Day 21 - Tour of St Helena Island
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Five calm days after
sailing from Tristan da Cunha, we arrived at St Helena.
During this leg of the voyage, I had attended several lectures
about things as dispirit as "red list" endangered
species, what it was like to grow up off-grid in the remotest
part of New Zealand, shipwrecks off Tristan da Cunha and
even a workshop about astro-photography. I also stared at
the sea quite a bit, consumed more food than I could possibly
burn off and generally relaxed. It was, however, wonderful
to see land and people once again and St Helena is a really
beautiful island. Today, we did the three and a half hour
highlights tour, which gave me a really good introduction
to the island. |
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First
sighting of Saint
Helena (or "Sane Lena") as our Tristanian guide calls
it. |
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Jamestown
is the capital city of the British Overseas Territory of
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. It is also
the historic main settlement of the island and is on its
north-western coast. The city is built on igneous rock in
the James Valley (on the right) sandwiched between steep
cliffs. The valley on the left is home to the village of
Ruperts,
where there is a modern jetty. |
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People
were lining up to have their photos taken with the island in the
background. I joined in! |
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The "Saints",
as they call themselves, take rockfall protection seriously... hence
the netting. |
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We hadn't seen too many
sea birds for the past few days, so it was good to see them
back as we got close to land. |
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St Helena
Customs and Immigration coming over to check us out. |
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Before too long, they
were leaving again. The ship had been cleared and we could
disembark. |
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The expedition
team disembarked first... |
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...and
we followed shortly afterwards. |
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Gregor
was just as happy as the rest of us! |
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As we
approached the landing site, we could see a fleet of minibuses lined
up and waiting for us. |
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The team
was ready and waiting to help us ashore. |
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We boarded our minibuses
and then set off for the tour. This is the route we took.
Click for a larger image. |
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After
an initial steep climb out of the town, we paused to take in the
views from "Button Up Corner". |
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Our next stop was at
the site close to Napoleon's tomb - his body was exhumed
and taken to Paris in 1840, but the empty tomb remains.
At least the much needed 2km walk there and back was good
and we saw some pretty flowers along the way. |
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My dining companions
(by choice), the lovely Edith and Gregor from Basel, Switzerland. |
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Back on the bus, we drove
to Longwood
House, Napoleon's home after his exile to the island. |
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We were given a guided
tour of the interior, despite it being an officially closed
day, but were not allowed to take any photos. The museum
shop was open and sold the souvenirs you might expect. Amusingly,
they sold wine too, which was all South African! |
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The birders never miss
an opportunity. While many of us were in the museum, they
spent ages photographing this white tern. |
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The Saint
Helena plover, known locally as a wirebird. We were
very lucky to see some close to the house. |
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After a very interesting
visit, it was back on the bus for the most scenic part of
the tour so far. We stopped here at Stitch's Ridge, overlooking
Sandy Bay, which is a valley leading to the sea. |
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Rock
formations, known as Lot and Lot's wife. |
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Our next
visit was to the gounds of Plantation
House, home to the island's Governor. |
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We weren't here to visit
the house today because it wasn't open to the public, but
for those who were interested, there would be an opportunity
to do an interior tour tomorrow or the next day. |
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Instead, we took the
"tortoise corridor", primarily provided to the
public in order to see the tortoises, but which also affords
some pretty good views of the house and its grounds, including
the good looking smallholding. The island doesn't produce
enough food and there are frequent shortages in the shops,
so growing your own is a good thing to do. |
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There
was no sign of the famous tortoises on the way in. |
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On the way back out
we saw, lurking under a bush, two of the giant tortoises.
I can't be sure if 192-year-old Jonathan was one of them. |
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The tour
continued as we drove back towards Jamestown. |
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We were
aiming for the upper part of the town and the point where Jacob's
ladder descends to the main town. |
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Sadly,
the ladder itself was closed for refurbishment so we couldn't walk
down... |
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...but
we loved the views! |
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Looking
down on Jamestown from Ladder Hill. |
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A mere 699 steps. I
didn't know whether to feel happy or sad that it was closed.
Had it been open, I would definitely have attempted a climb,
but I might have regretted it afterwards! |
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Time to head back to
the ship, but I'll be back tomorrow for free time in Jamestown.
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It seems that there
are mixed feeling about the newish airport, because it coincided
with the suspension of the much loved RMS St Helena service,
which used to be their only link to Cape Town. |
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I enjoyed the evening
meal by taking the food to my cabin. No uncomfortable benches
for me, but I did pop back for a short while to see how
the party was going and I did love the gorgeous sunset. |
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