It didn’t work out that way at all. Since the island’s main supply ship, Hurst Point, was anchored in the bay, today was a work day for everybody as it always is on any island on Supply Ship Day. We called Port Control on the radio. They told us we couldn’t land our dinghy at the pier because it was too busy. Instead, the ship’s launch would come pick us up and take us in for clearance. They were on the way now. Yikes! That was fast. We secured everything as well as we could, grabbed our paperwork and headed ashore.
The guys in the launch told us the Hurst Point was unloading until Sunday afternoon, so if we needed a trip between Begonia and the pier between now and then, just call them on the radio and they’ll be over as soon as they can. That was great news. Ascension Island has the same general setup at their pier that St. Helena does, complete with Tarzan ropes for swinging ashore. Here, conditions were much rougher and we really needed them. I doubt we would have managed in the Pudgy by ourselves without getting beat up, swamped, falling in, or all three.
At the Port Control offices, we were also told that after Hurst Point departed, a fuel tanker was going to be offloading for three days. The floating pipeline between the ship and the pier will block access and no landings would be permitted (for safety reasons). Even the rescue boat people have to put their boat in the water and stay on it for the duration in case there is a call.
Well, that changes things. Now, if we didn’t want to stay for at least a week, we had to do all of our shore stuff today and tomorrow. We would then take one day for rest and then leave early.
After clearing in we also cleared out, and then hit the road. Since the island’s museum is only open one day a week and it was closing in an hour, that became our first stop. Ascension has been an undersea communications hub since the first trans-Atlantic cables were laid. Since then, they also served as a radio link for NASA before satellites were launched. The island was even a designated emergency landing site for the Space Shuttle.
The small island museum is only open one morning a week (which makes sense if there are no tourists so it is primarily a locals thing). The displays go into detail about the islands time as a provisioning stop, its work as a communications hub for undersea wires, along with so much more.
We hadn't realized that the nearby Fort Hayes would also have the same museum-hours so we only got to gaze at it from the outside (and through a crack in the door. The fortifications were initially installed to protect against any French attempts to rescue Napoleon from St Helena... the geography didn't make a lot of sence to me (Maryanne), but then I'm not an expert on such things.
There have been many notable visitors, and even Charles Darwin paid the island a visit in the Beagle (in 1836). He noted the island was practically barren of life, being composed of dry volcanic cinders and totally treeless. To make Ascension a place where ships could stop and resupply, he inspired a program of importing plants from England, including soil from Kew Gardens, with the aim of foresting the island and creating land for agriculture.
We had tried ahead of time, and on arrival, to find a rental car (no luck), so we knew our sightseeing would be constrained to Georgetown. Once the Museum closed, we wandered the roads of Georgetown in the relentless tropical sun. The volcanic cinders do a good job of re-radiating the heat and it felt like we were walking through a giant barbeque as we darted between the shade of lampposts and awnings. At one point, we saw an information board delineating a tourist circuit of the town. That added some much-needed structure to our wanderings. We visited every spot mentioned except for the viewpoint at the top of the big hill overlooking the harbor.
We explored the heritage trail which took in all the sites Georgetown
We strolled toward the beach, and inspected the old turtle ponds (where turtles were kept to sell to passing boaters)
We came across a few wild donkies (once the main mode of transport, now roaming free)
As we were walking back to the pier, we happened upon the Saints Club (named for the many St Helenians on the island). There were people sitting at tables drinking frosty beverages. Well, that DOES sound nice! We only had time for one the work day was coming to a close and we did NOT want to miss our ride home. We chatted with a few residents. Most went on about how lovely it was to live on an island where there is no stress at all. All of them are contractors or the families of one. Ascension is a working island with no permanent residents, although we did meet a couple of people who had kept extending and had been here for decades. We also met an Irishman who introduced himself as Paddy. I called BS on that and he allowed that his real name was Padraig. He was the head chef aboard the Hurst Point and was ashore with one of the engineers for a quick pint before heading back to the ship. That made us feel much better. As long as we stuck with them, there was no way the launch would leave without the guy who is making everybody’s dinner.
Returning to Begonia the launch first dropped off the crew from Hurst Point, and once back at Begonia we could raise our Ascension courtesy flag
Looking out into the harbor, we saw another boat coming around the corner from the north. It was an Oyster (Oysters are a British built luxury sailing yacht - quite posh!). Oh, no, I thought, locusts! We had been told the Oyster rally fleet were going to Fernando de Noronha. Perhaps there was a change in the itinerary, Was this one a scout?
On closer examination, it was Ruth II, from Ireland. We have seen them before and they do seem to have a bit of an independent streak, often heading out ahead of the swarm so they can squeeze in time for an unplanned stop. This turned out to be the case now. There would be no invading armada coming over the southeastern horizon. That was probably for the best. Between the two of us, all the good anchoring space was pretty much taken.
