Day 55: another leaving party, BBQ at turtle shell beach hut.

Wow, day 55? Seriously? I have no idea where the time goes I really don't!! 

So today was kind of special. It was the leaving party of two of my met girls, Emma and Rachel. A little unique to have two leaving at once, and I'm not happy about that. But it is what it is. It didn't feel like a leaving party, because their replacements haven't even arrived yet. But being the socialites that we are, there are too many functions in the diary between now and the day the leave, so it had to be today. 

They had chosen to have a BBQ and ordered a full on BBQ pack from the mess. This turned out to be quite a complicated procedure in the end involving advertisement and a lot of organising. 

I was on a night shift on the Friday night, so stayed in bed til lunch time. But during the morning a few of the guys and girls had done the Dew Pond run. This is about a 6 or 7 mile run, up hill, from the pier at Georgetown to the top of Green Mountain which is a 2500 foot climb from it's base. I struggled to walk up the bloody thing when I did that a couple of weeks ago, but I was gutted to have missed cheering them on and meeting them at the top (in my car!!) with some Savannahs. 

The dew pond is exactly what it sounds like. A grotty little hole in the ground filled with green slime. It looks beautiful in the Ascension brochures and tourist website, and actually kind of is, but just don't look too closely at it... Anyway... On the Ascension Island bucket list, one of the items is to skinny dip in the thigh deep pit. I'm pleased to say I was not there to capture the photos. 

Did I post about the dew pond? I think I did, there should be some photos on the last entry, I haven't got round to putting them on Facebook yet. I will do soon, promise. 

Today was lots of fun. I eventually woke up around 12 and went for lunch at Two Boats with a couple of the det guys and some of the Air Tanker cabin crew girls which was lovely. 

I got back home and started getting ready for the party.  Transport was booked for 5 pm and there was to be no stragglers. The girls had opted for a hula Hawaiian theme, and randomly I happened to have brought a hula skirt out with me. The rest of the gang had made a varying degree of effort - some of the guys looked normal while others were wearing bikinis. Hmm!! I even took my ukulele as a costume prop :)

We pulled up at turtle shell beach hut. There was a sign on the door saying "MOD property" and I just smiled - this has to be the best military det ever. The place was beautiful. We were there in plenty of time to watch the sun set on the beach and play around on the sand. It was just perfect. Especially when Jack was picking up dead black fish and throwing them at me!!! 

Champagne for the dew pond runners:

After the sun had set we started the barbecue and had some more drinks. At this point I took to the microphone to give the leaving speeches for our two girls. It's going to be very hard saying goodbye to both of them. 

The transport came back around 10 to take us to Two Boats bar. I had been stealth drinking cokes from about 9pm so was relatively still all there. The party was in full swing, but I left at midnight like a pumpkin as I was at work the next morning. 

Got a fun and interesting and bitter sweet week ahead now. On Thursday morning two of my good friends from back home turn up to take over from Emma and Rachel. I'm really looking forward to seeing them. Then this coming Saturday is the Battle of Britain memorial dinner, where we all get to dress up in our finest, plus that morning I'm going on a boat trip fishing with some of the guys. I hope I can catch something!! I think if I don't throw up that will be an achievement in itself though. Then on Monday and Tuesday I say a final farewell to Rachel and Emma respectively :( sad times indeed. 

Day 46: catch up

Wow it's been two weeks since I last wrote. Not sure why really. Busy? Lazy? Not much different has happened? All of the above really. 

So I'm on day 46, that's pretty much almost half way through now. I must say I have had some ups and downs so far, but in really enjoying the island. In fact I am in full love with the island now, I'm hooked. 3 months isn't long enough to fully do the job I'm required to do properly. Instead I'm just ticking it over and it doesn't really feel like my gig. 

I am here with a truly great bunch of guys and girls,and hangout together all the time in such isolated confinement means you become close, fast. I've made some really good friends here who I care about a lot. But of course people keep bloody leaving. It my pal Kez's last night tonight which is sad. And soon it will be me...

So what have I been up to? Well, we had a very rich man bring his very nice private plane here a week or so ago. He threw a big party on the beach for everyone which was lovely, as well as leaving some alcoholic gifts for us. Always welcome!!

Sheik's BBQ with Steve Ian and Emma. 

My very lovely met girls :)

An Kez, who goes home tomorrow. Boo. 

I've done a couple more of the walks, which is great. I'm hoping to do the dew pond run before I leave here it's from sea level at the pier head here, all the way to the top of Green Mountain. It's about 10-12km, and a 2600FT climb. We did a stake out walk up it last week and I could barely complete that!!! It looks totally different up there, you have to wade through bamboo to get to it. 

