Position around: 15° 56' S - 05° 43' W
My trip to St. Helena
from Monday, October 20th 2008
until Saturday, November 22nd 2008
This report is dedicated to all the friendly people on St. Helena and Ascension
Literature:
(1) Sue Steiner, Robin Liston; St. Helena, Ascension, Tristan da Cunha;
Second Edition September 2007;Bradt Travel Guides Ltd. England; ISBN-10:
1 84162 198 6; ISBN-13: 978 1 84162 198 2
(2) Ian Mathieson, Laurence Carter; Exploring St. Helena: A Walker's Guide;
First published by Anthony Nelson Ltd., Oswestry, Shropshire, England; ISBN
0 904614 49 2
(3) NN; St. Helena - 500 Years of History; Designed and published by Anchor
Marine and associates, England
(4) Graham Avis; An Introduction to the History of Ascension Island; Second
Edition September 2001; Ascension Heritage Society
Monday, October 20th 2008
The last few days at home in Munich have been a bit hectic. However, the idea to take a taxi to Munich airport was famous due to the fact, the S-Bahn (Munich's local train service) ends up at the airport's visitor center. It took less then one hour from my home to the gate. As usual I am too early. It is a clear and nice day. The sun is shining. May be one of the last warm days at the end of autumn.
My flight to London Heathrow is in time. At Heathrow I took a bus to Oxford at 3PM. Half way to Oxford it starts to rain cats and dogs. A horrible welcome. In Oxford I took the bus to Carterton. The driver in the bus to Oxford explained the stops and everything else. Also he called a taxi for some passengers. In the bus to Carterton I get no information from the driver. How the people know where they have to leave the bus, I do not know. My destination for today is Carpenters Bed and Breakfast in Brize Norton.
But why I am going to Brize Norton. A very little village having nothing around. I am on the way to fly to Ascension Island in South Atlantic Ocean. The one and only airline which approaches Ascension Island is the Royal Airforce. The flight starts at the Brize Norton Airforce Base. I am to days too early. When I booked the flight with Royal Airforce, the flight was scheduled on November 21st. The schedule was postponed to November 22nd.
I arrived in Carterton at the final bus station. Still it is raining cats and dogs. I had no phone number for a taxi service. I ask at the filling station. The clerk requested me to go to the super market. I did and the friendly lady at the information provides some phone numbers for taxi services. One number only was active. Over one hour waiting. Finally I arrived at Carpenters Bed & Breakfast. A nice guest house. Clean and a good breakfast is served in the morning.
I spend the evening in an english pub having my dinner.
Tuesday, October 21st 2008
The morning is clear. No rain outside. The guest house is an old
english house. Several fireplaces are in the
rooms.
The landlady
explained,
she will recover all the fireplaces. It is a pity, I forgot my floo powder
(works for Harry-Potter-Fans only). I had an english breakfast. Later
on I walked into the direction to Carterton, passing the main gate of the
airforce base. Carterton is a small english village. Even it is difficult
to find a coffee bar. A pub was open and so I had a cup of coffee in the
pub. I wrote a few postcards and walked half around the village. All day
was sun shine. In the evening I encountered an approaching tristar doing
touch and goes. I took my camera and get a few pictures of the approaching
tristar.
Had my dinner in the pub as yesterday.
Wednesday, October 22nd 2008
Clear of clouds, I am very happy. Today I will go to Witney, a
small town close to Brize Norton and Carterton. After breakfast I went down
to the bus stop. The
bus
goes every 30 minutes. One just was gone. I had to wait. It was a bit cold
in the morning and the bus stop is located in the shadow. The 6 km bus ride
was fast. However due to the reason that there is no indicator about the
next bus stop, it is difficult to know when to go off.
The first impression about Witney, it is an old English village like in the middle age. Many small shops, nothing is around the village. I spend a couple of hours in Witney, walked through the roads, had some lunch and some tea. I tried to buy some stamps to write postcards. That was a real adventure. The post office was closed due to sick post officers. The stamp machine outside of the office was out of order. What can I do with my letter I already wrote? There is no post office in Brize Norton. On my return to Brize Norton I do not have the time to go to Carterton because I have to be at the air port in time. So I entered a shop and explained my situation to the lady in the shop. She was so kind to take the letter and she promise to buy a stamp and mail the letter. She did so, the letter arrived. Thank you very much.
Back in Carpenters Bed & Breakfast I tried to enter. That was
not easy. The landlady locked the door and let the key in the lock. She did
not hear the ring
because
she was in the garden. I did not know about the garden. So it took about
half an hour to find her and to
enter.
I took a little nap. At 5PM I put my things together and went down to the airport. Much to early as usual. The Brize Norton airport is located inside an airforce area because this airport is an airforce airport. At the gate I received a passport with picture. A kind airforce officer put me into a van and drove me to the terminal building. Just after my arrival, the check-in was open. My suitcase was checked and I could do something else. I was not in the mood to read. I tried to relax and watched the people. During that I spotted a very important person and his family on the way to St. Helena, the new Secretary (of State) for St. Helena. But at that time this fact was unknown to me.