Since no one was sure when Hurst Point would be finished unloading, we got the launch to come to take us ashore as soon as they started for the next day. Fiona, from the Port Office very kindly offered to drive us up Green Mountain to the trailheads there so we could then hike the rest of the way to Ascension’s highest point - we were so honored by her kind offer and the chance to get to see the worlds first (only?) man-made rainforest.
As we were waiting, we got to sit on the deck and watch the beach. Clarence Bay Beach is a sea turtle nesting site. They swim from Brazil in South America to lay their eggs here before they return. They do the whole round trip without eating, which can take many weeks. In the early morning light, we could see dozens of females crawling slowly down to the sea after an exhausting night of excavating their nests and lying hundreds of eggs. All around the boat, we could hear the ones that were back in the water coming up for air.
Fiona was waiting for us at the office, ready to take a quick break from her duties. Aptly named Green Mountain is where Darwin’s cloud forest project was planted. It’s like a completely different island up there. The plants catch the mist from the passing clouds, which drips off and irrigates the whole area. The whole top of the mountain is lush, green jungle. Every time we brushed up against a branch or a vine, the leaves above would release their contents and rain down on us.
Fiona drove up the hill and EVERYTHING changed as we climbed, the temperature, the greenery - a huge transformation. She dropped us off at the The Red Lion and within just 50m we found the shade houses (currently used for conservation efforts) and a dose of what was to come once the trails started
The people at Ascension have also done an amazing job with the trails (there were many more trails than we expected, and they follow the 'post trail' tradition of including a little post box with an ink-stamp on each trail, you can collect the stamps). The boardwalk through the bamboo forest at the very top was particularly impressive. There were a few muddy, boggy spots to traverse, though. Maryanne and I managed not to fall by holding each other tightly so that we effectively had the stability of a four-legged animal.
The Dew Pond trail took us to the Green Mountain summit (and through bamboo forests, and naturally.. a pond). Before this was a lush forest, the trail was used as punishment for the resident military - they would have to run up and then hoist and spin a giant heavy chain.
We got finished with the summit trail early enough that we decided to have a go at one of the loop trails that encircles it as well. The trail was originally built by the Army to provide access to strategic lookout points. Now they are just scenic lookout point for which we were very grateful.
We checked out the marine barracks and the water catchment system, whilst a black sheep checked us out
Most of the way around the circuit, when it would have taken longer to turn back, we encountered some really deep patches of mud that could not be avoided. It filled our shoes and created all sorts of havoc, acting as a lubricant between our feet and the shoes and the shoes and the wet ground. One of my insoles turned sideways and wrapped around my foot. The other one bunched up into a ball under my arch. I couldn’t think of a way to sort it out without covering my as yet clean hands in the stuff, so we limped and skidded the rest of the way to the parking area. There, we found a big cistern overflowing with collected water. At the bottom, it had a big tap. Woo hoo! After twenty minutes of diligent scrubbing, we were able to reinsert our clean, but wet feet into clean, but wet shoes. Ah, that’s better.
Elliot's Pass trail had some great views, lots of tunnels and plenty of mud
We started the walk back to town (downhill is much easier to consider)
Our original plan for returning to Georgetown was to hitch a ride with one of the many vehicles returning from their Sunday hikes. As we descended the mountain from the drippy cloud forest to the baking cinders, we saw no one except for one guy hiking uphill from the next village, called Two Boat. It wasn’t until we were past One Boat, within sight of Georgetown, that we were picked up by a schoolteacher and her family. They were going to the Saints Club for a child's birthday party later, which sounded good to us.
There, we met Paddy, who told us the ship’s gantry was having trouble, so we had a extra little time ashore. He generously gifted us a salmon from his pantry. And then we snuck off to the local public saltwater pool for showers and a dip. We were trying to be quick about it, but then just as we were gathering up our stuff to leave, Paddy showed up himself for a swim. We’re safe again.
When we returned to the launch, they asked if it was okay if they dropped Paddy off first. Sure, as long as you don’t forget to drop us off on the way back. Big ships are impressive things, but especially when approached in a small boat at the waterline. Half the sky became a green wall of steel. Paddy climbed the rope ladder and then waved us goodbye and wished us a good voyage. You too, buddy! They are off to the Falklands next.
In the morning, as I emerged to watch the turtles, I noticed that the floating fuel pipeline seemed to be pretty close. It looked like it may have come free from one of the moorings at each end. I called the Port office and asked if they could send someone out to have a look. By the time the launch arrived, it was actually rubbing up against Ruth II. Nope, it was still secured. The wind and current must have shifted and pushed it our way. They shoved it back a bit and suggested we may want to re-anchor.
The guys said the ship wasn’t leaving for a few more hours and asked if we wanted to go ashore on last time before the fueling started. I wanted to stay at Begonia to keep an eye on the pipeline situation, but Maryanne did a quick round-trip to the store for a handful of fresh provisions and to find the book swap.
{Maryanne: Ascension Island doesn't get many visitors, and isn't really geared up for tourists. For us it gave a break on the the journey northwards, and we felt like this might be our only chance to visit - so we applied for our visas and insurance ahead of arriving and were keen to see such a rarely visited island}
