Adamstown, Pitcairn – 26 March 2019
Everyone on board the Aranui 5 has been on pins and needles anticipating our visit to Pitcairn Island. For many, it is a lifelong dream, while for others it is another Pacific Island to check off their bucket list. In all cases, however, it was the main reason for having selected this specific Aranui 5 cruise with a special itinerary including Pitcairn.
Just before breakfast, I headed to the bridge to see if we were getting close to Pitcairn Island. I could see it ahead of us but it was a bit misty on the water from a passing rain cloud. After a quick breakfast, I looked outside of the dining area to see Pitcairn Island literally a couple of hundred meters past the ship. It was only 8:30 am but we had arrived early so the ship could clear us through customs. The Aranui also brought Melva Evans from the Pitcairn Tourism office to the ship and she did a presentation on the island. It was very informative and helped orient us on how to get to the various landmarks on the island.
Kirsten and I were waiting with the first group to go ashore at 10 am. Through our company, Far and Away Adventures, we had pre-booked transportation on the island to take us to the various sights we wanted to see. As there are over 200 passengers on the Aranui and less than 25 Pitcairn Islanders that can take people on tours, you can imagine what it was like for people wanting transportation around the island. Most had to hike to the places they wanted to see which limited the number of places they could go to during the day.
The seas were rough and the Aranui crew did an incredible job getting everyone onto the barges to take us to shore. The barges were bobbing up and down eight feet on the side of the Aranui and so we had to time it right with the help of the seamen to get on the barge. There were a number of times where waves would wash over the edge of the door to the barge as it was not much above sea level. It took much longer than normal for us to load the barge but eventually we were ready for the 15 minute trip to Bounty Bay. The swells pushed us to shore but before long we were in front of the Welcome to Pitcairn sign and on land once again.
Our driver was waiting for us on the pier with a piece of paper with our name on it. We took no time to climb onto his Quad 4×4 bike and were on our way to tour the island. He asked us where we wanted to go and I simply said, “To wherever you think we want to go to see whatever you think we will want to see.”
We climbed up the steep “Hill of Difficulty Road”. A number of people were already climbing up and I could tell that with the average age on the Aranui being over 60, that there would be plenty of people having a hard time walking up the hill. For the rest, it would be a great workout to make up for all of the delicious deserts served on board twice a day.
We stopped at “The Edge”, a viewpoint at the top of the hill, to take a photograph of Bounty Bay and the Landing below. It is a beautiful vantage point to this historic Bay which has the last few remains of the Bounty just a few feet offshore.
We drove along some rough tracks barely big enough for a 4×4 or our small quad bike. I was impressed with how it handled going up and down some very steep terrain up to Ha Point Road where there was a beautiful lookout with picnic tables and a pine tree at the top of the mountain. I think this peak must have been the second tallest peak on the island because we could see all around this side of the island from this viewpoint. It was here that I sent my drone up to film some of the beautiful scenery around us. The winds, however, were fairly strong. Stronger than I had anticipated. It wasn’t until I had sent it offshore to the East of the island by St Paul’s Pool and was trying to bring it back that I realized it was taking a lot longer than normal to work its way into the wind. Fortunately, I was able to move the drone down to a lower altitude where it was sheltered by the mountain a little bit and able to make headway back to the top of the mountain to where we were.
We continued on down to the furthest point to the East of the island down to St Paul’s Pool. It was an even rougher road and very steep but a very rewarding trip. When we arrived at St Paul’s pool I quickly determined that this was my favourite place on the island. The beautiful colours of the pool, the crashing waves that flowed into the pool and the two tall statue-like peaks guarding the entrance to the pools from the ocean were incredible to view. Again I could not resist sending out my drone despite the strong winds in the area. While I was doing this, Kirsten walked down the stairs from the road to take a swim in the cold saltwater pool below.
Our next trip was back the way we had come to Tom Block Lookout. This lookout point was a wooden platform where we could see down the steep cliffs to this side of the island toward St. Paul’s Pool in the distance and straight down to the only beach on the island. Randy, our guide pointed out where the petroglyphs were on the rock wall way down below us. I managed to capture it with a very long zoom lens only by knowing exactly where to look.
We continued on down Aute Valley Road, past the soccer field and tennis courts to McCoys Valley Road along the backside of the island. There were some great shaded picnic spots close to the cliffs on this side of the island. We drove past the recycling centre where all plastics, bottles and other items are crushed up and mixed into the cement used to build the roads on the island. We passed some large farm plots and could see coffee beans, beehives and other produce being grown in this tropical climate. The rich red soil on the island we were told is incredible for growing all sorts of produce.
