Jamestown - General Info

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Notice: St Helena government are closing the Jamestown mooring field from the 5th of January 2024 until further notice, due to ongoing maintenance and health and safety issues. See this news item for details.

Description:

Jamestown is the capital of St. Helena and its only port, located on the NW coast. Sandwiched between the rough terrain of steep cliffs (that form James Valley), the town is rather long, thin and densely populated, with tightly knit, long and winding streets.

Jamestown is known as “quintessential” and “one of the best examples of unspoiled Georgian architecture anywhere in the world”,  boasting the oldest Anglican Church in the Southern Hemisphere and other interesting historic buildings.

A popular tourist attraction here is Jacob’s Ladder, a staircase of 699 steps, built in 1829 to connect Jamestown to the former fort on Ladder Hill, 600 feet above the town.  The ladder is lit at night and the record ascent time is just over five minutes.  People come from all over the world to take on the challenge of the climb.

steep valley sides with a bay behind and on the valley floor a town in a narrow strip of land with red roofs
Jamestown, St. Helena

Cruiser Highlights:

Mid-Atlantic stopover with provisioning, water, fuel and emergency repairs; mooring buoys; Yacht Club; water-taxi; extremely friendly and helpful locals; population of boat owners; airport; museum; diverse mix of terrain and micro-climates; Category VI MPA.

Entrance Notes and Cautions:

  • The mooring field (currently closed) is located close to the steep cliff on the western side of the harbor and the swells can be substantial both from the cliff and from the sea. Care should be taken to approach the field from the West and not through the local boats due to a large number of mooring lines and painters for the local fishing boats. See Docking for more details.
  • See Clearance for detailed arrival information during the day, darkness and at weekends.
  • Moorings have no painter and are difficult to pick up. See helpful notes in Docking.
  • The swell here is substantial therefore great care must be taken to ensure your mooring lines are secure. Regular checks are recommended as boats have reported coming loose here.
  • Do not run your watermaker if tied to the moorings at West Rocks as this is exactly at the position of the Jamestown and Half Tree Hollow effluent outlet.

Position:

15° 55’11″S, 05° 43’19″W (approach to moorings)

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Jamestown was last updated 2 months ago.

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  1. January 29, 2014 at 1:29 AM
    Data Entry2 says:

    You can order fuel in advance of your arrival and get any other questions answered by e-mail to [email protected]

    1. November 19, 2022 at 5:10 PM
      sv-lilith says:

      Your message wasn’t delivered to [email protected] because the domain marinemaven.com couldn’t be found.

    2. November 21, 2022 at 2:26 PM
      profile photo
      Sue Richards says:

      Thanks for letting us know – very helpful! We are in touch with St. Helena now to find out new contact details or if indeed this business is still operating. Will update as soon as we know more.

    3. November 22, 2022 at 3:35 PM
      profile photo
      Sue Richards says:

      Indeed this business is operating no more, so thank you for picking up on this. In fact, Steve Kirk, Harbor Master, has done a great job going through the Jamestown information for us and advising of further updates.

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