“Glory is fleeting but obscurity is forever.”
-Napoleon Bonaparte
On any lengthy cruise, there is bound to be a port or two that is a “throwaway”, one that is stopped at only because it happens to be along the way. I’d assumed that St. Helena would be just that, as it is pretty much the only thing on our route to Rio from Namibia. Without it, our crossing of the Atlantic would be 7 days, a bit too many days at sea. Was I ever wrong! St. Helena was one of those delightful surprises.
What I knew about St. Helena before getting there was that it was the place of Napoleon’s last exile and where Napoleon died. And, indeed, visits to the house where Napoleon lived and his tomb (although he was removed from the tomb years ago) were focus points of our tour of the island. But the highlight of the tour was the astounding beauty of the island.
Just the act of touring the island was an adventure in itself. There are no airports on this island, so the only way to reach it is by ship. As Helena is 2-3 days by sea from the nearest continent, very few ships visit it. Ours was the first cruise ship this year, and the next will not stop there until January. Other than that, it sees a mail ship stop once a month. There may be an airport eventually—one of the passengers on our ship was aboard in order to meet with St. Helena’s governor about building the airport.
Because of the limited number of visitors, and the limited number of residents (3600), there is only a limited tourism infrastructure, but that was a large part of the charm. We wound up touring the island by way of the “ancient bus,” a 1929 Rolls Royce (or at least pieces of it) tricked out as an open-air truck held together by wires and duct tape that carries up to 14 passengers. What great fun to travel around this lush island by way of this vehicle!
Everywhere we went, people waved, and one woman came running out of her house to take a photo. Presumably she’d seen our peculiar vehicle before, so I’m thinking she wanted a picture of the strangers in its back. When the vehicle is not operating as a bus, it is a taxi. Our driver, and the owner of this unique vehicle, is Colin Corker. Together with his wife Tracey, they are quite the entreprenaurs.
St. Helena’s landscape is fascinating. As you approach it by sea, you see rocky cliffs and a valley where the town of Jamestown is built. Once on the island, you travel some narrow and winding roads up the mountains to a green lushness that would rival anything seen in places like Tahiti or Hawaii. The beauty is breathtaking, and the views of valley and mountain at every turn are spectacular. The homes are lovely—most of them in town, or in a new development above town at the top of Jacobs Ladder, a 700–step set of stairs originally used to move manure up the mountain, but a few homes dispersed throughout the mountain area or in very small villages here and there.
My only complaint about St. Helena is that we had only 4 hours there. I’d have loved to have more time to explore this lovely terrain and town.
We are now on our trans-Atlantic sailing. My next entry will discuss life aboard a cruise ship on a lengthy cruise.
-Napoleon Bonaparte
On any lengthy cruise, there is bound to be a port or two that is a “throwaway”, one that is stopped at only because it happens to be along the way. I’d assumed that St. Helena would be just that, as it is pretty much the only thing on our route to Rio from Namibia. Without it, our crossing of the Atlantic would be 7 days, a bit too many days at sea. Was I ever wrong! St. Helena was one of those delightful surprises.
What I knew about St. Helena before getting there was that it was the place of Napoleon’s last exile and where Napoleon died. And, indeed, visits to the house where Napoleon lived and his tomb (although he was removed from the tomb years ago) were focus points of our tour of the island. But the highlight of the tour was the astounding beauty of the island.
Just the act of touring the island was an adventure in itself. There are no airports on this island, so the only way to reach it is by ship. As Helena is 2-3 days by sea from the nearest continent, very few ships visit it. Ours was the first cruise ship this year, and the next will not stop there until January. Other than that, it sees a mail ship stop once a month. There may be an airport eventually—one of the passengers on our ship was aboard in order to meet with St. Helena’s governor about building the airport.
Because of the limited number of visitors, and the limited number of residents (3600), there is only a limited tourism infrastructure, but that was a large part of the charm. We wound up touring the island by way of the “ancient bus,” a 1929 Rolls Royce (or at least pieces of it) tricked out as an open-air truck held together by wires and duct tape that carries up to 14 passengers. What great fun to travel around this lush island by way of this vehicle!
Everywhere we went, people waved, and one woman came running out of her house to take a photo. Presumably she’d seen our peculiar vehicle before, so I’m thinking she wanted a picture of the strangers in its back. When the vehicle is not operating as a bus, it is a taxi. Our driver, and the owner of this unique vehicle, is Colin Corker. Together with his wife Tracey, they are quite the entreprenaurs.
St. Helena’s landscape is fascinating. As you approach it by sea, you see rocky cliffs and a valley where the town of Jamestown is built. Once on the island, you travel some narrow and winding roads up the mountains to a green lushness that would rival anything seen in places like Tahiti or Hawaii. The beauty is breathtaking, and the views of valley and mountain at every turn are spectacular. The homes are lovely—most of them in town, or in a new development above town at the top of Jacobs Ladder, a 700–step set of stairs originally used to move manure up the mountain, but a few homes dispersed throughout the mountain area or in very small villages here and there.
My only complaint about St. Helena is that we had only 4 hours there. I’d have loved to have more time to explore this lovely terrain and town.
We are now on our trans-Atlantic sailing. My next entry will discuss life aboard a cruise ship on a lengthy cruise.
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