Around midnight the Royal Airforce started to board the air craft. In 2003 I never could imagine that I would return to that place. Will you please also visit my travel report to Ascension in 2003.
Thursday, October 23rd 2008
The
aircraft, a Boeing 767-300, arrived at 8AM on Ascension. I passed the complicated
immigration procedure and paid eleven British Pound as entering fee. Leaving
the immigration building it was raining. The hotel pick-up service still
worked perfectly. The large sign "Tourist Information" in the front
of the hotel
was
removed. My first impression, it seems to be more dismal as five years ago.
The canteen now is a self service restaurant. The food might be a bit
fast-food like. However, the tea and the cake are fantastic. The Hayes House
Hotel is the same as five years ago. The kitchen is locked. Sheep are still
walking on the street.
Cable and Wireless still has the internet station available. I
was able to log into my freenet mail account. The window opening was complete
disabled. For
this reason I was not able to read my mails because the mails appear in windows
on the display. C&W returned the money I spend. That was OK but
for me not a solution
There was a nice dinner to night, fresh fish in pepper. Also I had spoken to Andrew, the new Secretary (of State) from St. Helena. He also is on the way to St. Helena together with his family. A military music group played some nice music after the dinner.
Friday, October 24th 2008
The
Hayes House makes some hum all the time. I am not sure about how I
slept. The room temperature is about 25 degree centigrade. At
breakfast I had
toast and weetabix. I ask for information about the ship RMS St. Helena.
Information will be published soon.
After breakfast I took my backpack containing my photo stuff and
walked into direction Two Boat Village. The colored stone and the boat with
the bus-stop sign are still there. However, there is no bus on Ascension,
but they have a bus-stop. One of the old alarm clocks still is in the
boat.
Some new stuff was placed in the boat. The boat was erected to have some
shade on walking tours. The sun on Ascension is very hot and often strait
overhead. The colored stone has an other story. Everybody who left Ascension
and
knows he never will
come back takes a bin of color and spills it over the stone. I did
not do so in 2003 and I did not do so now! The filling station also located
on this road was enlarged related to five years ago.
About half past ten I arrived in Two Boat Village. It seems there
are still some amateur radio people. The pub opens at 12 noon, I do not want
to wait.
So
I walked on to my next destination, the top of the Green Mountain. Now it
is a National Park. A monument at the entrance points it out. On the way
up I had seen a few landcrabs, a lot of birds and flowers. Nothing changed
on the shape of the top. It was a pity, the nice bananas at the way needed
some more time to become ripe. I walked back and returned about 4PM to
Georgetown.
There was a nice dinner to night.
Saturday, October 25th 2008
During the
night loud music disturbed my sleep. I really did not know how much
I slept. In addition to the loud music there was some rain.
I
was very
tired in the morning. Breakfast was not ready at seven o'clock. I walked
around without a goal. Breakfast was ready at 8AM.
After breakfast I went down to the museum. I spotted some changes related to my first visit. The museum was improved.
Later on I ask to pay my bill. On Monday still is time. The procedure
was postponed to Monday. The military music group played at the Exiles
Building. So I
kept my camera and went down to the Exiles Building. They played music for
about two hours and the bandmaster dedicated to me the
"Radetzky-Marsch".
Thank you!
There is a little pub called Temptations just behind the police station. I had a baguette and then cake and tea. By the way, Temptations has full service.
I am still very tired in regards to the very noisy night. So I spend the day in front of the Hayes House, sometimes reading, sometimes with tea an sometimes sleepy.
Again, the dinner tonight was famous. They really have a good chef!
Sunday, October 26th 2008
The night was calm related to the very noisy music coming from
outside. To day I have to put everything back into my suitcase. Tomorrow
I will go by ship
further
on to St. Helena. I took my camera and went down to have breakfast. Later
on I walked onto the hill close to Georgetown. The sky
is
clear which
means a hot day is approaching. Arriving on the top of the hill where these
old cannons are mounted it starts to rain.
Two frigate birds flying around. Frigate birds are very large black birds. The wingspan might go up to two meters. Due to the swallowtail theses large birds are fantastic flyers. Frigate birds living from fish but they are not able to sit on water like ducks, gulls or other water birds. One frigate bird glided over the landscape very majestically. The other frigate bird glides up like a glider plane on upwind. The bird glides higher and higher. It was an amazing view, to see the large bird gliding in the sky. Finally the large frigate bird glides away over the Atlantic Ocean. I am always fascinated by these large fantastic flyers. By the way, frigate birds also at home on Galapagos Islands (refer to my Galapagos page).
Georgetown and
the Atlantic Ocean is located down the hill. I went back because I like to
eat something. However, there was no food and no drink. Both pubs publish
opening hours on Sunday during noon but both pubs are closed. A few chocolate
chips cookies was the only food I
had. I returned
to Hayes House, made a tea and had my cookies sitting at the table in front
of the House.
In the afternoon I went down to Dead Man Beach. I found a few nice shells. On the way back I passed the cemetery. During my first visit in 2003 I fond a few graves outside the cemetery walls. More graves outside the walls are added. These graves are graves from dogs and cats, sometimes with pictures.
