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!