St. Helena's Island was founded by the East India Company in 1659 where Jamestown was once a place of great strategic importance for ships making their way around Cape of Good Hope on the trading routes to and from Asia. It was also a key spot in the abolition of slavery, with patrols established here to stop ships on their way front Africa to Brazil and some points in the Caribbean. Given this history, St. Helena is best known for its famous resident, Napoleon, who was exiled here after his defeat at Waterloo. Napoleon lived here from 1815 to 1821, he was buried here but later his remains were exhumed and returned to France. Life changed here when the Suez Canal was built which offered a shorter route to the Indian Ocean.
We were a bit surprised when we learned that the currency here is the British Pound, St. Helena has its own version of the currency but are very happy to accept the Sterling pound we were carrying. St. Helena when founded by the East India Company was owed by the UK, and this is where we learned to the tie in with the pound. You see the Dutch who owned the Dutch East India Company settled Cape Town and this was the area of the world they used for re-provisioning their ships on the way to India and Asia, so we have learned some interesting history from the time before the Suez Canal.
The famous thing to do here other that visit the Longwood house where Napoleon resided is to climb the 699 steps of Jacob's Ladder. This ladder heads straight up the mountainside to some of the island's early fortifications. Jan was game to jump on this 20 minute stair master where we received a certificate of this accomplishment once we reached the top. To save our knees we walked down using the much longer switch back road. We met up with Ted and Ingrid along the way and strolled through town hitting many of the other town's highlights along the way including arts and crafts stores, the Consulate Hotel, Castle Gardens, Church and the Town Museum. A great day here but not so great for the Tender Drivers, the waves and roll of the ocean caused a few problems for the Tendering process. While we were waiting for a Tender (the lifeboats used to shuttle guests from the ship to shore), one tied up at the bow only to have the entire cleat get ripped right off the boat. The Tender turned around and tried the other side when the cleat on the other side was also ripped from the boat caused by the big rolling waves. This Tender had to return to the ship empty as it was not safe. The next tender came in and was able to successfully Tender the guests (including us) back to the ship - Never seen that before.
BTW - as I am writing this the chatter on the ship is all around Jacob's Ladder, I hear people asking guests, did you do it, how was your time, one guy just said that he did it twice etc. I kind of feel I am back in the old Grouse Grind timing days where that was all the discussion at the top of Grouse after completion.
Fun hope you enjoy the pictures of our day...
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