Waking up sometime in the middle of the night, we realized that we were having a huge downpour. With today’s forecast predicting a chance of rain, we were fearful that our short visit to Pitcairn Island might be a “wash”. But as the morning progressed, the showers decreased, and the sun was actually shining for the remainder of the day. Lucky, we guess. Lucky in more ways than one, as it would turn out.
Making us happy at breakfast, Gan rounded up three Bounty rolls, really Panama rolls, to enjoy with our breakfast. Since they were not on the pastry tray, he brought them quietly. These would only be served on the outside decks at 9am. He is spoiling us for sure.
As always, we have done a little research on this remote island to share with everyone. There are four islands in the Pitcairn group. One is called Henderson, (untouched by humans with only bird life), while the other two are atolls. The archipelago belongs to the United Kingdom and are considered a British Overseas Territory. One of the most remote destinations in the world, the island is a mere 1.737 square miles. It is steeply sloped with desolate cliffs and lush tropical hillsides with a population of about 50 Anglo-Polynesian people. We have read that one time there were over 200 natives, but the current info has the number from 50 to 100. But the most interesting fact is that most all of the natives are descendants from the mutineers of the HMAV Bounty, which sought refuge here in 1790. Surely most everyone knows the movie, Mutiny on the Bounty or The Bounty. The remains of the burned ship is sunk in the waters off the cliffs. Her anchor, a rusted cannon, a faded old bible, and other artifacts are on display in the small museum in Adamstown, the lone settlement on the hillside. Too bad none of us will ever see any of this town, because the island is inaccessible for our tender boats. There are some tourists that do come here on smaller vessels for hiking, fishing, or riding a quad bike on the red-dirt volcanic slopes. Star gazing must be fantastic here too.
A random fact is that the islanders are 7th Day Adventists, although few go to church. Food and supplies are imported by ship from New Zealand and French Polynesia. The General Store carries everything they need. Their source of power is from diesel-powered generators. And they do have satellites for TV, radio, and internet.
This is not our first time here. Years ago, we had the pleasure of meeting some of the same folks that came onboard today. Many are related to Fletcher Christian. Most notably, we met Erma Christian, a many, many times great grandmother of Fletcher. When the group of the locals, usually numbering 25 or so, arrive in their long boat, they all have to climb a rope ladder to access the Amsterdam. That included Erma, who at the age of almost 90, could still do it. We wondered if we would see her today.
At 9am, the narration of the EXC guide, Ian, began on all outside decks. We went directly to the bow, and discovered that the island was indeed in sight, looking the same as we remembered. Some white birds were flying here and there, but were too far away to get an identity on them. But the camera sure did, as we would discover later.
Once we were as close as we could safely get to the island, we could see the boat come out of the sheltered cove, and make her way to our ship. By 10:30am, all were up the ladder and headed towards deck 8 and the Lido dome area. The islanders set up their craft market, and the rush was on. We watched the melee from deck 9, and soon found that it was like a bargain basement sale. The items that were offered were t-shirts, hats, carvings, paintings, island jewelry, and more. The most sought-after curios were postcards, stamps, and honey. The honey is famous for being the most pure in the world. As for mailing the postcards, their $2 stamp would work worldwide. Mail would be posted in Adamstown, then be picked up by the next mail boat in March. That must have been the most reasonable item sold, because we heard they ran out of them, as well as the jars of honey. Those went in 5 minutes. Few souvenirs are actually made here, but we do know that there is a wood carver, who creates small replicas of the Bounty to sell.
Squeezing in between the anxious guests to view the tables was not easy. At one end by the Dive-In grill, there was a table set up with two officials who for the price of $10, you could get your passport stamped. Heaven help you if someone thinks you are cutting the line here. Then the next table of souvenirs had just who we were searching for……the son of Erma, Dennis Christian, who we had met 5 years ago. It was our lucky day, because we had brought our Lonely Planet travel book with us, as well as a pen. The 2 page description of Pitcairn Island had a photo of a relative of Fletcher Christian. Taking a chance that Dennis would recognize him, he smiled and said, oh that is my uncle Tom. Unfortunately, he had passed away since that photo was taken in 2012. We inquired about his mom, Erma, and sadly learned that she had died 2 ½ years ago too. He did appreciate the story we told him about meeting his mom, and buying her signed cookbook. Then he kindly autographed our book by Uncle Tom’s picture, and that sure made our day. No souvenir will ever be as special as that.
By 12:30pm, the islanders packed up their few things left, and departed down the ladder. They did not go back empty-handed as the Captain saw to it that they filled their boat’s hull with food items such as flour, eggs, potatoes, onions, perhaps ice cream, and fresh produce. On one visit, we saw cases of alcohol loaded in the hull, as we have read that everyone drinks alcohol on the island, including the kids. Medicinal purposes, of course.
They motored back to shore by 1pm, and shortly thereafter, we continued our journey, watching the sparse bird life as the island got smaller and smaller on the horizon. Needless to say, the afternoon was dedicated to working on photos and the report. It was nice to cool down in our room, since when the ship stopped near the island, it really was hot outside with little breeze. Even though Captain Mercer said he could not circle the island due to undependable charts, he did take the ship part way around the opposite shore.
Good thing we went to the Lido at 3pm for lunch, because Doreen, the sandwich-maker, had saved one ciabatta roll for us today. They are really the best for sharing, so she did not want to disappoint us by running out. Getting spoiled here too.
Barb agreed with us that the menu has been overly-creative for our tastes the last couple of days. If in doubt, there is always the choice of many alternates that are served every day. Chicken or turkey, steak, or salmon and one vegetarian entrée are the usual choices. The 4 prawns with cocktail sauce and the French onion soup are always delicious. Tonight we shared a lemon torte, thinking it was a tart. It was tart and really too sweet, so 2 bites was sufficient.
Piano man, Tim Abel, was on the stage once again. With three days in a row of the clocks going back, we passed on this performance. Then once again, we found the message in our room that we go back again tonight. That means that four days ago, it was midnight, but now it is 8pm. It certainly does a number on your sleep pattern. At least we have two sea days to adjust our body clocks before we get to Papeete, Tahiti.
Bill & Mary Ann
Friday, February 15, 2019
Report #27 Adamstown, Pitcairn Island February 13, 2019 Wednesday Chance of rain & 81 degrees
