I may have mentioned it earlier but far in to the journey ,
holyman becomes too sick to travel. This is most likely do to the advanced state of his growths, his old age, and general sickness. this happens just as they reach the sea in this new unknown land.
with out holyman's guidance the group has nothing to do so they simply set up camp once more and wait. unfortunately his condition dose not change until 2 years later , also it changes for the worst and he passes on leaving the whole group in this one spot.
During the wait the group had started to build a small city , mostly because there was nothing better to do and they saw it would be a while before anything happened.