Ascension Island / Sat Mar 23

Today we arrived at Ascension Island - an isolated volcanic island located between Africa and Brazil just south of the equator.

The British garrisoned the island in 1815 to prevent a rescue of Napoleon from Saint Helena. During World War II, the UK permitted the US to construct an airfield to support trans-Atlantic flights to Africa and anti-submarine operations in the South Atlantic. In the 1960s the island became an important space tracking station for the US. In 1982, Ascension was an staging area for British forces during the Falklands War.

The island's airport is operated by the US. Its runway was once the longest in the world because it was designed to accommodate the Space Shuttle. NASA tracked the Apollo Moon landings from the island and the European Space Agency monitors rocket launches from here. Hilltops across the island are filled with aerial arrays and satellite dishes but no one is willing to say who is listening or what they're listening to.

Unfortunately we were weren't able to get on to the island. The large waves near the dock made it impossible for the tenders to land. We took pictures of the island as we sailed away.

We have several days at sea until we get to our next stop which is Dakar, Senegal.

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Hobart / Mon & Tue Feb 12 & 13

We're docked in Hobart for a day and a half. Hobart is the capitol and largest city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. It's also the second oldest capitol in Australia. Yesterday we went on a private tour with Karin and Joe - a couple from Georgia that we've gotten to know. We took a hike in beautiful Mt. Field National Park, went to Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary and saw a number of other scenic and historical sites. To get to Mount Field National Park we drove along the Derwent River. The National Park was quite scenic. We took a long walk and saw some beautiful waterfalls, huge trees and the random wallaby (small kangaroo). Russell Falls After Mount Field we had lunch at a cute local restaurant located on the river. Our waitress had an interesting story to tell us about a Zombie Run she'd taken recently in Auckland. Crazy! After lunch we spent a bit of time looking for a platypus. Our tour guide found one in the river n...

Busselton / Tue Feb 19

We tendered in Busselton, Australia today. Busselton is best known for the the Busselton Jetty which was built in 1865. It's more than a mile long and is the longest timber piled jetty in the southern hemisphere. At the end of the jetty is an underwater observatory. You can get to it by walking the length of the jetty or by taking the Jetty Train which looks like a Victorian locomotive but is powered by solar panels. We spent the day in Busselton with two other couples. We sat on the beach for a couple of hours then walked into town to explore. We met Walter who was quite the character. After that we had a snack at a local restaurant then took the train to the end of the jetty and toured the underwater observatory before walking back to the tender. Fun day!

Travel Clinic

It's Thanksgiving week and we've traveled from sunny, warm Florida to cold and snowy New England to spend the holiday with family. On Monday we flew to Connecticut & then drove to our condo in Vermont where we arrived after dark. It snowed all day Tuesday - very pretty but very cold. On Tuesday we had an appointment at the Travel Clinic at Dartmouth Medical Center. The purpose of the visit was to find out what shots and medications we'd need for our upcoming trip. We anticipated a relatively short visit but two hours later we left with our heads spinning from everything they told us about how to stay safe and not get sick. We were give a large folder full of information with promises of even more that would be mailed to us in the near future. We also expected to get some shots during the visit. Larry had 2 and I ended up with 4! You can see them all lined up in the photo below. They included Hepatitis A, Typhoid and Tdap ( a combination vaccine that protects ag...

Opals and Romeos

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