Wednesday we made a stop at Pitcairn Island, famous for being the location where the 9 mutineers of HMS Bounty led by Fletcher Christian ended up in 1789 after putting Captain William Bligh and the rest of the crew into a small boat near Tahiti. The population of the island is about 38 people. Pitcairn is an British Overseas Territory. About 80% of the population are descendants of the mutineers and Tahitian women who went with them. The island has no facilities to allow large cruise ship Passengers to go ashore so the locals come out to the ship in a longboat and sell their wares and given presentations. We were only the 5th larger cruise ship in the past year. There also been a few smaller cruise ships were a few passenger have gone ashore. They also took back some provisions with them. They only get one supply boat from New Zealand every 3 months. The most popular activities were getting postcards and having them stamped and mailed from Pitcairn (in March when the next supply boat comes) and getting your passport stamped with a special Pitcairn stamp (for $10).
What a memorable day!
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| first sighting of the island |
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| Many of the crew were in old sailors costumes |
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| approaching the island |
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| a rough coastline |
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| the longboat boathouse and ramp and very small harbor in Bounty Bay |
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| the main town of Adamstown |
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| the residents coming out to meet us |
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| more than 1/2 the population came out to the cruise ship |
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| coming aboard |
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| provisions going back to the island |
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| everyone lining up to buy things |
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| the postcards sellers |
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| wooden items |
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| a typical posycard |
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| passport stamping |
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| people addressing postcards to be mailed from the island |
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| our visitors getting ready to leave |
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| sail away |
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| sunset |
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