It was with great excitement that we got up at 7.30am and dressed, ready for our pre-breakfast laps around the deck. We also wanted to be on the lookout for our first glimpse of Pitcairn Island, one of the most remote and thinly-populated places on the planet. Pitcairn is, of course, famous for being the (at the time) uncharted territory on which the HMS Bounty mutineers, including mutiny leader Fletcher Christian, settled in 1790 in their quest to avoid being discovered by the Royal Navy.
As we stood on the upper decks on this sunny morning, we gazed hard at the horizon all around us, until Trevor spotted land in the distance. That must be Pitcairn! As we drew closer, I imagined the dialogue that may have taken place on a different ship in a different time, as they spotted the rocky, tree-covered island:
“Land ahoy, Mr Christian! All hands on deck!” and Fletcher Christian musing “Here lies our home. We’ll never see England again!”
But first – a few paragraphs to describe this tiny island whose total land area is less than two square miles.
Pitcairn Island is named after 15-year-old midshipman Robert Pitcairn, a crew member on the British sloop HMS Swallow, who was the first to sight the island on July 3, 1767. Pitcairn is roughly midway between New Zealand and South America. It is the only permanently inhabited island of the Pitcairn Islands, a British Overseas Territory that also includes the uninhabited islands of Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno. Having no airport, Pitcairn can only be reached by sea, typically via a multi-day voyage. Fewer than 20 small cruise ships arrive at the island each year.
Despite its isolation, Pitcairn attracts interest for its unique culture, rugged natural beauty, and rich marine environment. The surrounding waters are part of a large marine protected area, home to diverse coral reefs and sea life.
Life on the island is quiet and community-focused, with residents sharing responsibilities such as farming, fishing, and maintaining infrastructure. English is spoken with a distinctive local dialect that blends 18th-century English and Tahitian influences. There are only around 50 permanent inhabitants, most of whom are direct descendents from the mutineers. Many people still have the surname ‘Christian’ to this day.
The Onward slowly continued on her route towards the island, as Pitcairn grew larger and larger in our sight. We could see an immensely rocky and rugged territory with some jagged peaks. However, the steep side of the island was covered in lush greenery, where coconut palms rubbed shoulders with ordinary trees, and here and there we caught a glimpse of a colourful dwelling through the greenery.
The island itself was surrounded by rocks and there was only really one place where a vessel could drop anchor and send its liberty boats ashore, and that was Bounty Bay, where the remains of the wreck of HMS Bounty lay not far away from where we were now. 🙂
We decided to go to The Den and collect a tender ticket, so we could disembark as soon as possible after three days at sea. As Pitcairn is so tiny, there were no organised excursions today; we could explore the whole island ourselves, at our leisure.
It was about 10.15am when our tender number was called, and we happily made our way down to the pontoon on Deck 3 to take our places in the liberty boat. The ride across was much calmer than our white-knuckle ride back from Easter Island, and for this we were immensely grateful. 🙂 It only took about 10 minutes until we reached a tiny landing stage and stepped ashore. We were at Pitcairn Island, a place that very few people have ever visited. How amazing was this? 🙂
As we walked up the road we could see that the locals had come out to meet us in force. Several stalls had been set up, selling the inevitable t-shirts (I had to buy one!) as well as wooden models of the Bounty and the usual holiday ‘tat’ such as keyrings and fridge magnets. Many of the locals also had quad bikes, and for a few dollars they would take you to the main (and only!) town, the capital Adamstown, which was at the top of the steep climb. We decided we would walk to the top – we could do with the exercise. In addition, the walk, as we went higher and higher, afforded us amazing views of the rugged coastline, the wide variety of plants and flowers, and the Onward as she turned placidly on her anchor in the sparkling Pacific.
Some of the incredible flora you can see on the island
It was hard work walking up the steep road in the tropical sun, and I had to rest frequently as I am not very fit. It didn’t matter though; we had all day, and it was fantastic just to stand and gaze, and marvel at being in this unique place. 🙂
Soon we arrived near the top, and from here we could see signposts directing us to different points of interest on the island. We came across a police station, a Seventh Day Adventist Church and a shop (which was closed) as well as a small museum which contained relics from the Bounty, old photographs and documents relating to the mutineers and their descendents.
Inside the museum, we saw a fantastic handmade quilt with lavish embroidery and appliqué. Each square had the name embroidered on it of the person who had made it. Click the image to see the enlarged version; just look how many people have the surname Christian…
Back outside the museum, we came to a small ‘square’ which was the main centre of the ‘town’. Plastic chairs had been placed around the edge so that we could sit and rest, and have a plastic beaker of cold water from some conveniently-placed dispensers on large tables at the edge of the square. We were grateful for the shade and the rest. 🙂
Afterwards, we were excited to come across the real, actual anchor from the Bounty, as well as her cannon. Hardly any of the ship remains in her watery resting place; most of the wood (that was not damaged by fire) was salvaged as well as any brass fittings and other fixtures.
