On the 27th April we set sail for the Pitcairn Islands, Ducie is an atoll 840 nautical miles away. I was at the helm first to allow Keith and Martin to get some sleep. The sail to the Pitcairns had more challenges for us between rain, stalling the boat with no wind, 2.0 to 2.5 meter swell and squalls. We all were tired from the rocking and jerky movement on the boat, day and night.
When we had clear weather, there were magnificent double rainbows over a sapphire blue ocean, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, night skies with stars and Milky Way visible. We became familiar with findings The Southern Cross, Venus and Mars. We enjoyed our time together, having long conversations, reading, enjoying great food and living without complications.
We were so excited on day 9 of our sail to see Ducie atoll. We could see it from 3 nautical miles away, white beaches in the distance but as we got closer the waves breaking, swell, coral and rock along the shore made it dangerous for us to make an attempt.
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| Approaching Ducie Island, we are flying the Pitcairn flag |
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| Ducie in the distance |
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| Ducie Island is an uninhabited atoll in the Pitcairn Islands. It lies 575 kilometres east of Pitcairn Island, and 300 kilometres east of Henderson Island, and has a total area of 1.5 square miles, which includes the lagoon. |
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| Emma can smell and see land |
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| Birds flying over us as we approached Ducie |
We were all disappointed, we did not even try to go swimming when we hung out looking at Acadia Motu then set our sails for Henderson Island (Henderson is 30 meters in height above the sea. The inhabitants of Pitcairn go to the island for wood to make curios for tourists.
We stopped in Henderson but the waves were crashing on North Beach making it impractical to land. We sailed around to the west side of the island to Awahou where we anchored in sand. We had champagne and sushi for lunch. After lunch, Keith and I went out in the dinghy but there was no inlet to the beach except over a large coral head. We would not have been able to leave the beach if we did land since the area is all very high cliff face. We opted to go snorkeling, we had a very large fish come up under us and scared the hell out of me, especially since we were not wearing suits. We saw a large school of needle fish swimming near the surface, schools of other fish, assorted colorful fish, large angel fish, large parrot fish all swimming along the bottom between the coral heads and sand along the island’s drop-off.
For dinner we had Pommes Boulanger and Bananas Forster for dessert, incredible birthday!
We set sail for Pitcairn, we all we excited about getting onto the island famous for the mutineers of the Bounty settling there with they Tahitian wives. We all read Mutiny on the Bounty and Serpent In Paradise. Upon arriving on 8May, radioed to Pitcairn when we were told we could not anchor in Bounty Bay due to swell. We were advised to anchor off Tedside, South Harbor but the swell was big, with many rocks and cliffs.
We discussed the possibility of heaving-to at sea and then coming back the following day. However, we downloaded the weather and the current conditions were expected to last at least two days. There was no chance we could stay.
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Pitcairn Island
The history of the Pitcairn Islands begins with the colonization of the islands by Polynesians in the 11th century. The Polynesians established a culture that flourished for four centuries and then vanished. They lived on Pitcairn and Henderson Islands, and on Mangareva Island 540 kilometres (340 mi) to the northwest, for about 400 years.
In 1790, nine of the Englishmen from the Bounty led by Fletcher Christian, along with the 18 native Tahitian men and women settled on Pitcairn Islands and set fire to the Bounty. Christian's group remained undiscovered on Pitcairn until 1808, by which time all but one of the mutineers and all of the male Tahitians were dead. The remaining women and children were led by John Adams.
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| Bounty Bay |
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| Rounding island from Bounty Bay to Tedside |
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| Waves on Tedside South Harbor |
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| Breaking waves at Tedside |
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| Pitcairn Island |
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| Leaving Tedside of Pitcairn Island |
We called Pitcairn and said we were off to Oeno. All of us we sad to leave, including the radio dispatcher on the island but they understood. We left Pitcairn Island arriving at Oeno the next morning at around 8:00 to the reef, with location of 23 54.460S by 130 44.284W. Oeno is 72 nm away, we are flying the Pitcairn colours.
Keith and I wanted to go to shore to find a passage for the boat. We used GPS and Sounding to determine if we could get the boat into the lagoon. We walked on Sand Island and collected some shells. We started to head back to the boat and to look for the other pass, as we headed out we had trouble with the motor on the dinghy and were caught between cross currents from the West and the North. The boat was taking on water and everything was floating out. Initially Keith was rowing then we both rowed out of the swell toward the boat. We lost some things but nothing of consequence. After about 2 hours of bailing out the boat we quit and just had both of us row back to the boat. Martin gave us Piña Colada’s with rum. We had lunch then took a nap.
Water temperature is 27.7, temperatures are going up and the water color is getting lighter (turquoise, pale greens and blues).
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| Sunrise approaching Oeno Atoll |
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| Oeno Atoll is surrounded by white sandy beaches inside a stunning blue lagoon studded with vegetation. A sand bar, which is constantly undergoing change, is currently unattached to the island. |
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Oeno Atoll is located 143 kilometres (89 mi) northwest of Pitcairn Island, at 23°55′26″S 130°44′03″W. Oeno Atoll measures about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) in diameter, including the central lagoon, with a total area exceeding 20 square kilometres (7.7 sq mi).
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| Sunset at Oeno |
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| Pitcairn Islands are 5,529 km distance from Chile |
We will stay overnight and leave sometime late afternoon tomorrow for Gambiers. At 13:15 set sail for Illè Gambier in French Polynesia.
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