There has been another Mutiny. It seems that the guests of the Seabourn Pursuit, inspired by the tales of the Bounty, have seized the ship and set Captain Steve off in a zodiac with the 2 faithful officers that still believe in him. The problem is, none of them have ever driven a zodiac. They crashed onto Pitcairn Island directly above the wreckage of the Bounty. Fortunately, though battered and bruised, they all survived. The wrecked zodiac was located and brought back aboard the Pursuit.
April fools!
Thank you all for leaving comments. It fuels my juices to write more. There has been some interest in life on Pitcairn Island, so I am going back to answer as many of those questions as I can.
But first, we were sitting on Deck 9 aft as we were leaving Pitcairn Island when we heard a man say that it had been his dream since he was 7 years old to visit Pitcairn Island. He said he was now 74 years old and just retired in February of this year. His sister is a travel agent and set him up on this cruise to get to the island. Okay, I’ll stop here, because if that doesn’t just make you pause for an emotional moment, I’m just sorry you don’t get it. This is real history from 1790. I didn’t get it, until I realized how much of a big deal it really is. There is some serious history in this part of the world, including the ancient Moai on Easter Island and only few fortunate mariners get to step in the footprints of the history makers.
Okay, now to the questions:
The island gets supplies every 3 months. The entrance to the very small harbor dock is very sketchy, they call it “sporty”. There is no way even a lifeboat from a cruise ship could enter and tie up, so only ships like ours that carry Zodiacs can even think of landing passengers there. Basically, boats ride in on a wave and hope to get back out between the waves. The tide must be timed out for the entrance and exit.
There is one store, it is stocked by a small cargo boat and the residents buy what they need for the next three months. They grow vegetables and fruit. They fish in the local waters, they have one boat, the “long” boat, pictured here. Pitcairn Island is also known for producing honey. Their major source of income is tourism (really). When a cruise ship comes in, either they load up the long boat with their wares and set up a market on board, or in our case the lucky cruisers get to experience the island itself, I told you we were the only ship in a year that got to land passengers. I can’t tell you how many t shirts and hats I saw today aboard our ship that were purchased from the residents of the island. Kim bought a T-shirt and a jar of honey.
There is a Doctor and a Nurse among the 42 residents, but for anything serious they must go to Papeete Tahiti, 1000 miles away or New Zealand. There is no airstrip, so transportation on and off the island is by the cargo ship that comes every 3 months.
They have a diesel generator for power, but they have been installing solar panels and storage batteries for the last few years. Currently 80% of their electricity is solar and they expect to be totally solar within a few short years.
They are a territory of Great Briton and receive $5.2 million pounds per year from them. There is a treasury office and a post office. They said most of that money goes to keep the island operational, there is a monthly stipend for each resident. When something needs to be built or repaired, they all work together to do it. Satellite tv and cell phones keep them connected to the world. Ham radio is still their method of choice when contacting others.
They have 4 new residents this year, but as I said earlier, there really aren’t any young people to increase the population, no babies anytime soon.
So, I told you earlier that I don’t really prepare for these trips as much as I should, my bad. I knew where we were going, but the impact of standing on the ground that explorers like Robinson Crusoe, the ancient Moai statues and Captain Bligh first explored and settled is incredible. We have all probably seen Mutiny on the Bounty once or twice, but we are here! Right where Fletcher Christian and his fellow mutineers, with some Polynesians from Tahiti decided to settle down and live their lives. We passed right over the burned-out wreck of the Bounty. How amazing is this? On top of that, the mayor of Pitcairn Island came aboard and welcomed us. He said the last 6 cruise ships (like a year’s worth) were not able to bring passengers ashore due to the seas and tides, but we did it, we got ashore. The local residents were as excited as we were that we came ashore.
The population of Pitcairn Island is 42, they just lost the oldest citizen of the Island a couple of weeks ago, she was 96 years old. So, when our 200 plus passengers descended on them, there was a population explosion for a day. They were all happy to host us. There is a school in town, but they have no children to attend it. There are two high school age kids, but for their benifit, they shipped them to New Zealand for a better learning experience. The future of the Island is certainly in question.