I made my suitcase ready in the afternoon. I put my winter-clothes into a separate bag because I do not need such clothes on St. Helena. I only need it on my return to Germany. I will store these stuff on Ascension.
The dinner tonight was fantastic as usual! No question! I went to sleep early today.
Monday, October 27th 2008
I did not sleep due to the very noisy music from other houses in
the back of Hayes House. Getting up at 6AM, went into the bathroom and put
the last things
into
my suitcase. At 7AM I walked to the RMS St. Helena check-in to leave my suitcase.
My suitcase was security checked and I went on for
breakfast.
After breakfast I went to the hotel office to pay my bill. I explained my anger about the very loud music coming from the houses behind the Hayes House. In about two weeks on the way back from St. Helena I have to stay again a few days in Hayes House. For that I request a room to the road. Really, the lady at the counter shows understanding of my situation.
The ship RMS St. Helena will leave in the afternoon. She already
anchored outside in the bay in front oft Georgetown's pierhead. By the way,
everybody calls
the
ship "RMS" which means Royal Mail Ship. I walked again on the hill close
to Georgetown. It is so calm up there. Usually no
people
coming up. Around noon I went back to Georgetown to have some lunch. I had
some sandwich and tea.
Some unknown people walking along the roads of Georgetown, people from the RMS. Also St. Helena's Governor arrived with RMS on Ascension for business.
It is time to go on board. I arrived at the RMS check-in building
again. RMS anchored of shore due to the inability for a large ship to come
close to the harbour. All cargo and all passengers are transported by boat
between the harbour and the ship. Related to 2003 now they do have a larger
boat for passenger transport called Queen
Atlantic. For people
who are unable to use the boat transfer can use the so called air taxi. That
is nothing else then a cage. The people sit in the cage and lift by a crane
onto a swimming container-transport platform. This platform drives to the
RMS. An other crane lifts the cage onto the ship and the people are on board
of the RMS. However, it is always a show to watch embarking or disembarking
of
the
RMS.
With the Queen Atlantic I arrived at RMS. Somebody guided me the
way to my cabin number 36. A very nice cabin, large and with a window. The
cabin measures about 5m to 3m and has two beds and a little bathroom. The
bathroom measures about 2m to 1.5m and reduces the all over cabin size.
This cabin costs a lot of money but I am happy to have some privacy. By the
way, the Governor and his wife are also on the ship. Later I find out,
they have
the cabin next to mine.
I went on deck and inspected the ship. The sun goes down. Ascension in a special light. The top and the bottom of the hills are in shade. In the middle a stripe of a bride sunlight. A view which I can not forgot. It was a pity, my camera was in my cabin. A bit apart I spotted a young lady with a camera. But she also did not take a photo of that light.
Due to the noisy night and the whole day busy, I was not so well. Later I went down for dinner which was excellent. At the bar I tried the St. Helena Spirit. In general, I do not like spirits, so please find the taste by your self.
Tuesday, October 28th 2008
It swung and swung again. The engines make a lot of noise. Vibrations
are all over the ship. I had no idea how good and how much I slept.
Based on the noisy
Hayes House
on Ascension I am very tired. Remember, due to very loud music outside,
I could not sleep for three
nights.
The sky is gray, I spend a lot of time on the ship's sun deck, mainly sleeping. In the time between I watched a movie about St. Helena. I am so happy to have a single cabin! Today there was a bridge visit announced. I was very interested to have a look into the bridge. I went up to the meeting point. Only the lady with the camera was there. I meet her before just after departing from Ascension. By the way, she is doing her Ph.D. on St. Helena's wirebirds. I am pleased that this lady is interested in technical things too! Still tired I went back to the sun deck. In the evening I tested the satellite telephone. I did not get a connection. No satellites in sight. Unbelievable, we are close to the equator.
Wednesday, October 29th 2008
Early
in the morning I tried the satellite phone again. Still no satellites, it
does not work. I slept well last night. The passengers are requested to put
the luggage in front of the cabin at 9:30AM. We will arrive very early, so
I have an additional day on St. Helena. RMS was speeding up.
The sky is gray. I went down for breakfast and ask to join a group
of people. A few minutes later a lady and a gentleman joined the table too.
We
all together had some discussions about the new airport on St. Helena, the
school system and getting tourists onto St. Helena. After breakfast the lady
explained: "By the way, I am Gene and he is Andrew the Governor." Amazing,
that morning I had breakfast together with the Governor, his wife and some
other official people from St. Helena.
I have to do the immigration paperwork. I have to fill out several
pages and to declare expensive cameras etc. I carry a professional camera
and
lenses in my luggage. I declared that equipment on a custom form. Finishing
that paperwork, I went up to the sun deck. Later I had some lunch. St. Helena
will be in sight soon.
Many people including the Governor standing on the highest possible
point on the port side close to the bridge. Suddenly St. Helena is in sight.
It has a shape like a swimming dragon. We arrive St. Helena about 15 hours
earlier as scheduled. The passport check takes place on the ship. I
received
a number which is the ticket for the shuttle boat to the Wharf Steps. All
St. Helena visitors and locals arrive the island by climbing the Wharf Steps.
