St. Helena

We woke up early this morning and went to the Lido Café for breakfast. There were many more passenger’s eating breakfast as there were several morning shore excursions. After breakfast, we worked out in the Fitness Center for about an hour. Keith worked out on both the Elliptical and Treadmill and Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill.

This is a port where we needed to tender from the ship over to the Island. We were very fortunate that the weather was great as there are some days where it is not possible to tender due to gusty winds. We went over to shore at around 9:30 AM. Up until recently only six cruise ships would visit this port of call per year, but last year about twelve ships visited this Island. There are no airports so the only way to visit the island is by boat or cruise ship.

As we mentioned, this Islands major role in history was to serve as the place where the British exiled Napoleon for the rest of his life. Napoleon arrived on October 14, 1815 where he lived until his death on May 5, 1821. Originally, he was buried here but his body was exhumed on October 15, 1840 and was moved to its current resting place in Paris, France.

We walked around the small town area for about an hour and a half. We walked by a fort, a church, some lovely flower gardens and some small shops. We were struck with the friendliness of the people as many of them said hello to us as we walked around town. Clearly, this is a very simple island and that is the way that most residents would like to keep it.

After enjoying our time here, we took a tender back to the ship. We took care of our laundry and then we went to lunch in the Main Dining Room.

This afternoon many of the children from the local school came on board to sing for us. They ranged in age from children who attend elementary and middle school to those who attended junior and senior high school. We enjoyed their songs and each one told a tale of the Island. The audience warmly received the children and after their little concert they were treated to a variety of snacks including cookies and ice cream.

Later in the afternoon one game of the World Games was held which brought out many of the golfers on board the ship. A series of five putting greens were set up in the main lobby. While Keith does not golf he does enjoy miniature golf and he ended up with a total of 16 strokes which while not one of the better scores was somewhere in the middle so he was pleased and had fun socializing with our fellow passenger’s and crew.

This evening we went by ourselves to the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant. As usual, the food, service and ambience were wonderful so we had an excellent time.

We will now be at sea for two more days and look forward to all of the activities that have been planned for us. This evening we will once again set the clocks forward by an additional hour.

Keith & Anne Marie