Ascension Island, UK

March 20, 2013 – March 29, 2013

The sail from St. Helena to the Island – an even smaller speck on the map! – was short, and my watch moved on from the 2-4 watch. Last 2-4 watch ever! To celebrate, we had sat and talked and ate instant noodles and drank hot chocolate after watch. At 4 in the morning!

The day we arrived in Ascension felt sort of like the last day of school before holidays; everyone was so excited to go ashore the next day, March 27^th. The day started off right with a swim call, despite the fact that there are lots of sharks in the area. There was a lot of swell though so we couldn’t take the tenders (our little boats) ashore so we had to take the MOB boat (Man Overboard boat, a little motorboat) which could only seat 6 people. I was lucky and ended up in one of the first trips, but it ended up taking 3 hours to get everyone to the island from where we were anchored! 

Once my group got on land we stopped for snacks of course at the only little grocery store in the tiny town. We took a bus to Comfortless Cove, and despite there being many beaches, it is one of only two on the island that is safe for swimming. The cove was small but beautiful, and we could see the Sørlandet in the distance.  We had fun at the beach, building a sandcastle and swimming with all the fish in the cove, and one guy got a fish down the back of his swim shorts! We found out later that they’re actually carnivorous fish of relation to the piranha…yikes!

 

 

We left the beach and began walking back to Georgetown where the ship was docked. It’s a long walk from the cove back to town, about 40 minutes, and only a 5 minute section is actually on a road. There rest of the way is on a little path so there’s no chance of hitching a ride from a vehicle. We were so lucky though, because as we were walking along the 5 minute stretch of road a van came by to take some other Class Afloat students to the cove, then drove us back to town! We all had to meet up that afternoon for a port program to the local school, Two Boats School. We got a tour of the small school – the only one on the island – and got to talk with some of the students before having a buffet supper with them. I couldn’t imagine going to the same school from elementary school all the way through to high school; I didn’t even finish high school at the same school!

The following day was another shore leave day, which is nice because the days are really short here because we have to take the MOB boat to and from the ship. We started off the morning with another swim call, which will probably be the last for a while. When the boat runs started to go to shore, I once again ended up on one of the first trips because I signed up for an optional port program. A group of us went on a hike on Green Mountain. Ascension Island is volcanic, so the terrain is naturally all lava rock, but when Darwin came to the island he wanted to introduce some greenery so a plan was made to ship trees from South Africa, South America, and Europe. Now, the mountain is lush with plants that aren’t found together anywhere else in the world; bamboo, banana trees, and pines all next to each other! A travel show describes it as the UN of forests! As the bus took us higher and higher up the mountain to where we would begin our hike, it began raining harder and harder. By the time we reached the top it was pouring, so all we could really see on the hike was fog everywhere, and an occasional view of the coast of the island. 

 

We left the island the following day for a long sail. A change in itinerary meant that rather than heading to Brazil again, we were bound for Barbados! Another three and a half weeks at sea!

St. Helena, UK – Happy St. Patrick’s Day! ♣

March 6, 2013 – March 20, 2013

The sail to St. Helena was busy, busy, busy! There was lots of schoolwork to do leading up to midterm exams, which we wrote on the final three days of the sail. It was a difficult sail because of that, but on March 16^th we celebrated the end of exams and our arrival in St. Helena! We anchored of the tiny island and after a long day of deck work, we cooled off with a swim call! We jumped off the main deck and into the perfect temperature water below. It was incredible to float there in the water next to a tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, looking up at the magnificent ship that has carried us so far.

swim call

St Helena

St Helena

The tiny island (with a population of only about 4,000) is nothing but a speck on the map in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, but it sure is an amazing place! We had a swim call every morning, and on the first day, the water taxi picked us up from the ship (the island is so small that we have to be at anchor) and took us ashore for a port program hike.

  

Once on land, we loaded up into taxis. The taxis on the island are pretty neat; the one I was in is an old style 15 passenger car! The open top car took us past bright green, rolling hills, and we could smell the amazing freshness of the air. The island is beautiful! The taxis dropped us off on a road where we met up with a hiking trail. The hike took us through the hot, humid fog to the island’s three peaks. Each has a lone pine at the top, and Diana’s peak is the highest point on St. Helena Island.

Diana's Peak hike

Diana's Peak

After the hike, a group of us made our way to an interesting little restaurant called Ann’s Place. The ceiling there was covered with all kinds of flags and t-shirts and such, because people who visit will often leave behind a souvenir. We saw a Concordia flag from when Class Afloat was on the island a few years ago, as well as some old Class-Afloat t-shirts signed by the crew. Our crew made sure to add to the collection by leaving a signed Sørlandet t-shirt during our time on St. Helena!

