélicoptères Bell 212 aux énormes pompes pour pulser le fuel sur Gough et Tristan, en passant par les chambres froides capables de nourrir 70 à 80 personnes pendant plus de 3 mois. Et croyez-moi, la nourriture n’a rien à envier à certains restaurants de chez nous, tant en diversité que en quantité. C’est sur ce même bateau que Jean est reparti ce matin, mais dans un contexte assez tendu. En effet, la semaine dernière, il y a eu un meurtre à bord, suite à une bagare entre membres de l’équipage. Vous l’imaginez, l’ambiance à bord doit être assez…glaciale. D’autant qu’il y a apparemement plusieurs clans à bord, celui du décédé ayant décidé de le vengé. C’est pour cela qu’une frégate Sud Africaine vient de faire un aller-retour Cape-Town Tristan pour évacué le corps et le meurtrier, pour tenté de faire redescendre la tension à bord…Bon voyage Jean !
As you may have seen on the map, Tristan is definitivly far away from everything else. And it is even worse as there is no airport on the Island… So, the only way is the ship, starting from Cape Town. In around 6 to 10 days, you can reach the island. The duration of the travel depends a lot of the meteo and of the ship. I had the opportunity to embark on the SA Agulhas, which is a south African Ice-Breaker. It is a nice ship, well maintained, and full of impressive material: 2 big helicopters, powerful fuel pump to provide the generators of Tristan and Gough Island, and also some big frozen room, able to stock food for 70 people for 3 months, even more. The ship can also carry freight, like cars, or even buses!
This is on this ship that Jean is going home, but the atmosphere on board must be pretty different from the one I had the opportunity to discover: indeed, a sad event occurred on board few days ago (a murder between crew members), and conditions on board the Agulhas were probably very hard to deal with. Fortunatly, another ship from South African Gvt arrived couple of days ago, to transfert the corpse and the the murderer. Hopefully the rest of the trip will be Ok.
As you may have seen on the map, Tristan is definitivly far away from everything else. And it is even worse as there is no airport on the Island… So, the only way is the ship, starting from Cape Town. In around 6 to 10 days, you can reach the island. The duration of the travel depends a lot of the meteo and of the ship. I had the opportunity to embark on the SA Agulhas, which is a south African Ice-Breaker. It is a nice ship, well maintained, and full of impressive material: 2 big helicopters, powerful fuel pump to provide the generators of Tristan and Gough Island, and also some big frozen room, able to stock food for 70 people for 3 months, even more. The ship can also carry freight, like cars, or even buses!
This is on this ship that Jean is going home, but the atmosphere on board must be pretty different from the one I had the opportunity to discover: indeed, a sad event occurred on board few days ago (a murder between crew members), and conditions on board the Agulhas were probably very hard to deal with. Fortunatly, another ship from South African Gvt arrived couple of days ago, to transfert the corpse and the the murderer. Hopefully the rest of the trip will be Ok.
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