We left Easter Island the morning of the 6th heading for Pitcairn Island. The night of the 6th the sunset was amazing.
February 7,
We anchored off shore and as Pitcairn Island doesn’t have a harbor at which to dock our tenders several of the islanders rowed out to the ship and set up tables on various decks to sell their crafts. The ship also gave the islanders some much needed supplies.
Pitcairn was settled by the mutineers from the HMS Bounty. Today’s islanders are mostly descendents of those mutineers. There are also a few people on the island who have emigrated there from other countries. Currently there is one child on the island out of about 36 inhabitants and three children from the island attending high school in New Zealand.
The islanders are subjects of the British Crown and as such are supported by England and the European Union from whom they receive supplies quarterly. Pitcairn is fairly isolated yet they have electricity (provided by generators), telephone service, and internet. These 36 self-sufficient islanders do everything from planting and tending their gardens to building their houses and making their crafts.
(Click on photos for full sized images)
At the end of the day we weighed anchored (for the landlubbers among you that means we raised the anchor) and set sail for Papeete in the Society Islands.