A surprise for the travellers this morning. Overnight we sailed to the uninhabited Henderson Island the largest island in the Pitcairn Group. We are currently circumnavigating the Island, it's quite picturesque with a variety of landforms - a change from sea views.
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| Out on deck and sun-safe with hats on. |
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| Following our position on our phones |
Today I am wearing my sensible hat.
We were woken this morning by the sounds of the ship’s anchor being lowered. When I looked out through the balcony I noticed that the horizon was moving up and down and, in the distance I spied Pitcairn Island moving as well. Once I put my feet to the ground I felt the significant rocking of the ship.
Shortly afterwards the ships PA announcements commenced with warnings to passengers that they needed to evaluate their levels of fitness to undertake the rough zodiac ride to the landing place on Pitcairn.The Island’s Mayor, who came on board to deliver a lecture reiterated this advice. He reminded us of the remoteness of the Island that is over 2000km to the nearest full service hospital in Papeete and several hundred km from the nearest airport. This set me thinking.
Although I was dressed for the expedition I realised that, as a wobbly old lady with mobility issues, some serious thinking was needed. I opted to swap my sun hat for my sensible hat. I waved Robert off on the Zodiac with instructions to take plenty of pictures for me to share.
So here I am sitting back in comfort having
taken several photos of this side of the Island and of the Zodiacs making their
way to and from the landing place. A few snaps follow.
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| I wasn't excited by the crashing waves and wild seas in Bounty Bay viewed from my balcony |
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| Loading the Zodiac |
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| One group on its way |
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| The left of the Island from my perspective |
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| A little further right. The highest point from my perspective |
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| The landing spot (bottom left) is a little further along. It's a steep walk or quad bike ride up from the landing spot to the town of Adamstown situated on a plateau. |
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| Further to the right the buildings are well spaced out. |
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| The right hand end of the Island from my perspective |
As we travelled for two of the last three months my reading suffered. Somehow, even though I didn't read much, I am still on track to reach my goal of 100 books read in 2025 in the Goodreads Reading Challenge.
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| My Current Goodreads Tally |
Following are images of covers of the books I managed to read.
I really enjoyed The Bookseller, I have become quite fond of Detective D.S. Cross and look forward to reading the couple in the series that I haven't yet read.
As we prepare for a trip to the Galapagos I read Darwin and the Beagle for background knowledge. I was expecting something dry but was surprised to find it easy to read (and most informative).
Although I only read Orbital a few weeks ago and gave it four stars at the time I cannot remember any detail. Guess it didn't make an impression on me. I found Daughters of the Bamboo Grove a fascinating story that held my interest right up to the last page.
With another holiday looming I am hoping I can keep on track with my reading.
