Tours, tales and tortoises
31 March 2016 | St Helena
Yet another MINNIE B WOW Award has been issued and this time for the whole of St Helena. It is delightful and fascinating.
On Tuesday many more cruisers arrived so the social scene is good, albeit not many are launching dinghies as there is a ferry service to the wharf.
Tuesday had us meeting up with some and we arranged a full day tour for ten of us with Robert in his truck. First though, we had to climb Jacob’s Ladder – 699 steps with an 11 inch tread – from Jamestown to the top of Ladder Hill, original built in 1829 to transport manure and military supplies from Jamestown. The record time is 5 minutes 11 seconds – we were just a bit longer than this …
Our island tour was superb, taking in the places where Napoleon and his entourage of 50 people stayed when he was exiled here in 1815 – he surrendered himself to the British rather than the Prussians or any of the other allies as he thought he would be incarcerated in Britain and he would have a chance of escape. Not such a genius after all. Anyways we toured his principal home at Longwood, which was bought by the French and has much of his furniture from when he died in 1821. His father, brother and sister all died of stomach cancer and so did he but naturally some loyalists still believe he was poisoned by the British.
We visited his tomb, which is empty as his body was taken to Paris in 1850 and rests at Les Invalides. The tomb is also maintained by France which incidentally has the largest house on the island – the French Consulate. What does the Consul do all day?
We took in views of Diana’s Peak, the camps where Boer prisoners were held from 1900, the spectacular volcanic area of Lot and Lot’s Wife near Sandy Bay, Plantation House which is home to the Governor and Jonathan the Seychelles Giant Tortoise allegedly 194 years old, and the new airport.
The airport is due to open on 21st May with direct flights from UK and Johannesburg but no-one seems to have a clue about other infrastructure change such as hotels, taxis and so on. Suspect they will just wait and see who takes any initiative.
The RMS St Helena has been the supply and passenger ship for the island and it came in on Wednesday so it was good to see that as it may be retired in due course – it takes 156 passengers but it is a 5-days trip from Cape Town so unlikely to be filled once the planes start up. A new era dawns for the Saints.
So, next to Brazil and we plan to leave on Saturday.
Gallery photos to be uploaded when we get better wifi.