EXPLORING ASCENSION ISLAND | GREEN MOUNTAIN | GEORGETOWN | SEA vLOG 11 

I run a team of 30 employees who make videos, animations and other creative materials for a very large corporation. I just want you to know you have exceptional story telling chops. You bring the viewer into your world and make us feel like we are merchant marines too. You use music very well to help create the emotion of the moment. Your choice of close up and personal clips mixed with B-roll video really helps the viewer feel connected to your story. In short, I could use you in my shop! I’m a huge fan. 👍👊👏👏👏👏

Incredible video - thankyou. My family lived there in the 1960s. They arrived the day Kennedy was shot, in a very windy day - they had to throw the baby from the tender to make landing! My brother was christened in 1964 in that church, by the archbishop of South Africa, I think he did the rounds of the islands every so often.

Wow, I was on Ascension in 1965 for a tour of duty USAF building radio antennas for the eastern test range. We lived in tents. We travelled to the top of Green Mountain in a Jeep and went down inside the crater hunting rabbits. There was maybe a few trees on the mountain then. Another favorite trip was up to the gun turrents left over from WW2. Back then Georgetown was a couple of buildings and a bar ran by a British couple. What an incredible place to be. Enjoyed your video.

Always an education, Joe. Shout out to you and your crew mates for painting the church. Well done!

I was here with the RAF in 2011, one of my favourite places on earth. Due to the lack of tourism the preservation of the old colonial buildings are almost like something from an Indiana Jones movie where time has stood still for hundreds of years. It is one of the best examples of a man made ecosystem too.

"The world can still surprise you...if you let it..." Pure gold Mr. Joe...Pure Gold...

Paining the church was such a great thing to see. Good job guys

"The world can still surprise you if you let it." Amen to that. Well said.

Utmost respect for painting the islanders church …quality content Joe

So good to see Ascension again. I was born there in 1974, it’s so special to me too 😊

Ascension Island played a massive part of the falklands war in 1982. The airport became the busiest airport in the world at that time. As a british dependants they are british like me and we love them all ❤

Great video, Joe. In WW II, my father was stationed on Ascension, flying amphibious PBY patrol bombers from the island along the South Atlantic shipping lanes to hunt for German u-boats. He would share many wonderful memories that he had of serving there, including that of the sea turtles. Thank you for giving a virtual tour of an island that I most likely will never have an opportunity to visit myself.

7:56 nice sticker placement, thanks for taking us alongside 🎉

Love the videos dude! As a fellow traveler (Im a helicopter mechanic) Its killer to see someone who shows how rewarding skilled trades and the benefits they offer!! Spending Easter sunday painting that church was MINT too!!

A dew pond to catch moisture? Now, that's an idea!...and helping paint the local church, what a fun activity! Must have been a great experience!

Lucky enough to spend 12 months on Ascension with the RAF in the 90's - what a wonderful place and a fantastic experience. Thanks for sharing this video, brought back many memories and what an amazing gesture to paint the church!! Thanks 👍

Hi Joe, nice job on the church. It's a pleasure meeting you....just happened on your channel today or yesterday. You have such a radiant look about you & really sincere smile. Thanks for your efforts

NIce and very informative! Thank you for letting us see the Ascension island from your point of view, helping the local community makes it even better!

The shades of blue are absolutely gorgeous.

WOW Jersey gets to Ascension!

Total respect , I work as a yacht Skipper, the places I have visited , the things you see , the people you meet , what a life , learning the history is just so life changing , Back home will always be different.

Good video Joe. I was stationed there on Ascension 1984? Great place, with so many great people. Cable & Wireless, BBC, NASA, some British Army, RAF, and RN, our (Brit) senior service. I was trying to catch a view of the jetty area, where I worked. Some lovely people worked there from St Helena. Good old Buffalo. There used to be a golf course there, one of the oddest you could see as NO GRASS. 👍⛳

Thanks for yet another super video, Joe. Painting the church was such an amazing thing to do! Much respect for all involved.

Nice touch painting the church, well done all👍🏻👍🏻👏🙏

Great video, )oe! Thank you! Be safe!

Was there for a year 96-97. It’s changed a bit since I was there of course, but brought back some great memories. Thanks 👍

Very interesting video. I've passed through the airport six times on my way to and from the Falkland Islands from the UK when Ascension was used as a refueling stop. Never got out of the "cage", a secure holding for the aircraft passengers, so it was great to see more of the interior.

After brothels and bars, few sailors find anything of interest ashore, it's good to see you found a church to paint. Smooth sailing.

Very cool that you guys took a day to paint the church.

So enjoy your channel. Keep them coming. From a land locked Englishman.

