Georgetown, Ascension Island, April 09, 2014

Beautiful sail in to Ascension Island this morning where we were set to anchor in at 11:45 am. This all went well but during the tendering process it was found that the sea side tender dock was just not going to be able to accommodate our tenders with the swells we were experiencing, apparently even worse than on St. Helena. Soooo, we are set to circumnavigate the island for some sightseeing. The talk amongst the repeat world cruisers is that this port is only successful 1 out of 4 times due to these swells. In the most part the guests are not unhappy as the circumnavigation of this island is a great way to see the entire landscape with commentary from our travel guide, Barbara. A boatload of islanders have come on board to sell the local crafts so the island is not an entire loss for any economical benefit of a rare cruise ship coming by.

Ascension Island is a 35 square mile volcanic island that was first occupied by the British in 1815 to prevent the rescue of Napoleon from St. Helena 200 miles away. It was later served as a provisioning station for the Royal Navy's anti-slavery patrol. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century there was a telegraph relay station here and later the BBC built a transmitter here. Georgetown is the island's only settlement and although Ascension is said to have no permanent residents, some of the 1,000 people who live have been here for decades while others have ties going back generations. Ascension Island is home to some 44 volcanic craters which have created dramatic lava tubes near the shoreline. This area is home to nesting green turtles, these amazing endangered animal species make there way from South America to lay their eggs. One turtle may lay up to 200 eggs with only a handful surviving because of the many sea birds in this area. Land crabs and feral donkeys are the other fascinating aspects of this islands fauna.

We had a very nice day circumnavigating this island under sunny skies with a temperature around the 27 degree mark. The gentleman Jan is pictured here in one of the pictures is Jeff Farschman who is celebrating his 65th birthday today, the first time we sailed with him was when he turned 60. He is the guy who does and great picture blog and is the person who got me into doing this...

Hope you enjoy the pictures of this remote place on this planet...