Kim, with her guide, the mayor, hiked to the St Paul’s pool, which was an amazing place. Once again, due to adverse conditions, people can seldom swim in the pool because of the tides and currents, but you guessed it…. We hit it just right and several fellow passengers were able to swim there.
This trip is over the top of what I expected. We are having a fantastic time. Again, I have no desire to brag about what we are doing, I just want you to join us in this adventure. If I can lift you up in any way by describing our experiences, I have met my goal.
As for the “pool Chronicles”, they might have to wait until next year when we are on a regular cruise ship. These people for the most part are quite savvy.
That said, the other night there was a “star gazing party” planned on deck 10. I overheard a lady tell another passenger that there is no deck 10. When pressured for more information, she said she checked all of the elevators and there are only 9 decks. I passed the Captain and told him that he lost deck 10. He said that the home office would be very upset because when they turned the ship over to him, there was a deck 10. According to her elevator theory, I didn’t even bother to ask what her what happened to deck 1 and 2, I just figured it was a fuel saving measure on the part of Seabourn, there would be less drag if those floors weren’t in the water!
So, how’s the weather?
Three sea days ahead, see you in French Polynesia………
Another great thing about small ship sailing…..dinner was us, a couple from Austrailia and a couplle from San Francisco. Captian Steve is a young man from Scotland, Married for 24 years and has 2 boys, 13 and 8. He met his future wife while working on a container ship a few years before they married. He now works 3 months on and 3 months off as Captain of the Seabourn Pursuit, so he does get to spend half the year with his family in Scotland. When asked if his family ever sails with him he answered no because the Scotish government fines the parents if their children miss school. The area we are sailing into will be a first for him, so we will get to discover this part of the world together. We had a wonderful visit and just like that, it was 9:30, the time just flew by.
In bigger news, the ship has a broken stabelizer and will have to stop for repair. We will now spend 3 nights (instead of 1) in Papeete, Tahiti. Damn the luck, stuck in such a beautiful place. We were there a few years ago and Kim was there several years ago. Seabourn has added a couple of complementary tours for us and refunded everyone on board $1,000 for the inconvience. Tough life, but we are up to the challenge. Unlike all of our other stops. we will be at a dock the whole time, so we can come and go as we please.
Hey, we are on pacific standard time today. So, we have gained back the 4 hours we lost flying to Chile and will now start lagging behind our west coast friends. Slowly, hour by hour. It takes about 2 days sailing due west to gain an hour.
Well, it’s time to go to a lecture on Coral. Bye for now……….
Well, it’s absolutely in the middle of nowhere, it is lush with greenery, inhabited by wild horses and the weather is perfect. The Island is rather small though, about the size of Washington D.C. If you are over 60 there is one milestone Easter Island claims that you probably have forgotten about. In the 80’s when the space shuttle project was new, the United States built a runway here so that if the weather was bad in Florida and California, they could land the shuttle here. We saw that runway yesterday and it is still in use today as several flights come and go daily. As a matter of fact, a passenger who fell and broke her leg on Robinson Crusoe Island was evacuated from the ship yesterday morning and flown to Santiago for surgery.
Easter Island is also known for its large stone statues, called Moai. They are hundreds of years old, and many have fallen or were purposely knocked down for whatever reason, some were even victims of Tsunami’s. In more recent years, some have been raised back up by the residents of the Island.
After visiting many of the Moai sights, we roamed through the town of Hanga Roa. We stopped at a little restaurant and had the most amazing ceviche I have ever had.
It was fresh caught local Tuna, I might have to go back into town this afternoon for more. Okay, I hear a few of you saying, “What? Is that Steve getting off the ship?”. Yes, I have gone ashore both times we have had the chance. The great news is that my back issues have all but resolved themselves and I can walk and stand much better and longer than I could a year ago. I still have balance issues and age-related issues, but I am once again enjoying exploring our destinations.