Superb video about Ascension Island. Thank you.

Absolutely incredible content. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I watch your channel while I’m trying to unwind before sleep. It’s so interesting, and so relaxing and chill at the same time. Keep it up 👍🏻👍🏻

Thanks for the wondrrful tour of Asuncion Isle! I enjoyed the Adventure!!! Kudos for painting the unique church in Georgetown!,,!!!!

Thanks from England.

very nice . it was very generous of you guys painting the church . Im sure they appreciated it

Thanks Joe, good deed done by Merchant Navy seaman for the community of Ascension Island, it reminds me of what we use to do in the old days in different ports we visited. Great to see this beautiful Island, a real treat, have a good voyage where ever your ship takes you. Cheers from Tasmania👍

I've actually been to Ascension, nearly 50 years ago when I worked for Cable and Wireless. It was very interesting to see it again after so long. Much has changed including the loss of the farm on Green Mountain.

Right on painting the church boys. Joe you got a good thing going here keep them coming there's lots of us riding along with you Merry Christmas

Thanks for the tour. What an awesome place. Great job on the church

Nice island tour. Good bit of history and the church looks lovely. Thanks for sharing.

Good video sharing a quick run around the island, watching the sea turtles come ashore and laying eggs is an unbelievable experience as well as watching the baby turtles make their way into the ocean.

I love the "Joe Franta was HERE" sticker! Great idea and awesome video!

New sub, great channel .Am retired Ab with SIU.was on a preposition ship hanging out at Ascension for few weeks then to the Canary islands,back and forth. Fair winds and following sea, Brother

My Dearest Gramma said, many hands makes light work. When I was a young girl in the 50's my Dad's friend fr. Gainesville University use to fly down range an work building where one day (a Rocket could land) we were spellbound listening to his stories. Thanks for the memories.. Your delivery an info are great. Thanks to you fr. Florida. Blessings

Great video of a place I will likely never get to visit. And whoever came up with the idea of painting the church gets an A+++ ! Heartwarming for sure !

My brother was stationed there for the Air Force in the 60's for a space mission. Great to see what it looks like!

Wow. This place is nature nature. Very beautiful.

Man, Darwin was SO SEASICK during the ENTIRE voyage of the Beagle. I bet he was delirious to land on Ascension Island!

Joe, you sure know how to live. God bless

Fabulous video. Always wanted to visit Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. Many thanks, Joe!

Brilliant to see your video. I lived on Ascension Island from 1993 to 1995. The most amazing time of my life. If you go back, you'll need to go and visit the Volcano Club at the US base, and also go to English Bay for a swim. Simple place - lovely people! 🙂

Painting the church was a beautiful thing to do Joe. 🤝🤝👍👍👍 I just subscribed to your channel a few days ago and have been binge watching to catch up, really like the format.

Another great video. You can't go wrong painting a church Joe. Be safe. I am looking forward to the next video.

What a cool and beautiful place! Thank you for the video👍

I was TDY, temporary duty, to Ascension Island numerous times during the 1977 - 1978 timeframe. The island is just awesome! The history is amazing! One amusing statistic was posted in the USAF dining hall, the chalkboard had a census of the number of human males, number of human females, estimated number of wild cats, estimated number of sheep, etc. on the island. I never learned who kept the billboard current. It was interesting to learn that the aggregate Mr Franta's ship was delivering to Ascension was going to the Wideawake Airfield repaving project. A very challenging airfield to land on! The Saint's club's drinks were all 35 cents at the time. Movies were projected on a white cinder block wall outside. It was amazing to watch a movie during a frequent rain storm! Thank you Joe for sharing your experiences!

Great video! Brings back memories…Flew into Ascension Island a couple of times in the 90’s with the Air Force.

The church was beautiful after your work! Thanks for taking me along. Looking forward to your next video.

I spent 3 months there when in the RAF. we did all the forward freighting form the aircraft to the royal navy before they went to the falklands. Was there when the victor tankers and vulcan bombers flew to destroy falklands runway. Fantastic place to be, could walk down the beach at night watching the turtles lay there eggs. climbed up green mountain through the different rain forests.

Joseph Hooker's vision and actions are crazy. Who does that?! And I can't think of a more impressive good karma deed than painting a church on the Holiest Day.

I used to work there, the golf course is crazy difficult, but it's the best job I had. Miss it to this day.

Great video footage of Asension Island been there many times being a diver we looked after the sea anchors for the floating pipeline Up to a few years ago when the sharks came back and diving was stopped spent many good nights in the saints bar Love it 👍👍

What a great video, Joe. And thanks for taking me to a place I'll never get to.

love it! the painting the church deal was awesome

Love your content man, you seem like a good dude. Cheers from N. California

Thank you for this Joe, loved my time on Ascension with the British army back in the 90's!