I am in Jamestown on St. Helena now! By entering St. Helena every
piece of luggage is checked by dogs and additional x-rayed. After that procedure
I met my landlord named Donald (Don). He put my luggage into his car and
we drove about 300m or so to his house. Don and his
wife
Irene running "Harris Guest House" which is located in the Main Street. It
is a nice guest house. Don and Irene's sitting room is full with trophies
and pictures. My room is large and about three meter in high. Bath and WC
is outside of my room. Irene explained, since a few days there is a WiFi
installation in the house. Also two English ladies are in the guest house.
However, they will leave on Friday.
Later I walked around and had my dinner at Anne's place located in the Castle Gardens. There are two computers at Anne's place with internet access. The price is GBP1.00 for 10 minutes!
Thursday, October 30th 2008
In
the morning it becomes light around 6:00AM and the Main Street in front of
the house becomes busy. The breakfast in Harris Guest House is good. I had
tea, home made rolls, butter, marmalade, honey, cheese and sausage. After
breakfast Irene wanted me to keep some rolls with sausage as lunch.
I went out to do some administration work. I need a St. Helena
driving license which I get at the police station. The police woman wrote
my name and driving license number into a large book. That is the St. Helena
driving license valid for three month. I bought many stamps to write postcards
and letters to my friends all over the world. The tourist office was my next
destination. I booked a guided tour for the "Longwood House" (Napoleon's
residence). I could not book the tour for the "Plantation House" (Governor's
residence). Three people is the
minimum
number who will guided through the Plantation House.
I
walked through the roads of Jamestown. Suddenly I spotted an amateur radio
antenna. The antenna belongs to a shop. I went in and ask about the antenna.
The boss is in at Saturday between 9:00AM and 9:30AM. So I decide to return
on Saturday.
The "Jacob's Ladder" is not far from Harris Guest House. The ladder has 699 steps. The difference in high is about 200m. I went up and down. It took about 17 minutes to go up. By the way, the record to run up is four minutes.
Again, I had my dinner at Anne's place and met some people from the ship.
Friday, October 31th 2008
The two English
ladies depart today. For that reason the breakfast is one hour earlier. Today
I will walk into the mountains, south on a hill along Jamestown's valley.
Irene still wanted me to keep some rolls for lunch.
First I walked a path indicated as "strongly forbidden". That was
true before the west part of Jamestown's valley where secured by
wire netting.
RMS just departs for South Africa. I passed old defence plants. Slowly I
walked south. The sun is overhead. I remember five years back on Ascension.
Also there the sun was overhead but it was more gruelling. The sun on St.
Helena is not as hot as on Ascension. Walking south on the right there is
Napoleon's first residence. Also there is a large dish antenna.
I
walked on the normal road to return to Jamestown. The roads are very narrow.
In the U-turns the cars sometimes need to go backward and forward. Before
the U-turn the drivers use the horn.
Today it is halloween. The children throw balloons filled with water on each other. Again I walked up and down on the Jacob's Ladder (13 minutes up and 7 minutes down). I had my dinner in the Chinese restaurant but three Philippine ladies run that restaurant. The restaurant owns geckos! Later I visit Anne's Place and met Ruben the island's physician (he also arrived on the ship) and John the Bishop of St. Helena and Ascension.
Saturday, November 1st 2008
I
slept well. The announced disco sound last night did not occur. I had my
breakfast (too much omelet, grilled sausage, fruit, corn flakes
and
home made rolls.
I went out to visit the radio amateur. His name is John, ZD7JC. He invited me to operate on Wednesday evening. I left John and tried to write picture postcards. However, the wind was strong and I stopped to write. I met two other people who I had seen on the ship. The lady left St. Helena at the age of 13. Now she is around 40 and returned together with her English husband the first time. We find out, we have the same appointment for the Longwood House. Also we will visit the Plantation House together.
I
went
up and down the Jacob's Ladder (less then 11 minutes up and less then 6 minutes
down). As I explained before, people told me, the record for up is 4 minutes.
This was the last time using the Jacob's Ladder. The next days I walked so
much that I really did not need additional training.
I had my dinner at the Chinese-Philippine restaurant. Later I visit the Consulate Hotel's pub. It was nice watching, the Saints in a pub. However a very drunk man wanted me to talk. He was rude and really I was unable to understand him. So I left the pub.
Sunday, November 2nd 2008
There
are no rolls today, because it is Sunday. After breakfast the landlady gave
a few bananas to me and I requested to have dinner in her "restaurant" at
6:30PM. I started
to
walk into eastern direction to go into the next valley. Using the road is
an easy way. I walked along the eastern road of Jamestown's valley into south
direction. I arrived the top of the road and walked down on the other side
of the hill into north direction. On that way a car stopped and a woman
ask
me weather I would like to have a lift down. The lady named Carol is the
mother of one of the country-singer from St. Helena. The Saints like country
music. Carol let me out at the start of a little path. Soon I meet an
other
woman from the island just returning from her morning walk. Suddenly there
was a turtle about 100m down in the sea. I tried to mount my long lense onto
my camera. The turtle was to fast, diving away. My
origin
was Ruperts Bay. I walked up to Banks Valley and further on into the direction
of Sugar Loft. Sugar Loft was to far away about an additional one or two
hours. Dinner is at 18:30h also it becomes dark early.
