March 27, 2018 – Pitcairn Island

After cruising 1,120 miles from Nuku Hiva, Crystal Symphony arrived about one hour early and anchored offshore at Adamstown ─ the only inhabited village, containing the entire population of Pitcairn island. The island appears green and fertile, with steep cliffs down to the sea. There was no plan for us to go ashore here, as the landing dock at Pitcairn is much too small and seas too rough for our tenders to operate safely. The hope was that a contingent of the Pitcairn island residents would be able to leave the island and board our ship where we were anchored at sea.

The Pitcairn Islands consist of four tiny islands in the remote South Pacific, only one of which (Pitcairn Island itself) is inhabited. Our location (in round numbers) is 25°S, 130°W ─ roughly 1,300 miles east southeast of Tahiti and just over 4,100 miles from Panama. The claim is that Pitcairn is further from any continent than any other inhabited island. The four islands have a total land area of about 18 square miles, including Pitcairn Island at 2.2 square miles.

Politically, Pitcairn is a dependent territory of the United Kingdom and is administered from New Zealand, 3,300 miles away. It is best known as home of the descendants of Fletcher Christian and his fellow British mutineers from the HMS Bounty, along with 16 Tahitians (Polynesians) ─ 11 women, six men and one baby ─ who accompanied them to Pitcairn in 1790, an event retold in numerous books and, of course, the movie, "Mutiny on the Bounty."

The stars were aligned perfectly for us again today, as the weather was beautiful ─ sunny, and warm with no rain, although it was a little windy. We watched from our balcony as a rather large motor boat from the island left Bounty Bay and finally arrived alongside Symphony. It looked like there were close to 40 people on this boat. Unfortunately, the seas were too rough for them to transfer to our ship, and they pulled well back away from us. Everyone went to Plan B. Captain Larsen fired up the engines, and Symphony cruised around to the other side of the island to a new, alternate site offshore from Water Valley, which just opened last year (funded by the European Union). Waters were calmer there. The motor boat full of islanders followed us and were able to successfully transfer all passengers and a large load of cargo ─ souvenirs and goodies to sell to our passengers later in the morning at a “Pitcairn Craft Market.” This operation was completed, with all Pitcairn citizens onboard by 10:00, which was the original time that had been planned. It’s good that Captain Larsen arrived early this morning.

At 10:30, we went to the Galaxy Lounge, to hear one of the Pitcairn islanders ─ Melba Evans ─ talk to us about life on this remote outpost of civilization. Melba was born and raised on the island, and she is a 6th generation descendent of Fletcher Christian. She married an American who lived on Pitcairn for a while, and eventually they moved to America. She moved, with him, to Alaska and said she really liked it there. When her mother became ill, she moved back to Pitcairn to take care of her. She misses her family, but they stay in touch by Facebook.

She described all four islands briefly. They are hundreds of miles apart. Henderson Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and no development may take place there. The other two islands are atolls, and Pitcairn people might travel to one of them, “if they want to get away from it all for a holiday,” as she described it. That drew a lot of chuckles from the audience. There is a problem at some of the islands with plastics and trash washing ashore (from far, far away).

Melba showed us photos of the community In Adamstown ─ the Post Office, General Store, Museum, Public Hall, Seventh Day Adventist Church, and the Medical Center. There is no harbor or airstrip. They have a supply ship that stops by once every three months, bringing the mail and supplies (such as meat and other food from New Zealand). It must anchor here, as we did. Then the islanders must transfer the goods to longboats for transfer to shore.

They are self-sustaining for many tropical fruits and vegetables, as the soil is good for agricul­ture; the fishing is good as well. They store rain water for their drinking water. The medical clinic is well fitted-out with supplies for their one doctor. More complex medical illness is a problem, as the person must take the supply ship to Mangareva Island in French Polynesia some 300 miles away. From there they can be flown to Papeete. There is no dentist on the island right now. There is one school for the island’s three children, and one contract teacher from New Zealand.

There are currently 45 permanent Pitcairn residents on the island and 10 people on various-length contract jobs (mostly hired by the government). Interestingly, she said the only “jobs” on the island are government jobs. Nobody else has a paying job. Of course, they can earn some money selling handicrafts to visiting tourists, such as cruise ship passengers.

While Melba was talking to us, the other Pitcairn Island people set up their products for sale on Deck 11, around the Seahorse Pool. As the sun was hot, everything was on tables in the shade.

The main locally-produced handicrafts include woven baskets, wood carvings, honey, and the island's postage stamps (primarily of interest to philatelists). The wood carvings we saw were done from beautifully grained Miro wood, which we understand comes from Henderson Island. Many of our passengers were buying post cards and stamps, which they hurriedly filled out and gave to the Pitcairn Island postmaster, who was onboard to collect the mail. Of course, the supply ship won’t leave the island until June. From there it goes to New Zealand. So, it may be many months until this mail reaches recipients anywhere in the world.

They are very proud of their honey, which Melba stated is “The purest honey in the world” as it comes from disease-free bee populations. They export their honey to New Zealand and to the United Kingdom. We did buy some of the honey today and will bring it home with us. We also bought a t-shirt from this man, who claimed to be descended from Fletcher Christian.

They were also willing to stamp our passports with the Pitcairn stamp for $10. We skipped that one, as our passports are full enough already. The islanders seemed to do well with their sales, earning a good bit of money.

Pitcairn people must be a sturdy bunch to survive on this small, lonely island. The ones that visited with us headed off the ship at about 3:00, and Symphony departed at 3:20. Captain Larsen saluted them with several blasts of the ship’s horn. The island faded away from our view very quickly. It’s a wonder Fletcher Christian and his co-conspirators ever found the island at all, back in 1790. 

Sunday (March 25) was a busy day at sea, as we attended some enrichment lectures, a Cruise Critic “Meet & Mingle” in Palm Court (fourth one for the World Cruise), and a fun Country & Western Dance Party in Crystal Cove. Shown are some of the members of the ship’s entertainment team, followed by our Signature Connections friends, Bob & Tom.

Following the Country & Western Party, there was a great show in the Galaxy Lounge with Karen Grainger at 9:15 p.m. Karen is a really good impersonator of famous female vocalists of the past 20 – 30 years. But, above all she has a great stage presence – strong singing voice and a fun persona. Karen performed for 2½ years on Crystal Symphony in a collaborative show called “Crystal Diva,” which ended several years ago, and she was very happy to be back. It was a full house standing ovation for her.

Monday (March 26) was also busy, starting in early morning with a “Waffles on the Bridge” breakfast celebration for full-world-cruisers (that’s us). We joined Captain Larsen (Master of the Vessel) and Sarah Hayes (World Cruise Hostess) for this special event on the bridge. Interest­ingly, there was a female officer steering the ship while we were up there. We’ve also seen her “driving” the tender boats. Good for her!

Here was the remainder of our schedule on Monday: two enrichment lecture sessions (Galaxy Lounge) in the morning; Magic Castle at Sea magic show (in the Avenue Saloon) in late afternoon; dinner in the Prego Italian Restaurant; a Dixieland Jazz Show (Crystal Cove); “Passion” Dance Show with the Latin Dance Team (Starlite Club). We must confess we didn’t stay up late for the Classical Pianist show at 9:15 p.m. Both the jazz show and the dance show were outstanding – there is real talent on this ship’s entertainment team. Days at sea are always very busy.

Jim & Ginny