Jamestown, St. Helena island, British Overseas Territory – April 15

Jamestown, St. Helena island, British Overseas Territory – April 15

This was one of those unexpectedly great places. The island is volcanic but doesn't rise smoothly out of the sea – rather it is completely edged with cliffs with a few valleys. The coastal areas are dry and barren, but the high elevations in the center of the island are lush and green. It has a total population of about 6000 people; about 1500 live in or near Jamestown. Being a British territory, it has a very British feel and look – may of the buildings were built in the mid to late 1800's. The island is truly cut off from much of the world as there is no airport at all and the Royal Mail Ship is the only scheduled ship that stops there. The Royal Mail Ship was also anchored there the same day; it comes twice a month from Cape Town and twice a year makes the trip to London.

The island was used during WWI and WWII and many of the fortifications and gun emplacements can still be seen. It was originally a penal colony and the prisoners supplied the labor for much of the old buildings and walls. The real claim to fame is that this is where Napoleon was sent and where he died.

The town was full of local people who were very friendly and welcoming. We stopped at the St James church and were welcomed by a number of ladies with cookies and pastries and tea. It's a lovely church with a beautiful pipe organ – a lady was playing the organ for us. One of my first clues that this was not a common stop for cruise ships was that the church was holding a special service in the afternoon with the passengers invited to attend. In talking to one of the ladies there I asked how many passenger ships stop there – she said usually maybe on a year, but last year they had two.

We wandered around the town and stopped in a large cafe/restaurant and split a beer then wandered around some more. One of the big attractions is Jacob's Ladder – a 699 step stairway up the side of a steep hill – it could be used to reach the houses located up there, but now it's mostly an attraction since there are roadways and paths available that, although winding, would be much easier. I was amazed at how many people from our ship climbed the steps to get their certificate!

I specially enjoyed talking with a policeman about some of the history and the upcoming changes to the island – they are hoping to develop it more for tourism and an airport is being planned. The locals have very mixed feelings about it. While we were waiting for our tender to take us back to the ship we chatted with a local Customs Officer too – he was from London, but married a St. Helena local and they now live there. (isn't that a great police car?)

I wish we had gone ashore a little earlier, but they started running the tenders about 10:00 am and we let the big rush go through while we had some breakfast. By 11:00 when we went, the aft tender platform (only for 4 & 5 star Mariners, suites and President's passengers) was not crowded at all and we were on the tender quickly and taken to shore. We should have gotten a private car and done the tour of the island right then and then wandered around the town later – as it was, we didn't make the tour around the island and I've put that on my 'next-time list'.

The weather stayed beautiful all day and through our sail away and made for a gorgeous sunset. It's only about two more weeks and this adventure will end... I think we are all pushing that day away.