A Thousand Miles from Nowhere
We thought St. Helena was isolated until we got to Ascension Island and the village of Georgetown. This place doesn’t even make it on the world map because it’s so small and isolated. The best way describe Ascension’s location is that “it’s in the Atlantic a thousand miles from nowhere.” The good news is that the ship did not have to go out of its way to get there.
We arrived off the coast of Ascension to discover that the swells were lifting the Tenders (ships boats) 6 feet up and down and the sea would wash over the pier. So, the Captain decided to wait and see if the tides helped. Finally he took a tender to view the situation himself. On returning he notified us that those that were in good physical shape (meaning you could walk) could go ashore. So off we went in the tender and had to wait as the first passenger tried to get off—he was a guy that used a walker on the ship.
The island is a British dependency, is really laid back and mainly serves as a military tracking station and former marine garrison. There is a church, a few bars, a hotel (more like a motel) several forts, a few gift shops and a golf course. The golf course greens are made of crushed lava that have been pressed flat with diesel oil and are called “browns” by the locals. The fairways are marked out with large volcanic boulders. It has officially been registered as the worse golf course in the world, although the old condo course on US1 in Vero may give it a run for the money. Four of us started up a hill that would lead to the course but after 20 minutes of walking straight up a volcanic road in 86 degree heat we gave up and went to the hotel for a Beer. Who cared if it was only 11:30 in the morning?
We also noticed a few other things on the island. On the way down the hill we saw a sign that read “entering Georgetown, drive carefully.” Georgetown is the only village on the island so where were they coming from? The license plates had numbers like “A21.” The largest number I saw was only 2 digits. In town there are sheep running through the streets along with donkeys. At the Church there is a sign that reads “please close doors after entering to keep out the Donkeys”. Upon arriving back on board the Captain said that he would circumnavigate the island so that those that were unable to visit would have a chance to see it. He would not have been happy if he knew about the guy with the walker.
We thought St. Helena was isolated until we got to Ascension Island and the village of Georgetown. This place doesn’t even make it on the world map because it’s so small and isolated. The best way describe Ascension’s location is that “it’s in the Atlantic a thousand miles from nowhere.” The good news is that the ship did not have to go out of its way to get there.
We arrived off the coast of Ascension to discover that the swells were lifting the Tenders (ships boats) 6 feet up and down and the sea would wash over the pier. So, the Captain decided to wait and see if the tides helped. Finally he took a tender to view the situation himself. On returning he notified us that those that were in good physical shape (meaning you could walk) could go ashore. So off we went in the tender and had to wait as the first passenger tried to get off—he was a guy that used a walker on the ship.
The island is a British dependency, is really laid back and mainly serves as a military tracking station and former marine garrison. There is a church, a few bars, a hotel (more like a motel) several forts, a few gift shops and a golf course. The golf course greens are made of crushed lava that have been pressed flat with diesel oil and are called “browns” by the locals. The fairways are marked out with large volcanic boulders. It has officially been registered as the worse golf course in the world, although the old condo course on US1 in Vero may give it a run for the money. Four of us started up a hill that would lead to the course but after 20 minutes of walking straight up a volcanic road in 86 degree heat we gave up and went to the hotel for a Beer. Who cared if it was only 11:30 in the morning?
We also noticed a few other things on the island. On the way down the hill we saw a sign that read “entering Georgetown, drive carefully.” Georgetown is the only village on the island so where were they coming from? The license plates had numbers like “A21.” The largest number I saw was only 2 digits. In town there are sheep running through the streets along with donkeys. At the Church there is a sign that reads “please close doors after entering to keep out the Donkeys”. Upon arriving back on board the Captain said that he would circumnavigate the island so that those that were unable to visit would have a chance to see it. He would not have been happy if he knew about the guy with the walker.
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