November 28, 2008 – Jamestown, St Helena

We anchored off St Helena at 8:00 under cloudy skies and left at 2:00 also under cloudy skies. St Helena is in the South Atlantic Ocean due east of Angola. It was originally discovered by the Portuguese, later used by the Dutch and finally settled by the British to serve as a water & provision layover for British East India ships. Its main claim to fame is being the location of Napoleon’s final exile until his death in 1821. There were no indigenous occupants and the first inhabitants were company employees and English settlers accompanied by indentured slaves from Africa, Goa, Malaya & Madagascar. The slaves could work off their indenture and become free and over the decades they all intermarried becoming an unusual brown skinned mix with similarities to all those races. The island was also a prison for Boers from South Africa during the Boer War from 1900 to 1902. New Zealand flax was grown for making rope & string and was the only export until the market disappeared in 1966. The only export is now some fish and the island is supplied by a mail boat that sails from South Africa to St Helena to Ascension Island to England and back, visiting about once a month. There is no real economy and the inhabitants don’t have money to leave. 2 or 3 cruise ships visit each year giving the locals an opportunity to give tours in their vehicles. 5 of us hired a van to drive around for 2 hours and we took the narrow road up in the mountains with some photo stops until we arrived at the path to Napoleon’s tomb. It’s a 10 to 20 minute walk down a grassy path to a clearing where a stone slab surrounded by a low iron fence rests. Napoleon isn’t there anymore, having been taken to Paris at a later date. The walk back uphill takes about double the time but the scenery is beautiful. We then drove on to Napoleon’s exile residence Longwood House, now a museum owned by the French Government. It would have certainly been quite a trip on foot or horse to visit in the early 1800s, but Napoleon entertained regularly. He had been permitted to bring an entourage with him which included 3 generals. Just past Longwood House is the Longwood Golf Course, one of the world’s remotest golf courses. It has 9 holes and 18 tee boxes, the fairways and greens are regular grass (weeds included but kept mowed) and bunkers are dirt. It was fun to see it and it looks like it’s a par 3 course. We drove leisurely back to Jamestown and left the van at the top of the town and walked back to the waterfronts, poking our heads into stores and pubs. There is nothing modern here and, in fact, many of the buildings ate to the 18th & 19th centuries. There is a 700 step stairway named Jacob’s Ladder which goes about 600 ft up a steep hillside and was originally built to transport manure up the hill to fertilize crops and to bring the crops back down. Those who walked up & back had quite sore legs and backs. We went up 5 or 6 steps to have a photo taken and then visited the small museum at the bottom of the stairs.

As we found in many of the stops we’ve made on this cruise, we stretched the limits of the local resources to provide tours (there are currently 380 guests on board.) Next year the 700 guest RSSC Voyager is scheduled to do this cruise and I fear there will be many disappointed guests who won’t be able to get on a tour, snorkeling trip etc. because there aren’t the number of vehicles, boats or space to accommodate the number of guests the company hopes to have on the cruise.
There was a special dinner for full cruisers called “Truck Stop Diner” in the crew mess featuring non-fine dining with no extra charge for the plastic cups for our wine and the dress code was “Truck Stop Casual”. The Portofino restaurant was closed to guests and the crew ate there. The party was a blast, beginning with cocktails in the crew bar. It was amazing what type of clothing people imagined being truck stop casual. It ranged from biker duds with a wig to hooker style with mesh stockings to regular country club casual. The predominant dress was jeans, t shirts and ball caps worn backwards (the captain was one of those.) Some talented crew members played music while drinks were served in plastic glasses and snacks were passed. The Regent singers & dancers all wore outrageous costumes with 2 of the girls being “pregnant” and holding cigarettes. Eventually we were directed to the crew mess room where we went through the buffet line with an extensive choice which included such mundane items as meat loaf & bland hamburgers but also included shrimp, crab leg and prime rib. Some guests left after eating and missed some of the best part of the evening. A guitar came out and talented staff members sang and involved us all in the singing for about ½ hour. When we finally left the mess, one of the girls who had been “pregnant” was in the hallway with a flat belly and holding her “just born bsby” wrapped in a sheet. The singers & dancers stayed in their roles throughout the entire event. I’ve been to 4 previous Truck Stop Diners on this ship as well as the Mariner & Voyager and this was by far the best one. We watched some of the show but we were tired and went to bed and missed the late night rock & roll dancing.