One thing I can guarantee almost anyone is that you are unlikely to get hit with excess baggage charges on leaving the island and this is not due to lax airport or shipping agent check-in procedures but rather that there is virtually nothing to buy on Ascension Island. Continue reading “Excess Baggage Charges – No Worry Here”
ESA – ARIANE Station
Ascension Island has a long history when it comes to tracking extraterrestrial goings on.
Scottish astronomer, David Gill, visited Ascension in 1877 to view Mars through a range of his instruments during the Opposition of Mars (an alignment of the sun, the earth, and Mars) which occurred in that year. Continue reading “ESA – ARIANE Station”
NASA and the Devil’s Ashpit Tracking Station
As part of the NASA Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network, an integrated Apollo and deep-space station (DSS 72) was constructed in 1965 on the eastern side of Ascension Island at the Devil’s Ashpit. Continue reading “NASA and the Devil’s Ashpit Tracking Station”
Fort Hayes – Ascension Island
Fort Hayes is one of four sections of the Ascension Island Heritage Society Museum & Gallery and your museum entry fee includes entry to the fort. It is one of three naval forts in the Georgetown area – the other two being Fort Bedford and Fort Thornton – the oldest and least preserved which I didn’t visit. Continue reading “Fort Hayes – Ascension Island”
Ascension Island Heritage Society Museum & Gallery
The Museum and Gallery, incorporating Fort Hayes, is located at Fort Hayes and is divided in four sections:
The Main Museum
The Carriage House
Fort Hayes Magazine
Fort Hayes Continue reading “Ascension Island Heritage Society Museum & Gallery”
Fort Bedford
For the best view of Georgetown, the island’s capital, there is nowhere that can compare with the view from Fort Bedford. More on the view later but it should also be clear from the picture above why Fort Bedford, tasked with defending the capital, is located where it is – half way up Cross Hill, just behind Georgetown. The peak of Cross Hill remains a military site and thus out of bounds. Continue reading “Fort Bedford”
The BBC On Ascension Island
You will not be able to get BBC television on Ascension Island but rather surprisingly you will use BBC electricity and drink BBC water and drive on BBC roads. The Beeb, as it is affectionately referred too, also used to run the school, the hospital and a farm. Continue reading “The BBC On Ascension Island”
Land Animals of Ascension Island – Past and Present
The best known “land” animal on Ascension Island is the famous green turtles. I have written a separate review on these very special creatures Ascension’s Green Turtles.
Given its remoteness, there are and have been very few species of land animal on Ascension Island. Go look for them – your own Ascension Island Safari! Continue reading “Land Animals of Ascension Island – Past and Present”
Exiles Club (Marine Barracks)
The Exiles Club, in the centre of Georgetown, was constructed in 1830 as a single story barracks for the Marines with the second story and the clock-tower added in 1848. The clock-tower supposedly replaced the earlier tradition of firing a cannon on an hourly basis to mark the passage of time. Continue reading “Exiles Club (Marine Barracks)”
The Royal Mail
One of the few things you can buy, by way of souvenir, on Ascension Island is stamps and other philatelic items from the Post Office in Georgetown. I will refer to this again in a ‘shopping” review. Here I will relate a little about to-day’s and yesteryear’s stamps and mail services to the island. Continue reading “The Royal Mail”
The Rambling Wombat 