Afterwards, we decided to go and visit the grave of the last surviving mutineer, John Adams, after whom the town is named. We had to walk through a lush woodland with tall trees giving us a welcome shelter from the sun. There was a massive banyan tree in the middle, which had many aerial roots and creepers hanging from its green branches, and the path was wide and cool. My only complaint was the number of midges and biting insects that were determined to feast on my bare legs; it was a big mistake coming here wearing denim shorts and sandals! 🙁
Soon we saw another path with a small signpost pointing to the cemetery and, in particular, John Adams’ grave, so we walked along to see it.
As we left the grave and made our way back to the path in the woods, Trevor decided he would go and visit “Christian’s Cave”. It is a large cave set high up in a jagged peak, from which Fletcher Christian would frequently look out for any Royal Naval ships in the area. You could climb up to it, no doubt the same way as Mr. Christian would have done back in the day, but to do so you had to negotiate some very steep climbing with a scramble at the top. Trevor does a lot of walking and climbing and is very fit, but there’s no way I could have done it!
He set off, leaving me sitting on a small grassy bank under a tree. It was hot and humid and my water bottle was empty. In addition, the bloody mozzies would not let up, and soon my legs were a myriad of itching red bites. I rubbed some hand sanitiser gel on them, hoping the alcohol would at least stop the itching and act as an antiseptic, but it didn’t deter the little blighters! 🙁
I decided to walk back down to the town square, where I would have a proper seat and would be able to have some more water; Trevor would hopefully guess where I had gone. It was about half an hour later when he returned; apparently there had been a bit of a ‘queue’ to get to the cave, with a very steep climb of about 45 minutes to get there, so he’d decided not to go any further. I was very pleased to see Trevor, all the more so when he handed me a tube of anti-itch insect bite cream he had in his rucksack!
We decided to walk back down the hill again, stopping every so often and looking around at the small dwellings set in among the trees. Just about everyone owned a boat for fishing, and quad bikes abounded as well as one or two four-wheel drive utility vehicles. I Googled the average cost of a house on Pitcairn Island and I was surprised to see that it was around £225,000 – I didn’t think it would be as much as that.
Soon we were back down at the landing stage again, and we could see a liberty boat making its way back from the ship towards us. It was perfect timing, because we felt the first few drops of rain. We boarded the boat and it was no time at all before we were back on board the Onward, and ready for a late lunch and a welcome pint of cold beer. But first of all, I wanted to change out of my shorts into cool white linen trousers, as much to hide my itching spotty legs, which had already elicited comments from several people. It is fair to say I have never had so many mozzie bites all at one time in my life, and it was as unsightly as it was uncomfortable.
After an afternoon half-hour power nap, we made our way to the Cabaret Lounge, where they were showing a big movie. Can you guess what it was? That’s right, the 1935 version of Mutiny on the Bounty, starring Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian and Charles Laughton as Captain William Bligh. We hadn’t seen that version of the film before, and we enjoyed it a lot. Laughton played a very convincing disciplinarian Bligh, and Clark Gable… well, he was just gorgeous as Mr. Christian. An excellent film, it was on around two and a half hours, so it was about 5.30pm when we left the lounge and went up on deck to watch the departure of the Onward from Pitcairn. What an incredible and interesting place it was – we had had an amazing visit (despite all the mozzie bites!).
We decided just to have our dinner in the Windows Café as we weren’t hugely hungry, having eaten a late lunch. It’s far too easy to overeat on a cruise ship! I just enjoyed some salad and cold meats, washed down with cold water and a glass of chilled rosé wine.
Afterwards, we just wandered out on deck and enjoyed the sultry air, which was made fresher by a gentle sea breeze. We had missed the sunset tonight, but we enjoyed a lovely, blue-tinged twilight, in which a moon had risen, casting its silvery path across the sea. It was idyllic. At some point early in the evening, the Onward had sailed on a northerly course, crossing the Tropic of Capricorn once again, so we were now back in the tropics.
At eight o’clock, we headed to the Cabaret Lounge as there was a game show on at 8.15pm, called “Passenger Feud”. We guessed that this was a variation of Family Feud (known as Family Fortunes in the UK) and we were correct. Entertainments host Barnardo asked the questions, and members of the audience had to write down the answers on provided sheets of paper. You the scored points depending on whether your answer was one of the top five answers; we didn’t win, but it was all good fun.
We then stayed in the theatre for the main show of the evening, which featured the Azamara singers and dancers performing their tributes to the well-known ‘crooners’. It was a pleasant show with excellent singing, but obviously not that much dancing! 🙂
It was around 9.45pm when we left the show lounge, and we made our way to the Living Room where resident band Musiq4Soul were permforming their renditions of 50s and 60s hits. They were very good too, and we enjoyed a couple of drinks while we were in there.
It was about 11.30pm when we returned to 6030 after the most fantastic day. In half an hour’s time it would be February – how the first month of 2026 had flown!
We had another couple of sea days to look forward to now, and once again we slept very well, looking forward to whatever tomorrow would bring.
