Pitcairn Island

There are 4 volcanic islands in the Pitcairn group – Oeno, Henderson, Ducie, and Pitcairn itself. Only Henderson and Pitcairn are inhabited.

We arrived at Pitcairn early this morning. The islanders were waiting for us in their long boat, and as soon as we had stopped (and were away from their supply ship – we came very close to it), they came on board carrying their souvenirs to sell.

The Queens Room had been converted into a make shift market place. Trying not to have all 1812 passengers arrive there at once, we were divided into 2 groups depending on your dinner seating time. The late seating group got to go first. Everyone showed up at the same time, and it was like being in the queue for the opening of Best Buy on Black Friday, but no one got hurt. They had some lovely goods for sale. We ended up getting T shirts, wooden spoons, a wooden platter, and the cutest little wooden starfish.

After the shopping extravaganza, one of the Islanders, Melba Evans, gave a fascinating talk on life on the island. She is a direct descendant of Fletcher Christian, one of the mutineers. Their supply ship only visits every 3 months, and not having an airport, they really are very isolated. However, they have a very organized community and do an excellent job of making the best of the resources they have.

Luckily the island was on our port side, so after the talk I was able to sit out on our balcony, drinking a mimosa, looking at the beautiful island.

Like Easter Island, which is so much more than just the statues, Pitcairn is so much more than the Bounty. I think we have a lot to learn about how they have managed to survive in isolation for all these years. I hope the islanders enjoyed visiting our ship, as much as we were honored to have them on board. The Commodore announced that we had donated supplies to them, including much needed toilet paper. At about 12:30 we sounded our whistle, and set sail for Tahiti. I feel incredibly blessed to have had the privilege to visit this remote and historic part of the world.

It was very hot and humid this evening during our walk around the Promenade Deck. It really feels like we are in the tropics now. Conditions looked good for a green flash at sunset, but we didn’t see one alas. Maybe tomorrow.

We had dinner in the main dining room with Deidre and Kim, and another couple who are also Virtuoso clients. They have 14 suitcases, so I wasn’t feeling so bad about our 5 any more. Kim had bought an ultra expensive bottle of red wine at a winery near to Valparaiso – a bit of a misunderstanding about the exchange rate. Anyway the red wine drinkers enjoyed it immensely, so it was a huge, if not costly, success.

Next stop Tahiti – how exotic is that!