Pitcairn Islands

Pitcairn Islands

Has anyone been there? What happens when the cruise ship docks there? Is there anything to do on the island, or is it just selling of crafts?

There are only 50 permanent inhabitants of the island, most of them descendants of the Bounty mutineers!

From what I have read the ship does not dock there as there is no cruise ship dock. You also do not go ashore. What I have seen is that there is an “on board” experience which I take to mean includes someone from the Island coming aboard the ship. I would check with your cruise line.

There is no dock. The islanders launch a boat and come out to the cruise ship. I saw pictures. I read that the islanders bring postage stamps, crafts, and one of them gives talk.

I've been there and spent the whole day ashore. It's a beautiful island and they usually offer scenic walks or quad bike rides. It's quite a steep walk up from the little dock to the town. As a Bounty 'nut,' Pitcairn was always number 1 on my bucket list.

If you want to go ashore DO NOT go on a big ship. Our ship was a 100-passenger expedition ship. There is no coral reef so the landing site is rather exposed to the full force of the ocean. We had calm conditions and went ashore easily - some went on the islanders' own boat, others went ashore on the ship's zodiacs. I have heard of bigger ships with maybe 300 passengers tendering people ashore but this would be quite a rare event. Larger ships, even those with 3000 passengers, sometimes lay off shore and then the islanders come aboard and sell souvenirs. Pitcairn honey is especially good.

One other thing - our cruise went from Tahiti to Easter Island. There are quite a few trips like this every year. The Tahitian cargo vessel Aranui 5 also now includes Pitcairn on two trips a year. We also visited two other islands in the group - Henderson, which is perhaps the world's most remote UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Ducie Island, an atoll with amazing bird life and stupendous snorkelling.

Whatever it costs, I'd say it was worth every penny. This remains the very best cruise I have ever done. But I repeat, DO NOT go on a big ship thinking it'll be alright on the night. It won't. The island lacks any real infrastructure and cannot support large numbers of day visitors. I have learned recently about a second landing site if the waves are high below Adamstown.

My Pitcairn photos are here -

Thanks for sharing those great photos. Sad to see that our garbage washes up all the way down there. Any relation to the other Fletcher??

Allan

What gorgeous photos! Thanks so much for sharing about Pitcairn Island and everything else. Makes my mouth water to see the place.

Fletcher,

On which expedition ship did you sail?

Fletcher,

On which expedition ship did you sail?

I was on the Clipper Odyssey, currently the Silver Discoverer. This ship will not be doing this trip any time soon. I think National Geographic Orion does it and the UK ship Island Sky has two trips planned.

Here's a link to the Orion schedule - I've been on this ship some years back and it remains the best expedition ship we have been on -

https://www.expeditions.com/destinations/southeast-asia-and-pacific/south-pacific/itineraries/easter-island-tahiti/overview/

These trips are expensive. If you want to go you just have to bite the bullet.

Thank you for the link, sounds great!