Wildlife: Masked boobies and land crabs

Sunday, March 18 was a frustrating day!  We drove halfway around the island to the site of an abandoned NASA tracking station that was used for the Apollo and Space Shuttle missions.  Most of it was dismantled or destroyed around 1990, but one derelict building and numerous concrete pads remain.  Meg feels strongly that the Americans should have cleaned up their mess.  We then hiked and hiked and hiked through lava, basalt and ash (and most of it downhill meaning the climb back up would not be fun) in hopes of seeing the huge offshore rock - Boatswain Bird Island - that is a very important nesting place for South Atlantic seabirds.  We missed an unmarked path and never saw the island!  We did however reach a place where a seabird called the 'masked booby' nests.  These birds do not abandon their nests and can be closely approached.  Only when one is about six feet away, do they start squawking!  We decided we had earned dinner out that evening, but buying a meal was difficult.  Apart from the over-priced menu at the island's only hotel, the only snack bar open on Sunday is at the NAAFI club at the RAF base.  We chose pizza from the limited menu, but it took 70 minutes to be prepared! On Monday, March 19, we had our lunch party for our fellow South Atlantic travellers.  Some of us carried on to the Village Takeaway in Two Boats (village) for some excellent fish cakes for dinner, made with fresh tuna,  and then went to North East Bay after dark to see the Ascension native land crabs.  We saw hundreds of female crabs who have made their way down from the mountain to disperse their thousands of eggs into the sea.  The orange, yellow or red crabs average about six inches across.  They are so numerous you have to be careful not to step on them!  Meg was more than a bit spooked.  It's an eerie sight in the darkness punctuated by flash photography.