I read up about the island after last week's vlog. I never heard of it before your trip. I love learning about our incredible planet.

Stayed here for a week while on RnR from being stationed in the Falklands, beautiful place

I knew of Ascension Island from my WWII history, but never really seen it. Thank you for helping me to get to know it better. The church looked really good after it was painted. Great job guys.

Let me get this straight: the middle of EARTH'S construct (ASCENSION ISLAND) is a TROPICAL Paradise ??? How nice! Thank you so much for sharing your amazing journies.

Looks absolutely beautiful. And if anyone can paint a church in a day it's your crew. Thanks for sharing.

You are extremely lucky to visit THE ROCK….Green Mountain is wonder in and of itself,a place very few get to see. The “SAINTS’’ as the St.Helena’s are known are some of the most industrious people you will ever meet.

The Church! Such a nice work!

Another great report. Painting the Church on Easter, was a perfect ending.

I am also one of the few to step foot on this island. It was only for about 4 hours while traveling to Africa with the US Army and I did not get to see very much of the island, but I can say I have been where only a small few of the people on this planet have been!!! Love your videos. Don't know how I came across them but keep on making them. What great memories you are making!!

I'm happy to see you got to spend some time on the island.

Thank you for this wonderful video. I lived there when I was a child…it’s amazing how little it has changed. I have dreams of flying over the island it made shush an impact on my memories. The video makes me feel like I am flying. A lovey gentle sensitive narration as well. Made me feel very emotional 💖💖

Fantastic video!

Another great video, Joe. Looks like you have a drone for those aerial shots -- nice! What a great idea for the crew to paint the church. So, is your next career change making documentaries for the Smithsonian Channel?

It’s so great to watch your video of Ascension Island Joe. I signed off of a Maersk tanker there when I was a deck cadet back in 2011. Back then, one of the hotels would let you borrow a car for a few hours, so I managed to see most of the island. It’s a very special, unique place.

This video is amazing. Thank you so much for showing us this.

1:45 I had heard of it, and knew the capitals name was Georgetown, but I never knew where it was. I always thought it was further south towards the Antarctic. Now I do, thanks to your video. Been watchin your channel for a while, I have no connection whatsoever to the industry, apart from always wanting to sail the seas, but every video is so informative of what you do and your life at sea I keep coming back. Keep it up, your channels great 👍

I spent about a month there with US Navy patrol squadron VP-49 during the African Angola incident back in the late 1970’s. We flew reconnaissance and ship ident (Soviet) on ships going into that area. Quonset hut living is not that bad, really. Different though. Outdoor movie theater was great. Trudged up to the top of Green Mountain, through the bamboo forest, etc. good times.

Something about your videos is just smooth and good. I really enjoy watching them. Keep it up.

Interesting facts about the Island, and what a contrast in terrain from the different parts. I would have grabbed an Ascension Lava rock to bring home as a souvenir to show you were there.

The island was an emergency landing place for the space shuttle too. Great stuff Joe

Awesome content! Thanks for sharing your journey. Peace.

Great video!! Thank you for a walk down memory lane. I had the pleasure of going there 3 times when I was employed by a contractor at Patrick AFB, Florida. I was a range rat back in the mid 80's. . We did repairs on the radar dishes and performed maintenance. The fishing there is the best. We would have fish fries every Friday. The bamboo forest was my favorite place.

Love this video, especially painting the church on Easter. What a great idea..

Not a place most of us will ever visit, so thanks for taking us along!

What cool thing to do! I could tell you were a good dude before, now there's no doubt whatsoever!

Great video, as always. Love the drone shots.

That was really cool that everyone got together on Easter Sunday to paint the church. I am enjoying your video stories greatly. PJ

What a lovely tribute to the island. I'm sure that your work was much appreciated. I was stationed there in 1986 for seven months with the Royal Air Force. I can honestly say I knew every inch of Ascension. Became super fit speedwalking up the Green Mountain ramps. Doubt I could do it now lol. 😃 Will never forget my time there.

What a great video and a great thing to do

All your videos are top notch and outstanding. But this was a step above. Thanks for the details about the island, very interesting. So cool you got to help out and document the church painting. Keep up the great work.

Great video. The power of Common Cause, Companionship and Communication.

Thank you for taking your time and sharing these videos with us.

One of if not the best experience and vlog you did! Painting the church and giving the history you are a great story teller! Kudos to you and your shipmates!!

Very cool video Joe. Always enjoy you taking us along on your travels.

Great video Joe. Nice of you guys helping the community. 👍