The dew pond 

Bamboo

Other than that I've been just working hard and playing hard. I had an actual two days off in a row last week, that was lush. 

Here's my buddy Jack with a homemade anemometer. Nice one jack :) you're welcome to join team met anytime

Day 31: Playing with the boys

Today was Rachel's birthday!

As a birthday treat we went to the American Mess for breakfast. I love it there. We had pancakes with syrup and icecream! 

As I was working the coming night shift, which meant missing the party, I went back to bed after breakfast to get back to my lie in. 

I managed to fit in a trip to the gym before lunch, and then we gave Rachel her present - a bottle of whisky!

After lunch we headed down to English Bay with a few of the guys to play volley ball. The top gun sound track was playing, of course. 

After that I took some pictures, as you can see, of the guys all jumping in the washing machine. 

It feels a bit weird when then water is so clear you can see the fish:

This one shows properly how high the jump is. I was trying to guess it when I told james an I think I was quite wrong...

The water is so clear and so blue. 

Black fish swimming in the shallows:

Everyone else went to a BBQ, then to watch the guys play football and have some drinks in Two Boats. 

I went to work. 

Day 27: Full moon party

Grrr I already wrote this once today and it didn't publish. I'll try remember it...

You may remember a week or so ago a few of us went to North East Point to take some pictures of the stars. One of the guys who likes taking pictures, like me, had said that there would be a full moon this weekend, and it would be great to go to the beach and take some long exposure shots. One of the other guys who is more a fan of having a good time than having a nerdy photo sesh piped up with "full moon party on the beach!!" So the idea was born...

I was on a day shift, which passed slowly. After work one of the guys came and picked me up and we headed to the beach. As it turns out there were two different beach parties planned for today. One by the Air Tanker people, which was afternoon into evening, and then the plan was to head to the other beach for the full moon party. The guys had been busy setting up teepees (tipis? tepees?) on the beach through the afternoon while I had been working. 

I arrived at the first beach just as the sun was setting (around 7pm here annoyingly!!) and everyone was already there which was nice. The air tanker party was fancy dress, with a Jamaican theme. 4 of the girls had the cool running onesies on and they looked great!!!!

I did try and take some photos of the beach after the sun had set... But my lens isn't quite right (ooo shall I get a new one??!) and I still need to practice with my tripod etc. so I'll not post those pictures up. 

At around 9.30 about ten or fifteen of us headed over to the other beach, where the tepees were to crack on with our full moon party. It was hilarious because obviously it was dark and empty, some of the girls were expecting the party to be already kicking off. So they took one look at the cold beach, the fire that hadn't been started yet, and the already subsiding teepees and got back in their car. Lol. 

So in total there was about 8 or 10 of us. The boys got the fire going and had a few drinks. 

Eventually we got tired and decided to try and get some sleep. Us girls had brought actual duvets and pillows, so we were fairly comfortable. 

We had set and alarm for 6.45, to watch the sun rise. But by the morning it had clouded over so it was very unremarkable. 

Lots of fun :)

Day 26: Chris' last day, Elliott's pass

So after a false start and a cancelled airbridge on Tuesday, today was Chris' actual last day on Ascension. 

So until now I has yet to experience Green Mountain properly. I mean I've been to our climate station there to collect data, but haven't done any of the Green Mountain national park letter box walks. They sound difficult and hilly, but all the hard work is done in the car. You park up and then start the level 1 difficulty walks at the top. Brilliant. 

Chris has told me when I arrived that Elliott's Pass is a great walk to do first, and last. First because it's easy - it's a flat walk on a well weathered path around the summit of Green Mountain. And good to do last as you can look down at the whole island, and see all the letter box walks and piece it together. 

Chris had finished all 42 of the walks before I had arrived, and always planned on spending his last afternoon doing this special walk one last time. 

We arrived at the starting point, and I swear it was like we had been transported to a completely different island. The rocky lava fields and barren land scape was replaced by lush green vegetation, beautiful flowers, and banana trees. It's amazing what 2500FT can do to a place. 

It was beautiful. The walk in itself was only just over 3km, and it was really nice to have spent the afternoon with Chris. We went through tunnels and pushed back overgrown shrubs. Each corner revealed a different view of the island, and it was lovely to watch Chris point out all the various letter boxes with nostalgic reminiscence. 

We went to the Volcano Club for dinner, which is an American diner on the American air base. It's all fast food type stuff, not the healthiest but ok once in a while, and it's something of a fair well tradition. After that we went to the terminal to wave him off, and that was that... Another good bye over. 

:'(