"Null and Null" - Null Island and Takoradi, Ghana

April 26-27, 2024

"Null and Null" - Null Island and Takoradi, Ghana

As we were making our way to Takoradi in Ghana, we took a scheduled deter to Null Island.  Now, I had never really heard of Null Island and for good reason.  There isn’t such a place.  There sometimes is a buoy but no island.  Let me explain.. 

Everyone knows that the earth is sectioned up by longitude and latitude lines that help tell us where we are located.  The lines going from pole to pole are longitude while the latitude lines go around the earth.  The prime meridian represents zero degrees east and west and this line goes thru London and is sometimes referred to as Greenwich Mean Time, while the equator represents zero degrees north and south.  Where these two lines meet would be zero degrees north, south, east and west.  This location is out in the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa.   

Here is where the captain brought our ship to a stop so that all of our navigational instruments read out as zeros.  With our devices we were all able to take a picture or a screen shot to get these readings.   This is no small feat.  

We got as close as we could and then did a little circling to get to the correct location.   A pretty neat thing.  As I said there is usually a buoy marking the spot, but it was not there.  It was either run over or broke free as it is a couple of miles deep at this point and that is a lot of cable to hold.  Because we accomplished this maneuver, we are now all referred to as Emerald Shellbacks or something like that by King Neptune who continues to smile on our watery travels.

We continue on and the next day we come into Ghana which means Warrior King. Ghana has over 32 million folks calling it home.  We came into the deep-water port of Takoradi and her sister city of Sekondi.  

What started out as a small fishing village has grown into what I will call a growing city.  They now export oil, gas, bauxite and manganese.  Cocoa beans are a large part of the economy too.  But it is a very poor area.  The economic boom is not filtering down to the common man or woman.  It really was the first stop in Africa that felt like Africa to us. 

Ghana is about 70% Christian and signs were everywhere displaying Christian themes.  These people are trying and they need the help of Christians everywhere.   

Our first stop today was at the Bisa Aberwa Museum.  This museum was a celebration of the African of yesterday through today.  I have to admit I felt a little anger here in some of the displays, but the people were very friendly.  Our guide told us he himself took President Obama through the museum and was his personal guide when he visited Ghana. 

We next visited Fort Orange.  This Fort was built back in 1640 by the Dutch as a slave trading post on what was Dutch Gold Coast.  It is very sombering to see the pits and dungeons where so many slaves passed thru.  The infamous "door of no return" (see below with our friend next to it to show scale) imparts a finality on the life and hope of a slave.  Many knew they would never make it back.   Parts of the fort are still being used today for housing for students of the Young Sailing Academy. 

 

We stopped to have a cold drink while lunch was being prepared.  The beer of the day was had and then we were treated to some wonderfully authentic African food including bancu!  It is made of fermented cornmeal and cassava that the locals form into small scoop like balls of dough, and then they dip it into an okra and fish stew and eat it with their hands!  Definitely an acquired taste!

After lunch we were led through the fishing village part of the city.  It really was quite depressing to see this area and how the people live in such poverty.  Children in this society have absolutely no hope of getting out of there unless they can somehow achieve some education.  But just getting enough food to eat every day is the real struggle and it seems there is little left for education.  

The children were very friendly, waving and smiling, and the women seemed very oppressed.  Men were fishing, and vendors were selling everything from freshly washed shoes, fish and other foods.  Everything was intense here.  Intense smells and sights ... exacerbated by the heat.  By the end of the stroll, we felt kind of dirty walking out of the area.  

A final walk thru the market areas where everyone was just trying to make a living gave us a chance to shop a little.  Glass beads are fun to shop for (ask the women!), and again there was some unidentifiable meats (bushmeat it is called), but beautiful produce.  We did our part to try and help the economy, helping out this one or that one.  A very eye-opening day.  

  

A hot, tired and very humbled group headed back to the boat.

On our way to The Gambia next.  Come with us!

LeRoy and Vi