Arrival and First Day at Ascension Island……
To see the Photo Gallery associated with this post, click: 06-2013 Ascension Island – UK (Mid Atlantic) Photo Gallery
June 14th-15th, 2013 (Western Hemisphere) Time: GMT
We arrived at 4:30 pm on Friday the 14th. I really wanted to be here before dark (which we were) because of the published hazard of a floating pipe line to transfer jet fuel from cargo ships to on land storage tanks. GOOD THING too! We were advised by Ascension Island radio that fuel off loading operations were in progress and we did not see the pipeline (which is only 6 inches above the water), till we were 100 feet from it. There was a spotter boat, but he was slow on the warning and I\’m not sure if he\’s there during night time operations. It off loads 7 million liters of jet fuel per ship! We would not want to breach that pipeline.
There is a major US Air Force base here as well as a large British base. NASA used to be here, but has pulled out as the shuttle program is over and due to budget constraints.
We were able to check in on Saturday (which was really good), but had to do so before noon which we did. A MAJOR bonus for Nikki was finding Walker\’s Smoky Bacon Crisps! We also found some Easy-Yo yoghurt mix and stocked up on some long life milk. The main cargo ship comes on Monday and we hope to get eggs, fresh fruit and vegetables when it arrives.
We will do the island tour, hire a car for a trip to Green Mountain National Park and do a tour of \”Long Beach\” which is right in front of the boat. This is the largest Green Sea Turtle nursery in the world and the conservation group here does tours every night at 9 p.m.
We turned on the underwater lights tonight while running the generator and lots of baby green sea turtles showed up. We\’re glad that lots are making it to sea.
We hope to have the experience of the tour on Monday or Tuesday night. I\’ll try and post a photo of the baby turtles Nikki kept scooping out of the water. There are lots!
We did figure out the photo posting issue and should have the St. Helena photos up on the blog (of the day we left) tomorrow when we get back on the internet.
There are two other boats here. One a delivery of a Moorings Power Cat to Ft. Lauderdale and the other our friend John (single handing) off \”Jongilanga\”. Jongilana (for Dave and Kathie) ironically means \”Sunflower\” in Xhosa. Xhosa is the second most common language in South Africa and is the native tongue of Nelson (Mandiba) Mandella.
So, that\’s our tale from arrival to Ascension. Hopefully some photos from here and details of our touring.
P.S. Nikki got all excited as we\’re now seeing the \”Big Dipper\” constellation. This is the first time I\’ve seen it (while sailing) in almost three years.
KIT,
Scott and Nikki the turtle catch-tress….