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A Visit to St Helena’s Airport Site

19/4/2014

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Concreting the Runway
I recently visited the airport site which is just under two years from being open (Feb 2016).  It is being built by the South African construction company Basil Read at a cost to the British Taxpayer of around £200Million.

 Visiting the site and what can be seen so far reflects the impressive accomplishments which have taken place.  Just thinking about the logistics of quoting for a job like this makes your head spin.  Basil Read have had to import much of the equipment via their own ship which comes in around once a month from Walvis Bay in Namibia.  Then the equipment had to make its way up to the airport site which meant there had to be a new road built before anything could start up here. 

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Dry Gut Fill: The piles of rocks are the loads from giant lorries who drop them onto the fill to be pressed down.
One of the greatest achievements, which is still work in progress is the filling of Dry Gut which is a valley which just happens to be in the flight path of our potential aircraft landing.  Therefore Dry Gut needs to be filled.  Its not just being filled, it has to be filled in layers and then tamped down and then left to settle and then checks made for subsidence.  The photos give some idea of the scale of this part of the project.

So far the Airport build is on time and with no accidents which considering the location and challenges here is marvellous. 

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Dry Gut Fill with Earth Mover in distance. I think this is the end of the runway!
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Airport Site and Dry Gut Fill from around two miles away
The Airport terminal is currently being erected and has been located in a way that the building is shielded from much of the island’s view to keep things tidy.  The building seems larger than I imagined so I guess they are preparing for more than the planned one or two flights a week which is what’s being talked about at the moment. 

The runway is currently being widened and lengthened as the original runway plan didn’t meet requirements for longer haul aircraft.  I think the 737-700 is the plane of choice at the moment.  There are many more stringent requirements for planes to fly to St Helena as there is nowhere to make an emergency landing so fuel loads will be maximised.  Also the location dictates that air services to St Helena will have to operate to the requirements of Extended Twin Engine Operations System,  (ETOPS)

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The Terminal Building
  Critical to the success of the new airport will be air traffic control’s ability to land aircraft in the challenging weather conditions the island experiences. Given the isolation of St Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, diversions due to weather could be extremely costly in terms of additional fuel burn. Honeywell systems have the contract to provide landing support with a product called Smartpath.

I think by the time the airport opens, the world will be watching this little speck of an island in the South Atlantic.  Many people have vowed to visit once the airport opens and in fact our tourist office here is already receiving enquiries as to where tickets can be bought.  Less than two years to go and so much to do!!

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St Helena from the Airport Site
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 Street Food & Malika vanReenan From the Cape Grace Hotel Cape Town

8/4/2014

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Malika with the Team at 2onMain
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Diners enjoying their meals at the celebration of Street Food

The much awaited arrival of Malika van Reenan took place  this week. 

Malika is the Executive Chef of the Five Star Cape Grace Hotel on the waterfront in Cape Town. 

The Hotel is one of the best in the city and in my humble opinion has some of the best food and dining experiences in Cape Town.  I am not just talking about dinner either.  Breakfast and casual dining are all world class experiences. 

The Cape Grace Hotel has been fantastically supportive of the Hospitality Upskilling Project over here in that they are willing to take a number of our students for work experience at the hotel and they have offered help with showing our "Saints" what international hospitality expectations are all about.
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Desserts!
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We decorated one wall with graffitti
PictureThe Cape Grace Hotel and Table Mountain
  In order for a smooth transition from student in a small island training centre to trainee in a world class hotel kitchen with 50 staff, we planned for someone in the hotel to come over to assess the levels of skill of the students and to cover an induction to the hotel. 

When we heard that Malika, the executive chef was coming we were thrilled! 

Although Malika was only here for a week we planned a number of events to make the most of her visit.  The theme for the week was to be “Street Food”. 

We ran a competition with the local school for the kids to come up with some dishes which could be sold as street food.  

There was also a change down at 2onMain where we created a food market with stalls and advertised three evenings of street food. 