Speaking of going into town, the harbor is extremely small and has a dangerously narrow entrance. The Harbormaster would not allow our Zodiacs and tenders to enter or leave the harbor without a local pilot on board and no nighttime landings at all. They basically pick a wave and surf in on it. BREAKING NEWS: Kim went to town early this morning and just returned. She said the ride back was horrible, it scared her it was so rough and bumpy, wow. So sorry she had to experience that. Hopefully Pitcairn Islands will be better.
More fun facts about the ship. There are 227 Guests, 216 Crew and 23 Expedition Leaders on board for this leg of the cruise. That will change in Tahiti, when most of the guests end their 20-day voyage.
After today, we are at sea for 2 more days and then we explore the Pitcairn Islands.
So, should I start by apologizing for not posting these last few days? Well, there is a lot of water between Robinson Crusoe Island and Rapa Nui (Easter Island to you American folks). I absolutely cannot say that nothing has happened, but what is worthy of sharing? I don’t know. Every day there have been lectures by the most seasoned experts in the world, I can tell you about sea creatures, rocks, volcanoes, tectonic plates, earthquakes, tsunamis, birds, moai and fish poop. It’s exhausting, but incredibly fascinating.
Fascinating thing, the sunrise is at 8:30 and the sunset is at 8:30. If you don’t have something in the picture, you really can’t tell the difference between them.
I told you about a whale sighting that both Kim and I saw, and I didn’t get a picture. I think it was a very rare sighting of a beak whale. I told our Marine biologist what I saw, and a couple of days later, she told me another guest saw it also and with the two of our descriptions, she is pretty sure that we really saw a beaked whale. Sadly, she has studied the beaked whale for several years and has never seen one in real life, Ugg.
Expedition cruises are a very unique experience. This is our third expedition cruise. The guests are a bit different in that they are quite knowledgeable and thirsty for more knowledge. So, how did I, a kid that barely got a high school diploma, end up here? All I can say is that if high school started at 50, I would have been a super star, I wasn’t ready for all that stuff when I was 14, but it all balances out.
One week down, seven weeks to go. We are really enjoying our adventure so far. On Wednesday and Thursday, we visit Rapa Nui or Easter Island. It is famous for its carved statues or Moai.
I will leave you with a shot of the Zodiac’s that get us from ship to shore.
Robinson Cruse Island was a great place. Kim went hiking in the morning and then after lunch we both went back to check out the small village. In the afternoon we attended a Pirate Party where we were fed Lobster, Octopus, Crab empanada, and fried fish. We washed it down with Pisco Sours, a Chilian drink that is extremely good, limey and refreshing.
So, Robinson Crusoe was really Alexander Selkirk. He had the captain of the ship he was on drop him off there expecting to spend a few days and get picked by the ship again. Well, the ship wrecked and Alexander spent over 4 years there until another ship happened along. I guess hitch hiking wasn’t the best plan in those days. Early on, other ships had brought goats to these 3 Islands so that sailors passing through would always have fresh meat. We actually saw some goats up in the hills from our ship as we were, so this idea for fresh meat is still working.
Endemic to these Islands are the bright red Humming bird and the San Fernandez fir seal. We saw lots of both. The locals catch Lobster and ship them to the mainland (Chile). On Selkirk Island we saw men in fishing boats catching “bait” for the Lobster traps. The bait looked good enough to eat.
As we left Kim and I saw a Whale, only briefly, so no pictures. After talking to the Marine Expedition Leader, I am convinced that it was a very rare Beak Whale.
Speaking of hitchhikers, we found this Petrol hanging out on deck 9
This is a good map of the beginning part of our trip. I would say over half of the passengers will leave us in Papeete.
Well, I’ll leave you with these two pictures taken a few seconds apart, showing how much the ship was rolling. Notice that the rail is in the mountains in the first picture and in the Ocean on the second one.
