Pitcairn Island

After two and a half days on the high seas we arrived at Pitcairn Island to undertake some "Scenic Cruising". There was never any intention to land here as the facilities for visiting make Easter Island look impossibly easy. With a population of 47 people, 35 of whom who were allegedly on the island when we sailed around it, there was not a lot going on. Pitcairn Island is famous, or maybe infamous, for being the place where the Bounty Mutineers ended up after the mutiny on the bounty, where Fletcher Christian rebelled against the harsh leadership of William Bligh and led nine sailors, six Tahitian men along with twelve Tahitian women eventually settling on Pitcairn Island. 

Apparently the choice of Pitcairn Island was quite deliberate. It was known to have existed at the time but appeared on the charts of the day in the incorrect location. The mutineers deliberately searched for it, having left behind some of their shipmates on Tahiti and putting Bligh and eighteen of his crew in an open boat with little food and a sextant and a watch by which to navigate with. Upon arriving at Pitcairn they burnt the Bounty so no passing ships could identify it and so the mutineers had no choice but to make their new home work. 

Despite their best intentions fights over alcohol and women led to most of the mutineers, including their leader, being murdered within in a couple of years of arriving. One mutineer survived for eleven years and the last mutineer lived for 40 years turning the entire community to God using the ship's bible. From this the children were educated and Pitcairn reached a population of 196 which it couldn't sustain. The entire population was then relocated to the former penal colony of Norfolk Island. Two groups of 17 then 27 people eventually returned to Pitcairn and so now both island's populations are seeded by the descendants of the mutiny on the bounty.   

The Crown Princess headed for Bounty Bay, no points for guessing where it gets it's name from. It then did a 360 degree pirouette and head off around the island. Pitcairn looks a lot like Norfolk Island and like Norfolk it is made up eruptions from three undersea volcanoes. There is no natural harbour, no source of fresh water, no real native food, no airport, no dock (of any great size) and it is about as an inhospitable a place as you could hope to find. The local place names pretty well sum up how hard life is on the island. Places have such plain yet evocative names as "Oh Dear", "Dan Fell", "Where Dan Fell", "Lin Fall", "Nellie Fall' "McCoy Drop" and my favourite the "Hill of Difficulty". 

There is one resupply ship per month and that is the only way adventure tourists can visit. There is nowhere for the ship to dock so all goods and passengers are bought ashore using longboats. There are four of these. They each require a crew of three to operate and there are only twelve adults capable of crewing them living on the island when they are put into service.  In the case of a medical emergency you are transported off the island by longboat to another island that has an airport called Mangareva. It's an open boat ride of 540 Kms. From there it is a further 1540 Kms air ambulance ride to Papeete, the capital of Tahiti. 

All in all it was interesting place to visit but I have no desire to move there. Next port of call is the aforementioned Papeete. No doubt populated by friendly natives and annoying Frenchmen. Bring it on.