Easter Island and Pitcairn Island

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Back again!! Did you wonder if we had disappeared into the bottom of the Pacific Ocean? Well, it is a big big ocean, and since leaving Lima 10 days ago, we haven't even seen another ship!!!!

First stop after 5 days at sea was Easter Island. Although the weather was glorious, the seas were pretty high and it made it impossible for us to anchor and take the tender service to the small jetty in the town. However due to the good thinking and resourcefulness of Olav our Captain, and 'recky' team were sent ashore in a sheltered bay to the south of the island, where they were able to construct a make-shift pontoon to which they tied a second tender, and this gave us a jetty to enable the tenders to take us ashore!! We were all delighted that this happened as Easter Island was beautiful and the very strange and enormous Moai's were fascinating, where did they come from, and what is there purpose? Quite mystical! As we sailed away from Easter Island, the sun set, and the most enormous red moon rose, it was a gorgeous sight!




Two more sea days, and this time we arrived at Pitcairn Island. Well we have all spent several days recollecting the stories of “Mutiny on the Bounty” and how the Mutineers under the leadership of Fletcher Christian, along with the “Tahitian wives” arrived at Pitcairn Island and burnt the Bounty!
Well the Island is now inhabited by 47 “descendants” of the Mutineers, who live on this isolated Paradise Island. How? Well, I have to say, I am rather skeptical, they receive a funding of sorts from the UK Government as a British Overseas Territory, but it appears that make their income from passing cruise ships!! They are invited on board where they set up a market and sell their wares to the unsuspecting Americans, and then having been fed and watered all day, are sent back to their island with enormous amounts of supplies, drink and food from the ship!! Nice life if you can lead it, but I do question how they all seem like “drop outs” to me, obviously what they smoke or drink is good, and as they have no official form of income, some made David Beckham's tattoos look cheap!!!
Apart from that, as we spent the day cruising round the island why the locals ate, drank and sold their tat at our expense, it was a pretty place, just a shame that the Americans on board are not very good at British Naval History, and so all the commentary etc was somewhat incorrect!

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