Long time I was on the top of the plane and watched onto the sea. Sometimes a rabbit visited me.
I
must return in regards to my dinner appointment. The path back was down to
the valley,
really
easy. But then the path went uphill between Ruperts and Jamestown. That was
difficult, like a few Jacobs Ladder runs. For the last part a friendly Saint
drove me down to Jamestown.
Irene did a nice dinner for me. Also it was the only way to have dinner, because everything else was closed. Also I had no e-mail. Anne's Place also closed the internet computers.
Monday, November 3rd 2008
Breakfast
time in the morning. In (1) Irene is called a "Motherly Landlady". However,
sometimes she forgot to put some breakfast accessories on the
table.
Today
she forgot the honey. During the breakfast I signed the car rental contract.
I made the first drive after breakfast to the petrol station. At the petrol
station I was not able to open the tank cover. I drove back to Irene to ask
how to open the tank cover. Irene also did not
know. Then
Don told me, I have to use the remote door opener. With the remote, also
the tank cover is released. By the way, I usually do not use the door remote.
I
never
know, is the door closed or open? Now back to the filling station.
To day I have the appointment at Napoleon's house in Longwood.
I drove into the direction of Longwood. On the first attempt I was wrong,
because the road to Longwood is trough a very narrow arch. I returned, saw
the sign to Napoleon's house,
drove through
the arch and arrived at the destination.
It is a nice house with a large garden full of flowers. Nearly
nothing is original
in the house.
The most original parts out of the house are in France.
The tour trough the house was explained by a lady. Also a lady
and a gentleman from England joined the tour through the house (Jay and Richard).
The lady
was
from St. Helena. She left at the age of 13 or so. Now she returned for the
first time after the leave (I explained before). She and the tour-guide find
out, that they have some relationship. Jay and Richard also like to visit
the Plantation House. I will buy the tickets in the tourist office.
Later I tried to visit Napoleon's tomb. The gate was closed by
a chain and a lock. Later
someone
told me, the chain was not really around the gate. So it was possible to
open the gate.
I decide to drive to "Government Garage". Arriving there, a little
bird with long legs runs around. That was the first wirebird in my life.
Not far away is "Millennium Forest". From there is a good view onto the desired
airport area. Close to Millennium
Forest
is the Meteorologic Office located. I drove to the office and visit the
meteorologists. I learnt, this office is recording the weather only. They
do not do the forecast. Garry invited me to the next weather balloon start
at 10:30 next day. Every day from Monday to Friday the office starts a balloon
filled with hydrogen to report the temperature and other relevant weather
parameters up to 30000 feet.
To have my dinner at the evening. I went to a nearly empty Anne's place. I met Susan, the nurse-tutor and Ruben the island's physician.
Tuesday, November 4th 2008
After
the breakfast I went down to the tourist office to buy
the
tickets for the Plantation House tour. That was more difficult as expected.
Jay, Richard and me, we would like to go on the 12st. At the
12st the ship will arrive and the "First Lady" who is doing the
tour has many guests. After a phone discussion with Jay and
Richard
and the "First
L
ady"
we decide for November 11st to visit the Plantation House.
After booking the Plantation House tour I drove into the direction
of the meteorological office. I will watch the balloon launch. First I
had
a little walk at the Millennium Forest. Arriving at the office Marc and Garry
explain
how they do the launch and how careful they have to be with hydrogen. The
sensors and telemetry transmitter was fixed at the balloon and the balloon
was filled with hydrogen. That was done inside a large hall. Marc wears safety
goggles and safety close. Everything was carefully connected to the earth
to
avoid sparks
generated by static electricity. Remember,
hydrogen
is a very dangerous gas. However it is very light and cheap, for that reason
ideal for such balloons. Marc carried the balloon to outside the hall, open
his hand and the balloon launched into the sky. Garry inside the office receives
the
telemetrie
data and recorded the movement on a computer. It
was
great to see such launch and also having some inside view of the meteorologies
daily work. Thank you!
Also I saw the first wirebird of the day at the office. All over
all I have seen now six wirebirds, about 1% of the world's wirebird population!
I went on
to
Flag Staff. Amazing, I am 600m above the sea. The sea is strait down. The
waves running against the island. It is fantastic to watch such spectacle.
Later on I
saw
additional two wirebirds. I count eight wirebirds now.
I went down to Anne's Place for dinner. I met Bishop John and explained how a dimmer works.
Wednesday, November 5th 2008
Today
I like to go to Diana's Peak. It is raining until now (high noon). I drove
around Diana's Peak and than to Sandy Beach. The road to Sandy Beach
is
unbelievable.
The landscape is more as fantastic, mountains, valleys and canyons. The road
is extremely narrow. It also has a very steep rise. Many u-turns are extremely
difficult.