Just a short walk from Ann’s place was the Jacob’s Ladder: 699 very steep steps! We conquered the staircase, and then, hot and exhausted from the climb, went straight to the local pool by the waterfront .

Our first day on St. Helena, St. Patrick’s Day, ended with a traditional St. Helenian meal of fishcakes as we watched the sunset. Then night fell and after a talk from a local astronomer, we returned to the waterfront where the water taxis took us back to ship.

The following day began with another swim call – the perfect way to start the day! We had another port program, this time visiting Napoleonic sites. St. Helena is the island where Napoleon was exiled, and we visited the house where he was exiled and then died, as well as his tomb. To finish off the day, we had a BBQ at the Youth Centre where we got to meet some local students. 

The day after that, March 19^th, was our last in port. The swim call that morning was the best yet – we got to jump off of the bowsprit!!!! It’s much higher than it looks, and so much fun to jump off of!

That's me standing at the edge of bowsprit

Me making a splash!

After our usual swim, followed by colours and cleaning stations, we went ashore on St. Helena for the last time. On shore leave, my group swam across the harbour to look at a shallow wreck. All the locals were laughing at us, because apparently most people take a boat out there because it’s a pretty long swim! We had a great time though! After my second swim of the day, we stopped at a local burger stand for lunch, then set off for another adventure. We hiked to a local attraction: a heart-shaped waterfall. It’s just the rock face, not the actual water that’s heart-shaped, and there wasn’t even any water flowing at the time, but it was a beautiful hike nonetheless! We walked all the way up to the edge of a pond with the rock face rising up behind us, and it was so nice and quiet. We hiked back out, then walked down the windy road to Jamestown, the main town on the island, and where our ship is anchored. We were all so hungry as we made our way into town because it had gotten late and darkness had fallen, but the town is so small that Ann’s Place is really the only spot to eat. On the way, we stopped at a little shop where a couple of old ladies gave us jam tarts to snack on as we walked into Jamestown for our last supper at Ann’s.

Jamestown - see our ship in the background

 Departure day, once again, felt like it came too soon. We ended our time in St. Helena with a final swim call the morning we left, jumping off the bowsprit again! It was a great way to end another great port!

Walvis Bay, Namibia – Goodbye Africa

February 23, 2013 – March 6, 2013

The sail to Namibia seemed so short after our last sail! The 6 days at sea felt like nothing, and next thing I knew we were seeing land again! I was on lookout on the morning of the 1^st, and I got to be the first to ring in land! What seemed at first to be simply gray shapes on an equally gray horizon soon grew to become the shapes of a lighthouse, and finally land. Then, I saw a dark shape quickly approaching in the water; a seal was poking it’s head out! Next thing I knew, more and more seals were passing by our ship, then I saw a line of dark shapes ahead – it was like a wave of seals

We anchored that afternoon, and went alongside early the following morning. When we finally got shore leave we headed out into the city of Walvis Bay, only to find that it was so quiet, it was like a ghost town. So instead, we took a taxi to the nearby city of Swakopmund. During our 5 days in Namibia, I spent most of my shore leave time in Swakopmund. There were lots of shops and restaurants there, including one really neat restaurant that is built on stilts over the water!

Our second day of shore leave was really nice and relaxing; what we all needed! I was in a group with three of my friends, and we bought a picnic lunch at the grocery store. We had a picnic lying in a small park by the beach, loving the feeling of grass on our backs! Ahh, land!

 

The following two days were busy and filled with some great port programs! Namibia is named after the Namib Desert, which is the oldest in the world. Some of the dunes are the highest as well, and we found ourselves flying down them in dune buggies for one of the port programs! The jeeps took us to a few view spots. Namibia is where the sand meets the sea; some of the dunes slope all the way down to the waves crashing at the bottom. The port program ended with a final stop at a dune with a lake full of flamingos at the base! We clambered all the way to the top of the steep dune, nearly burning our feet on the hot sand. The view from the top was incredible and well worth the climb. Endless dunes stretched behind us, with the lake below us and the ocean just beyond. We ran down the and into the lake for a swim. After the swim, a snack of cold drinks and local oysters (so slimy, but I had to try one!) awaited us!

We explored the dunes again the following day, but as part of a sand boarding program instead. We were given helmets, gloves, elbow pads, and a thin, flexible sheet of wood, and set off up the dune. There were a couple instructors who showed us what to do; you go down on your tummy, head-first, holding the front of the board up so you don’t go face-down into the sand! We spent the morning flying down 6 different runs, and on one of them I reached an insane speed of 70km/h! Woohooo!

Everyone had a blast, and though none of us really knew what to expect upon our arrival in Namibia, it turned out to be another fantastic port! On March 6^th, it was once again time to leave land behind us, saying goodbye to Africa for the last time.