Pitcairn Island

A beautiful blue ocean and clear skies awaited our arrival here at Pitcairn Island this morning.  Pitcairn is an extremely remote island halfway between New Zealand and the Americas.  There is nothing to the south of Pitcairn until you reach the ice caps at Antarctica.  It is located at Latitude 24.30 N and Longitude 133.00 W with between 50 to 70 inhabitants depending on whether some of the people are in New Zealand or not on any particular day.  To truly understand how remote this island actually is, you need to travel as we have for days without seeing any ships, planes, wildlife or any land whatsoever.  And, of course it is the setting for the famous story surrounding Second Officer Fletcher Christian and Captain William Bligh onboard the H.M.S.A. Bounty and the subsequent mutiny that occurred in 1789.

A small whaling boat loaded with between 35 to 40 inhabitants traveled from the island to our ship carrying their supply of wares and handmade goods for sale.  They were welcomed onboard by all the passengers and crew.  The setup shop in a forward lounge and stayed with us for about 4 hours as the ship did a scenic cruise around the island.  Even though you can’t go ashore, it is always a great experience to visit Pitcairn Island.  Of special note is the number of Amateur Radio Operators Curt met this morning.  This is one of their primary means of communication off of the island. 

When we sail away later today we will head northwest toward Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia.  It will take us 3 days to make the voyage to Papeete.



Easter Island

Today we made our arrival off the coast of Easter Island known by the locals at Rapa Nui at about 8:30am to an overcast sky with light rain.  Just before noon the sky began to clear.  We went ashore by the ship’s tenders at Hanga Piko pier near the island’s largest town of Hanga Roa.  Easter Island today has approximately 3,500 inhabitants, most related directly to the earliest Polynesians who settled here during the period 400-700 AD.  There are three extinct volcanoes (Terevaka, Poike, and Rano Kau) on this small South Pacific island.  Over the years, the inhabitants cut some 890 giant stone statues called Moai during a 300 year period.  The Moai are tall reaching up to 15 feet and weighing nearly 14 tons.

Here are some of the Moai’s and a photo of Curt on the hillside quarry where the statues were carved before being relocated.

For the next two days we will be at sea again.  On Sunday, February 6^th we arrive at Pitcairn Island where the mutineers from the Bounty ended their voyage.