Sandy Beach could be very nice but it is not. A lot of wast lays
around. It is not possible to
swim
due to underwater currents. Sandy Beach is one of the few places where it
is possible to go down to the sea. The main coastline is a steep coast.
The
rain increased and so I drove back.
My next destination was New Ground and Rosemary-Plain. The picnic ground at Rosemary-Plain is nice. It is still raining and I returned to Jamestown. There was nice sunshine the whole day! I wrote a few postcards and walked through the roads.
Thursday, November 6th 2008
There was
rain to night in Jamestown too. The sky promise more rain. Nevertheless I
drove to St. Mathew Church, the starting point to walk to Diana's Peak. It
is cloudy and dry. I parked my car close to the church. It is easy to find
the path. First I visit "Point Halley". Edmund Halley observed the stars
from that position in 1677. I continue the path to the peak. Suddenly I saw
a backpack covered
in
plastic.
Around the corner I saw a worker who removed flax to hold the path open.
It
was his backpack and he works for the St. Helena Conservation. More workers
are up to the top. I went on and met the other conservation people. We talked
a while and they explained the way to the top. Steps connect difficult parts
of the path. Everything around was in clouds. I could not see the landscape
around. I arrived at Diana's Peak, found a large plate and a letterbox containing
a rubber stamp and a notebook. Now I tell you a secret. Behind the letterbox
there
is a little switch. I turn the switch into off position and immediately
the
clouds
disappear. The view becomes clear. After half an hour, the switch automatically
returned back into the on position and the clouds covered everything into
fog.
Yesterday I met two managers from St. Helena Development Agency (SHDA). They told me, Juergen runs the island's print shop and he is from Germany. I will visit him later. It was not easy to find him, because his house is located very far away from a "main" road. It was a nice talk at that evening. He explained, in his print shop he has to do a lot of improvisation to run the print machines. Getting spare parts can take several month.
Friday, November 7th 2008
It is not nice outside.
Rain. First I drive to Levelwood. It is rain and a lot of wind.
I
parked my car in Levelwood close to a little shop and walked down to the
sea. It is clear and no rain. I had George Island or Shore Island between
the mountains. I spend a lot of time walking down and up. On the way back
it starts to rain. I went on into direction of Man and Horse, Blue Hill.
The weather condition where as bad as
in
Levelwood. Additional it was very stormy. So I returned to Jamestown
and
walked through the roads.
I met John, ZD7JC in the evening to do a little amateur radio operation. Many radio amateurs from all over the world return on my call. Even from Cuba (CO...) It was very interesting to operate for an hour from such remote island.
Today also I returned my car.
Saturday, November 8th 2008
There is still rain in the morning but slowly the weather changed.
I bought a few local products. The landlady cleans up the guest house. I
walked around in Jamestown. The two pubs are occupied by
many
people drinking beer. It might be that the pub and the beer is the only "change"
in the daily life for many people. Into all directions the people running
against the border of the island. The border is the sea. I think, it is not
easy to survive on such remote island. The following example may explain
how life is on such island. Living on the island it is like living in a small
village covered by a large wall around. Nobody might leave the area inside
the wall. Communication and mail take a long time to go in and out. Everybody
knows what everybody else is doing. That is not an easy life.
However, some people
like it.
I walked around with my camera. I do not understand why people storing wast on their roofs, old car doors, broken boats and other stuff. A few rusty containers are close to the filling station. One is nearly erode.
I went
down to the library. There is one closed cabinet about Napoleon. Other books
about Mathematics, Mechanics and Electronics are in the shelves. Also a few
magazines about amateur radio are in the library. I found a very new book
about geckos, iguanas and dragons. Also some children books are available
including Harry Potter.
To night I had my dinner in the Philippine Restaurant. Later I met Garry from the meteorological station. We talked a lot. Still it is light rain. The disco sound from the hotel this night was calm.
Sunday, November 9th 2008 (St. Helena Remembrance Day)
After the breakfast I took my camera, the two large lenses and
a lot of memory. I sit on the bank in front of the guest house. It was cold,
so I took an additional warm jacket. Susan passed and ask:
"Are
you waiting for something?" I was waiting for something. Suddenly the parade
starts. The police walk in front, then scouts and music. A group of little
children joint at the castle garden. The parade walked down to the harbour
close to the memorial. A policeman shouted commands like stand, walk etc.
The governor
and his wife arrived.
A few moments later Bishop John walked through the gate together with his
retinue.
John was beautiful dressed in his uniform. A few speeches from
the
officials are
done and John performed a mass.
I did not hear to much from the speech and the mass. Nearly all
people
from the island
are together. I took the chance to take pictures.
After the ceremony the little cafe and Anne's Place open. I had
a tea and a cake at the cafe and later on a lasagne at Anne's Place. At the
later
afternoon the
place was empty as every Sunday. I sit on a bank close to the tourist office.
Irene, Abi and a pastor walked along. The pastor and his wife has a large
collection of porcelain-dolls. So I should join the little group to have
a look onto all the dolls.
After the celebration of Remembrance Day everything is closed down as every sunday. The birds are singing in the large tree and start to sleep after sun set.