We continued along Palua Valley Road which took us to the “Highest Point” on the island. This mountain peak was a 7-kilometre hike for most passengers that were walking from the main village. I thought from here we would have been able to see lots of the surrounding island but most of it was obscured by bushes and trees making it hard to see much at all. I couldn’t resist however taking photos of the famous Pitcairn signpost showing the distances to various places around the world including Antarctica, Easter Island and Tahiti.
We returned back toward Adamstown along the scenic Big Ridge Road. This road went along the top ridge of the mountain showing some incredible views to both sides. On the east side, we could see the Aranui off in the distance past Bounty Bay and on the Westside we could see the cliffs and pools below. We even stopped to pick some delicious ripe yellow guavas that were growing on the side of the trail. It was a refreshing snack to enjoy in the heat of the day.
We continued down Pali Road to John Adam’s gravesite. It is the only know gravesite for any of the 12 mutineers that ended up on Pitcairn Island. He was also the only man left on the island 10 years after they arrived. The rest of the 12 mutineers and 6 Tahitian men were all killed in the 10 years after arriving. Only John Adams, 11 Tahitian women and 25 children were left on the island by the year 1800.
As we drove back to the main village of Adamstown, we passed by some gigantic banyan trees. While they were not as large, they reminded me of the football stadium-sized one our family climbed when we were on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu.
We arrived in Adamstown at the end of the pre-scheduled lunch hour. We had set out on our trip at 10:30 and it was almost 1 pm. We had covered a lot of ground throughout the day and with so little time on Pitcairn, I was glad we had someone to transport us around the island. Our lunch was a simple build yourself a subway sandwich with French baguettes. Tables were set up in the main town gathering place under a covered area which also housed the Bank, Post Office and the anchor of the HMS Bounty. The only church, a Seventh Day Adventist building was also located adjacent to this central gathering place.
Following lunch, we walked down to the Cemetery that overlooked the ocean. Here many people who died on the island over the past 2 centuries were buried. It was interesting to see the names on the tombstones and how many had names similar to those of the mutineers. Just beside the cemetery, was a Sugar cane shack that for centuries had been used as a processing plant for sugar cane on the island. They apparently still make molasses from sugar cane on the island today.
The museum just above the centre of the village opened up at 2 pm for those interested in seeing some historical artifacts. With a $5 donation, we were able to look around the small building and take photographs. The most notable was a much better preserved Bounty cannon, a hatchet from the Bounty as well as the original ship’s Bible. A genealogy of the descendants of the mutineers was also posted along with a history of the collector stamps that the island has produced over the years.
As we headed back to Bounty Bay, we stopped at a long building that was protecting a very old longboat. The longboat had been used in the past and you could see the layers of wood and paint that were peeling off of the side of the boat. It was incredible to know that these boats had been used over the years to transport people to and from this island. A few years ago, one of the islanders was transported with a few locals and the island doctor to the Gambier islands where he could be airlifted for emergency treatment in Tahiti. They had a leg infection that went sepic and was threatening their life and so two longboats and some rescue islanders set off on a 36-hour journey on the open ocean to get him the medical care he needed.
The walk back down the “Hill of Difficulty” was easy to go down. It was steep and wove along the side of the cliff back to the island’s main pier. Our ride back to the Aranui took a bit longer than going to shore, however. As we approached the ship, the crew had to close the door because the waves were washing inside. The captain of the Aranui had to reposition the boat so that the swells were not hitting the side of the boat broadside but rather from the bow of the ship. This made for a slight dryer hop back onto the Aranui.
The rest of the evening onboard was fairly low key. There was the traditional 5 to 6 pm half price drinks happy hour at the pool bar for those wanting a drink. A 6 pm orientation meeting went over the short second day on Pitcairn Island. And then everyone was invited to eat dinner at the same time with some of the Pitcairn Island residents. The pastry chef even had created a special Bounty cake for dessert. It was a thin chocolate slice with cooked bananas in the middle and topped off with thick coconut cream. It was enough to make me want to make sure I returned back to the ship’s gym soon.
I was busy for the next few hours typing my blog and so I did not make it to the pool deck for the 9:30 pm to midnight music on the pool deck. The funny thing, however, is that I didn’t see any passengers on the pool deck when I stopped by at 11 pm. They all were probably too exhausted and ready for bed. There were however about 20 to 30 staff members on the pool deck having a late-night drink. It was rather funny to see as it seemed like the party was more for the staff than it was for the passengers.