What Happened to the 700th?

---

---

Welcome to St. Helena, a British territory in the heart of the South Atlantic. She's a quirky little place alright, an isolated volcanic lump created by the Mid-Atlantic Rift... and home to a few fun facts!

St. Helena:

• claims to be Britain's second oldest colony
  
• is home to the world's most expensive coffee - made from the Green-tipped Bourbon bean imported from Mocha of Yemen
  
• was the site of Napolean Bonaparte's exile and subsequent death
  
• is home to Tungi spirit, a noxious alcohol distilled from prickly pears
  
• has no airport - visitors, goods, and mail must arrive/depart by ship
  
• possesses the world's longest continuous straight set of stairs, Jacob's Ladder (699 steps)
  
• is home to Jonathon, the world's oldest tortoise (estimated to be over 127 years old)
  
• is over 2000 km from any major landmass

We have arrived here for a 24-hour stopover while on our Trans-Atlantic yacht race (more on this in the next blog). With such little time to experience St. Helena, we attempted a cultural blitz! Tungi shots were downed, coffee slurped, old-fashioned letters to Mom written, stamped and loaded onto the mail ship, and stairs conquered!

Without a doubt, Jacob's Ladder was a special treat and my favourite part of the stop. The Ladder was named after a mythical ladder to heaven described in the book of Genesis - but the real version on St. Helena just leads up to a nice view. Does that qualify as irony? In any case, I suppose if you dehydrated yourself thoroughly before climbing, you could induce a more spiritual journey.

Not much to report, but I just wanted to be the first to write about St. Helena on Travelblog! I'm just a little disappointed I couldn't stay longer on this fabulous and friendly island.

Oh, and by the way, there were once 700 steps, but 1 got covered up during repairs.
Cheerio!

Note: Photo credits given to CR (Cody) and ZW (Zach). Photos with no credit listed were taken by yours truly.

---

Photos

Look out! There's a Slinky on the loose!
photo: CR

Jolly Ol' Jamestown
photo: CR

A Critical Eye
Appraisal: "Flawless C"

Unadulterated Nostrical Bliss
photo: ZW

Atlantic Gold
Behold! The World's Most Expensive Coffee!

Napolean Says:
Sacre bleu! Où sont les arbres?!

Her Majesty's Mail Ship
The HMS St. Helena unsuspectingly wanders into our crosshairs... photo: ZW

From the Gutter to the Stars
Side view of Jacob's Ladder

Was Jacob a Sadist?
photo: ZW

Prepare for Blast-off!
photo: CR

The Summit
Now for the world's longest rail slide! photo: ZW

Stairwars
Forget the bars. This is MY kind of night life. photo: CR

Comments

[armistice]

it might make sense to drink the coffee to get up the stairs, and drink the Tungi to get the courage to slide down the rail. where are the rail slide photos?! -armistice

[BuscoGusto]

Rail Slide
Sadly, I only learned the proper technique of rail sliding AFTER leaving the island. However, it has been performed successfully by various adventure-seekers. The Ladder is still used daily by St Helena residents as a method of communting. YES WAY. :)

[liliram]

Viewed your pix, coffee lover!
I got to view your photos alright. No problem. Must have been a temporary glitch in the system. Happens to me all the time. Btw, was the coffee really good? I am a coffee lover myself, and on the lookout for the best!

[BuscoGusto]

Coffee Critique
Ah, the distinction of St. Helena coffee is that it is the "most expensive" in the world, but an important lesson to be learnt here is that a price does not always reflect quality. St. Helena coffee is good, and has won awards, but it isn't the world's best. I am sure that on a sunny slope somewhere in Central America, the world's finest bean waits patiently to be plucked. The main reason for St. Helena beans to be so expensive is due to the transportation costs associated from exporting them - and an editorial article in the St. Helena newspaper, the Independent from during our stay stated simply that it's yet another quirky claim to fame. That's what I like about St. Helena. They never claim to be the best; just different.

[Christine]

Ahoy!
Hey Glad to see you posting! Carry on!I'm watchin'! Christine

[maggie]

El Salvador
Its sweet stay safe...