Monday, November 10th 2008
There
was rain to night again. It is cold outside. I remembered the soft-ice-cream
and the hamburger booth. The two booth are located close to the police
station
and usually open at sunday evening. Many people have been around, eating
hamburger and ice-cream. It is a bit change on the daily life.
I walked down along the valley. I will try to reach the "Hard Break
Waterfall". I
passed
Napoleon's first house. It is smaller but in a warmer area of the island.
beside the house is the big C&W dish-antenna. This seems to be the receiving
station for the TV service on the island. I was not sure about the way to
the waterfall. I ask in the C&W station. A friendly lady explained the
way. It seems
that
the path was not in use for long time. Many spider-webs are over the path.
Finally a very small path marked as "Danger" goes into the waterfall's direction.
I choose that path and went on. Crossing a little river was difficult. In
about 100m I ended up in the "jungle". Additionally I had
to remove a lot
of spider-webs. I decide to return. The "Hard Break Waterfall" is not accessible
via this path.
The seven wonder of the island. Hard Break Waterfall and Fort Knoll are such wonders. The wonders are not accessible. However, the waterfall should also be accessible via St. Andrew's School in Francis Plain.
Tuesday, November 11th 2008
Today I have to change my room. This is additional work just for
three days. I have the car today
because
I will go to the Plantation House and meet Jay and Richard. The Plantation
House is the residence of the the governor and his wife. It is rain and wind.
Arriving at the Plantation House, first I saw the "watch-turtles".
Yes,
other presidents
have watch-dogs, the governor of St. Helena has very special. The watch-turtles
are assisted by a dachshund which is owned by the governor's wife Jean.
Jean
also performs the tour through the Plantation House. Not everything is known,
what is located in the house. There are fantastic pendulum clocks (regulators).
The pendulum is regulated in accordance to the temperature. Usually the pendulum
becomes longer if the temperature
increased.
Under this
condition the clock becomes slower. If the temperature decreases, the pendulum
becomes shorter and the clock is faster. A
tricky mechanic
is able to compensate this behavior. However, Jean has no information about
the large clocks. All over all the Plantation House is a nice old house.
The library contains old and very old books back to 1700.
After the Plantation House tour, I drove to Dead-Wood-Plane to
observe wirebirds. I have
seen
more the ten wirebirds. The birds are to far away to take pictures. I need
the birds below 10m to take picture. The escape-distance of the wirebirds
are about 20m. It was amazing, a wirebird stand on the path. I tried to walk
carefully into the bird's direction. Each step I moved into the bird's direction,
the bird walked away. The distant between the bird and myself was constant
20m. Later the wind increased and the wirebirds are gone.
At 3PM I drove down to the meteorologic office. Garry likes to show the station in Prosperous Bay. He also is a very good observer of the nature. On this tour we saw many wirebirds. A very special thank you to Garry, because I could take many exiting wirebird pictures on this tour.
I returned to Jamestown and find out, I have to check-in my baggage on Friday noon. This is odd because the day is split-up. I can not do much.
Wednesday, November 12th 2008
If everything is on time, RMS will arrive at St. Helena. After
breakfast I tried to walk to Francis
Plain
and further on to the Hard Break Waterfall. I stopped soon after climbing
the road at the west part of the valley. The rain increased so much that
the walk was no fun. I will try to do it again tomorrow morning. In the mean
time, RMS is arrived.
Down in Jamestown the weather was fine. I went down to Anne's Place
to check my e-mails. During
that
I met a French lady who works on a Napoleon conservation project. She ask
me how to operate the computers to get e-mail access. I took additional photos
from Jamestown and paid my bill.
To night is full moon. If the clouds allow a view, there was a very dark deep space.
Thursday, November 13th 2008
It rains cats
and dogs this morning. I will wait until 10AM before I start my walk to Francis
Plain. It was raining until up to the evening. I did not go. I met Bruce
an other radio amateur and I visit the tourist office to say thank you. I
hat my dinner again at the Philippine Restaurant. Later I met Ruben, Susan
and Bishop John at Anne's Place. John explained something to the different
churches on St. Helena. It was a very interesting evening.
Friday, November 14th 2008
I leave today. Will I ever observe a wirebird again? That questions
has two parts. Will I return to St. Helena
one day. Or will the wirebird die out soon? It
is crazy, some people become homesick. I do not like to return. I like to
stay or to go to somewhere else.
Restlessly
tramp.....
The baggage check-in is at 11AM. Boarding is at 4PM. Everything
is in my small suitcase, sometime rain, sometime sun. The weather was odd
since Wednesday last week. Sometimes it is dry and then I am able to
walk. I know, I am able to live on St. Helena a certain time but not for
ever.
Sometimes
I ask myself, why do I do this, why do I travel to such remote areas? There
is no real answer. It is amazing to meet people living in such remote parts
on the world. Also it is interesting to meet other people
who
travel to such remote parts. May be for fun, leisure or work. It is not necessary
that everything has a logical reason. Conclusion, without this journey I
never would meet Bishop John, I never had seen wirebirds, I never met Nicola,
a French engineer who set up to work the big white container-crane in the
harbour of St. Helena. I never could speak to Susan, Ruben, Garry, Marc and
all others. Every second increased my horizon a bit.