Malika also did a number of training sessions with some of the local caterers during the day. 
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Bevan on the Pulled Pork
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The Famous Roti!
To say the week was a success is an understatement.  The restaurant was buzzing the whole week with the students making batches of kebabs, sushi, homemade sauces and chutneys.  Malika concentrated on a South African street food called Roti, this is a buttered flatbread which is cooked and then topped with a variety of flavourful toppings such as chick pea curry, pickled aubergine, and oven dried tomatoes, salad leaves and basil, cucumber in yoghurt and toasted sesame seeds.  It’s a flavour explosion and one that was raved about by all who consumed one or in some cases FOUR!

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Keeping up with the Roti Queue. Noleen helping Malika
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The line for the Thai Fish Burgers
The queues were not just for the Roti.  Bevan, one of our students, made a Thai Fish burger with lemongrass and ginger and accompanied it with a peanut sauce or wasabi Mayo, and he sold over 150 of them. 

We couldn’t keep up with the orders for Sushi on the first night, so we almost doubled the quantity on the second and still we sold out!  It was elating to see so many people enjoying themselves, and that was just the team working!  We had a brilliant three days.

Malika’s take on the whole thing was similar to mine:  That there are real opportunities here for private enterprise to flourish. 

It can take next to nothing to start a small food business and St Helena has all the conditions for that business to grow into something bigger and profitable from the start.


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Marissa on Sushi
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Happy diners
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Fish Kebabs and Homemade Pork Sausages
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Our Street Food Competition Winners
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Dining in the Garden at dusk
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St Helena Marine Awareness Week and the Costa Neorivieria

7/4/2014

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Costa Neorivieria from the top of Jacob's Ladder



Monday saw the arrival of the Costa Neoriveria with over 1000 passengers on it.  Considering previous cruise ship visits, there was some concern as to whether the ship would allow its passengers ashore.  She arrived at 7.00am and by 9.00 the little orange tenders were shuttling the mainly Italian visitors across to the island.  Tours were booked and Jamestown took on a cosmopolitan feel with tourists strolling around and taking in the scenery.  By 4.00pm it was all back to normal with everyone back on board and the ship departing for its next port of call. 


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PictureSushi St Helena Style
The arrival coincided with the start of Marine awareness week which as we are surrounded by such a large expanse of ocean is probably one of the most appropriate events in the calendar. 

The week includes a variety of events, pitched at education and raising awareness of marine issues. 
Our part to play was to provide a stall offering a variety of seafood items which were not normally available here.  We chose Sushi as the leading food item as it’s something that most people have heard of but over here many have never tried it.




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Induction cooking on St Helena!
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Are the Fishcakes cooked?
PictureChecking out the Sushi
 

There was some thought over how to make the Sushi easier to accept and enjoy as the trend here is to cook tuna very well.  It is used in many curry dishes over here. 

Also there was the wasabi issue!    Wasabi, as anyone who has tasted it, is somewhat like chilli or oysters, in that it is an acquired taste which needs to be developed gradually. 


Eventually a variety of Sushi and Sashimi were decided upon, including some sweet sushi which were made with coconut rice and mango.  We need not have worried; the sushi went down a storm and was soon gone, as were the trio of flavoured fishcakes which the students had made to their own recipes. 



The grand finale of the day was the fishing competition which entailed most boats leaving at 4.00am and returning at 3.00pm with their catch. 

A variety of fish were caught with the largest of each species attracting prizes.  There was also a prize for the biggest catch by weight.  By 4.00pm when the catches were being weighed, everyone on the island seemed to have made their way to the wharf. 

Children were waiting in line for a go on a jet ski or a large inflatable tyre which was dragged at high speed across the bay.  I would have loved to have had a go on that one!  Music drifted across the bay as more and more folk made it down to the wharf.  I left at around 6.30pm and things were just getting started for the evening.  The Saints really do know how to put on a community event; it was a marvellous day for all with an atmosphere of warmth





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Traditional St Helena Fishing Vessel
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Weighing the catch
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Jet Ski Rides for the Kids
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Swimming off the Wharf Steps
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