Pitcairn Island: easy to see why it appealed to the Bounty mutineers and to very few since…

Here’s an interesting factoid: more people have reached the top of Mount Everest than have landed on Pitcairn Island – including those lucky few cruisers who have made it through the surf.
Unfortunately, we are not among them. Although we received encouraging news early in the morning from the Captain, by the time we anchored offshore (Pitcairn is not big enough to have anything resembling a dock or pier) the surf had started up again and we would not be making landfall. We would, however, continue to monitor the seas and, if in the Captain’s opinion, it became calm enough, we might be able to land a shore party later in the day.

As you can see, Pitcairn is another of those “remotest places on earth.” It does have a much more interesting history than some others, but it is still just a relatively small rock in a very big ocean. Actually, Pitcairn is one of a four-island group that makes up the Pitcairn Islands:

Here is a better view of this tiny archipelago that has a bit more description:

We anchored in Bounty Bay just off the only real town on Pitcairn, Adamstown. Adamstown is named after, of course, John Adams, the last surviving member of the Bounty’s mutineers. Along with Fletcher Christian’s bible, one of the Bounty’s anchors, and Adams’ grave, there is not much to see on Pitcairn. One visits this remote remnant of the British Empire more for bragging rights than for stuff to do or see – sort of like Mount Everest.
If you look at some of the place names on the island, you might be able to conjure up your own version of what took place to justify the name. For instance, Fletcher Christian’s Cave is, in fact, where he hid out when he had thoughts that the British Navy might be coming by. One must wonder, however, about Where Dan Fell, Bitey-Bitey, and Oh Dear…
Although we could not get ashore, we did have the islanders, all 48 of them including the children, visit us. They came out in their longboat and it created quite stir as they approached and pulled alongside.

On the left you can see the longboat (about 35’ long with about a 10’ beam) heading out from the relative seclusion of a tiny cove in Bounty Bay. As they got closer, we realized that literally the entire island had come to greet us.

Here is what the longboat looked like as they pulled alongside. They would be tying up at our tender platform, transferring all of the people to our ship, then unloading their “trade goods” for a mini-market in the main reception hallway and bar area. Although it may not seem like the seas are very rough, my pictures simply cannot capture the eight- to ten-foot swells and small breaking wavelets that they had to adjust to simply to pull alongside, let alone unload and disembark. It was actually a little thrilling to watch them work the boat and it proved just how dependent they are on being able seamen – women and children included. They have a supply boat that comes around from New Zealand every three months. Everything must be imported as they have no farming or manufacturing on the island. They do have some small gardens, but they cannot sustain themselves without importing everything - except honey which they make on the island and which is reputed to be among the finest in the world…
Meanwhile, back to tying up and unloading:

On the left you can see them try to maneuver close enough to get the ropes (oops, in sailors’ lingo that would be “lines” matey…) up for our people to grab. On the right you can see several boxes of goods thay they will attempt to trade for other needs (read: $$$$).

Here, on the left, all the people are on board, except for the longboat’s crew, and they are just about finished bringing everything on board. Note that the platform on which everyone was sitting in the prior pictures is actually a false deck and the entire hollow hull was filled with additional trade wares. On the right, the longboat, now empty, rides high and the crew will take it back ashore until later this afternoon when they come back to get the islanders and their really neat trades ($$$$).
Bonnie and I did a bit of retail therapy with the natives – actually, very nice people who were not only glad to see us, but were patient about pictures, questions, and all the things that tourists do to annoy the natives… Of course, the fresh juices, cookies, and other goodies that the Hotel Manager had set out for them might have been a slight influence, but we found them to be delightful folks.
Our foray into the trade goods business consisted of two tee-shirts, three postcards, and a refrigerator magnet. The magnet is a small piece of local driftwood in the outline of Pitcairn Island that has been sanded to a gloss, polished with some sort of native brew, had a local postage stamp affixed  for decoration, and polished once again. Each magnet was signed by the maker. Here is a very poor picture of our magnet with its creator:
 
Just as I took the picture, I was bumped slightly, but must not have noticed it. Unfortunately, this was the only one I took. The lady is Carol Christian, a sixth generation Pitcairn Islander. Another interesting factoid: there are only three surnames among the 48 islanders - Christian, Adams, and Browne. Everyone is related to everyone else...

This will give you some idea of what the reception salon and bar looked like on “market day.”
Later that afternoon, the seas settled enough that the Captain announced that anyone who wanted to go ashore in the Pitcairn Island longboat could do so, but you would have to ride up top as did the islanders, with a life preserver. Once ashore you could say you landed on Pitcairn, but then would have to immediately get back in the longboat for the ride back to the ship. It turns out that the trip over was very wet, the landing was very wet, and the trip back was very wet. After watching one batch of our fellow passengers getting on and off the longboat and then finding out just how hairy the trip over and back and shoreside landing was, we opted to be part of the watchers rather than the doers. Maybe next time…
Since we did not actually land on Pitcairn, and since we also missed a landing on Rapa Nui, we will have had 11 straight days at sea by the time we reach our next port later this week – Fakarava, French Polynesia. I believe everyone, crew included, will at least go ashore and walk around for a few minutes.
Stay tuned to see what adventure lies ahead…