Pitcairn Island is a remote island in the South Pacific which belongs to the United Kingdom. Fletcher Christian and eight other mutineers of the Bounty, along with six Polynesian men and twelve Polynesian women, decided in 1769 that it was a suitable place to stay, one where they were unlikely to be found by the English military. As it turned out, they weren't -- all of the men except one had been killed by drink or by each other by the time the island was next visited in 1808 by an American sealing ship. Today there's a population of between 45 and 55. Most of the inhabitants are descended from the mutineers, but now the inbreeding has stopped. There's a current scandal: the Polynesian custom of marrying young (like 12 or 13) has conflicted with the British age of consent, and now seven men, about half the adult male population, are at risk of imprisonment for this conflict.

Our first glimpse of the island.

Here 40 Pitcairners, almost all of them, arrive in their longboat aside our cruise ship.

Climbing up the rope ladder into the ship.

I buy a couple carvings from Carol Christian.

A Bounty replica which the cruise archaeologist is buying.

Tom Christian.

We were in one of four groups of 35 cruise guests to go down the rope ladder into the longboat to spend an hour on Pitcairn.

Going down the ladder they yelled "hold on! hold on!" until some point when this guy grabbed you and they yelled "let go! let go!". He threw you on the deck like a sack of potatoes.

Some folks got to see more of the island on these little ATVs.

We walked.

The only beach on the island -- the rest is cliffs. It's still difficult to land -- the waves are high and you basically have to ride one in, and get over one on the way out.

On the left, a plaque commemorating the mutineers who lived on the island. On the right, several years later, a plaque commemorating the Polynesians who lived on the island with them.

The anchor from the Bounty.

A little cemetery on the island.

The gravesite of John Adams, the only mutineer remaining in 1808.

Our cruise ship captain, Gilles Bossard. He was the captain of the Gauguin from its maiden voyage in 1998 until this trip, which was his last. He went jogging on Pitcairn, and also participated in canoe races.

The cruise ship visit was an opportunity to restock the island with lots of food and alcohol and other goods.

The islanders go back home.

A romanticized image of life of the mutineers and the Tahitian men and women they took with them to Pitcairn. The book was somewhat less romanticized.

The next morning, we passed nearby Henderson Island, which is essentially a coral reef which had been lifted out of the water. Unlike mountainous Pitcairn, it was completely flat.

Waves breaking along the Henderson cliffs.

Seabirds flying near Henderson.

On to The Eclipse