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| St Helena airport |
At the airport, the line through security
was one of the longest I’ve seen. The lady in front of me had packed large
sewing scissors and a bottle of body lotion in her hand luggage. The guy behind
me made all sorts of alarms go off. Behind us the line, which snaked out of the
security area and back toward the check-in desk, was filled with giddy Saints,
many who’ve never flown before.
We’ve made steady progress through the
normal tourism opportunities on St Helena. We
went on a wreck dive with Anthony from Sub-Tropic Adventures, which was
spectacular and convinced us to explore the Papanui, a snorkel-depth wreck a
few hundred metres from our boat. A dolphin trip with Johnny from Enchanted
Isle didn’t yield up dolphins, but did take us to Lemon Valley
Bay—which we later
returned to by dinghy so we could snorkel and explore the quarantine station
and fortifications.
A day or so later we were invited by our
friend Louise to join her for dinner with her friend Rodney aboard the RMS St
Helena. Rodney turned out to be the captain of the RMS (it helps to be
befriended by the former Governor’s daughter). Beyond getting us into amazing
places and introducing us to wonderful people, spending time with Louise means
seeing the island through the eyes of someone who loves it dearly—which is
always a gift.
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| Captain Rodney and Louise |
We even made it up (and back down) the 699
step Jacob’s Ladder.
With those things covered, it was time to
check out how the locals and expats spend their time. The first opportunity
came shortly after the rather devastating news that the airport opening is
going to be delayed while a significant turbulence and wind shear issue is
sorted out. The imposing King and Queen rock formation to seaward of the head
of the runway creates an unpredictable wind pattern.
Even though there’s no plane, there’s still
an airport and everyone needs to be trained to use it and I headed to the first
training day. After checking in, browsing through the gift shop and going
through security we were offered sandwiches and cake. Then it was time to catch
our imaginary plane and leave and arrive in St Helena.
Customs and immigration went quickly and the sniffer dog licked my feet (which
I think means I passed). I picked up my tourist map from the tourism office and
got a tip on the next big event: a memorial service for Napoleon Bonaparte.
When in France…which you are when at the
Napoleon sites, you might as well as go with the program and do what the
tourism director, Chris calls the weirder stuff.
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| Our awesome new friends |
The Bug-eyed Tuners and the Brass Monkeys
provided the music and sang the English and French anthems (happily they did La
Marseillaise in French—it sounds friendlier that way).
Arise, children of the Fatherland
The day of glory has arrived!
Against us tyranny
The bloody banner is raised
Do you hear, in the countryside,
The roar of those ferocious soldiers?
They're coming right into your arms
To cut the throats of your sons and women!
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