Saturday, November 15th 2008
On the way back to Ascension, the first night on the RMS, and I
could not really sleep. Now I am tired and I walked around. Water all
over. What are this
for small birds here in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? Starting out of
the water and land on the water and disappear. A couple of seconds I stand
at the ship's handrail with open mouth. The birds are flying fish! I had
never seen flying fish before.
I eat a bit salad. The sun comes out. A large bird follows RMS. Dark, may be a bit gray-white. The bird glides over the waves, turns, touches the water with the end of one wing. I feel better as on the way to St. Helena. For the evening somebody requested me to join the Captain's table.
Sunday, November 16th 2008
I
think, I slept well. I get up early to take pictures from the sunrise. The
baggage will be collected at 4:30PM. We will arrive at the next day at Ascension.
I filled out some paperwork for the Ascension immigration procedure. To night
there is a BBQ on the sun deck. Hopefully we do not have rain.
The BBQ was nice. We hat much to eat and to drink. About 160km before Ascension we saw the first birds. Stars are at the sky.
Monday, November 17th 2008
At the morning we had some movement. Ascension is in sight. The island is in fog and in clouds. It looks magically. It becomes light and I feel rain.
I
checked-in at the Obsidian Hotel and have room 30 at Hayes House. I walked
around and close to the Exiles House a lady ask me about the house. I explained
something about the Exiles House in English. I hear an accent in her voice.
We find out, we have the same language, she is Helga from Austria. I went
on and had some tea and cake. Later I met Helga again. We decide to rent
a car for the next day to explore ascension a bit.
I had the dinner together with Helga and Nicola.
Tuesday, November 18th 2008
There
is a flight to Brize Norton this evening (or may be not). Today I am a
private
tourist guide on Ascension. Using the car, Helga and me visit English Bay,
Green Mountain, Nasa Site and Wideawake. Also we had lunch in Two Boats.
The Wideawake field is amazing. That is the breeding area for sooty terns
birds. We walked to the
border
of the area. The birds did not like us there. The birds attacked us and requested
us to leave the area. Breeding birds as fare as you can see. I tried to take
pictures from the attacking birds. Out of 300 shots I just get three pictures
which are more or less usable. It was difficult to follow the high speed
flying birds with my
camera.
It was a nice round trip. It was new for Helga and I could see
what is new, old and remember the time five years ago. Returning to the hotel,
we get the massage, that the airplane arrive one hour earlier as
scheduled.
Helga returns to Austria, Nicola returns to France by that airplane. We had
dinner together and say good-bye to each other.
I had a beer at the bar and suddenly I met Sandra. She is a biologist just arrived with the airplane from Falkland Island. She is on the way back to Germany.
Wednesday, November 19th 2008
Time goes on fast. My vacation is over soon. Everything is fascinating.
I do not like to go. I do not
understand
homesickness. I know wishfulness only. It starts to rain during the
breakfast. I start
to read a book. Sometimes rain. The sky becomes clean just before noon. I
walked into the direction to Comfortless Gove. I chose the way over the "moon
landscape". A large stone has the shape of a dragon. I walked around for
about three hours.
I met Sandra. She has a car and we drove together to Ascension's beach for swimming.
Thursday, November 20th 2008
It is a nice morning. I had breakfast. Later I found a C&W
telephone book from 2006. Some prices are published. An internet dial up
costs between GBP12 to GBP20 per month as base. The
operation
is about GBP0.04 to GBP0.10 per minute. A broadband connection is GBP145
per month for private people.
I went up to the cannon-hill. From there is a good overview about Ascension's capital and the rush hour traffic. The sea is so big! On the left side far away at Dead Man Beach the sea runs against the cost. Then it is calm over there and the waves are at the pierhead. Then the waves are at Long Beach. Everything starts again at the left side of Dead Man Beach. I returned, had a tea and drove with Sandra for a swim.
Friday, November 21st 2008
The last day. Again packing. But first I had a long breakfast.
Sandra told, she did not slept well. I paid my bill. I went to take pictures
from the
cemetery and
from waves. I returned to Georgetown and found Temptation open. I had some
lunch and a talk to the UK-Commander of the airport base.
The schedule for to night is:
Dinner: 17:30
Arrival: 19:45
Check-in:
18:45
It is a bit of time and I went to Fort Thompson. Later I bought a little WWF turtle.
The check-in starts exact at 18:45. The airplane departs at 22:15. I could not sleep in the airplane. The seats are not comfortable to sit.
Saturday, November 22nd 2008
The plain arrived at 7:15 at Brize Norton. We had nice weather. I catch the bus at 9AM to Oxford and then to Heathrow. I arrived at 12 noon at Heathrow. Much to early to leave the luggage. Due to the one day delay in the Royal Airforce flight, I could not spend a day in London as planed. I arrived in Munich in snow and cold weather conditions. I took the S-Bahn to go to Ismaning. I walked through the snow and arrived at my home .......
Last modification: August 29 - 2010 DF2IR