I am now sitting at anchor off the shoreline of Ascension Island. Sort of place you only get to once in a lifetime, but I've been here twice now! Last time was 10 years ago on a ship carrying supplies to the Air Force here (after that we went to West Africa, now there is a garden spot!). We were originally headed for St Helena, where Napoleon spent his last years. That would have been something to see, unfortunately it went down the tubes.

For those keeping track (and you know who you are ) I did make it ashore for a couple of hours in Las Palmas. The topless beach really wasn't, and from the looks of the people there it was just as well. I would have had bad dreams! Nice walking ashore though, the ocean gets pretty monotonous.

 

Got a map or anything? I don't know where Ascension Island is.

 

Dude! You are on the I-N-T-E-R-N-E-T! You can find anything! Just to help out, it is in the Atlantic off the west coast of Africa, below the equator. If I were a mate I could give you the latitude and longitude (or if I weren't too lazy to walk to the bridge and look at the GPS).

 

http://www.ascension-island.gov.ac/ascension.htm

 

Man, thats a tiny island in the middle of nowhere! Probably pretty nice there though!

 

Beautiful!

 

Yeah, it was okay. Of course when you spend time at sea any land looks good. Not too much going on so I only went as far as I could walk just up the landing. Saw a "feral" donkey (that's how it was named on a postcard), couple of sheep roaming the neighborhood, lots and lots of lava rock (which is what the island practically is). About had a heart attack too, went to a gift shop in a hotel and picked out some T-shirts for all the kids back home (6) plus a few other items. Lady rings it up and says 85 pounds (British possession). Alarms are ringing but I ask her for USD, she says $170!! Needless to say a few things got put back. Hope they are all happy with the postcards I sent them from there (official stamps and all).