St Helena- April 08 recounted

After Nambia we sailed to Jamestown, St Helena – Napoleon’s  final resting place — until he was moved to Paris – that is!

The sea state was a little rough when we arrived and we had a few delays in disembarking. But around 9:00 AM we were taking the tender to the island.

It was about 300 yards from the land spot to the main entrance to Jamestown.  I took  a walk into the town, walked through the Castle Gardens, constructed by prisoner in 1792 and home to many tropical and endemic plants. Bought stamps at the Post Office and walked around St James Church, the oldest Anglican e schurch in thouthern hemisphere dating back to 1774. I then decided to climb Jacob’s Ladder built in 1829. It has 699 uneven steps that take one to a view above the town. At the top, I decided to hike to High Knoll Fort, about a 2 miles or so away along a supposed hiking trail. I could not find the trail and no one knew about it. The locals said it was probably something the tourist bureau was planning in the future. I got within half a mile form the fort and stopped at a small convenience store for some water and found out the area around the fort was closed off because of the disrepair of the fort’s walls. I was going to get no closer than about 600 feet form the fort wall.  I was thinking about walking to Longwood House, where Napoleon lived in exile. until his death in 1821. I decided against it because it was getting too lake to walk there and back. The last tender back to the ship was 4:00PM .

I walked back to Jacob’s Ladder with stops along the way to look and old gun placements atop Ladder Hill. At the base of the steps, I visited the Museum of St Helena, where I was able absorb some of the history of St Helena. Then it was time for a quick lunch at Anne’s Place in the Castle Gardens and then to find a local pub to taste the local drinks. I found , what I was told was the most popular pub, the White Horse Tavern closed, so I went to the next best across the street, the Standard. The locals were very friendly and we exchanged drinks. I was introduced to the 3 local drinks on the island, besides beer, Tungi, a cactus( prickly pear) liqueur ,Midnight Mist, a coffee liqueur, and Jamestown Gin, all locally produced. After making a tee shirt stop, it was back to the ship and on to Ascension island.

 St Helena Island