April 1st

Arrived at Henderson Island by soon after 7 and the expedition staff went out to scout out an opening in the reef to get us onto land. They reported back by 9 that they could not find one; still too much swell although far less than yesterday and bright sunshine. So we had a 75 minute zodiac cruise instead. Damon was our driver and he told us how he and Lea had snorkled at the possible gaps through the reef to find a safe passage for the zodiacs, but had eventually been called back by the captain. Got a good view of the cliffs and the odd booby ashore. It would have been a good beach to walk along.

Returned moderately wet!. Had bouillon in the Panorama lounge and then lunch up on deck, somewhat windy. The afternoon snorkelling had already been cancelled but now they said they were scouting for a different opening in the reef. This also  unsuccessful - as we well knew as the swell had increased! - and replaced by another zodiac cruise along a different shore of cliffs. Not many went down for it and indeed it was also called off - too dangerous; we await Marieke's long winded explanation of how hard she tried to make it all happen!! 6 minutes!! Why does she do it??Then our much beloved canapés, pisco sour and an Indonesian dinner

April 2nd. Pitcairn itself

Woke up with Mariekás Good Morning; Europe had gone onto Summer time the previous Sunday and this was the first time the IPad had regigistered with a country!! So dashed into the restaurant to collect a plate of fruit and then had a coffee  during Melvá's talk on Pitcairn. Landed at Pitcairn with some difficulty  due to swell at  the side gate and then a reef to traverse into the harbour. Quad bikes took us up the" hill of difficulty" up   to the town plaza. We looked at the souvenir stalls there and chatted to one lady, who told us a bit about the difficulties of living there  with just 47 inhabitants; the school had just closed, Three 12 year olds were at boarding school in NZ , otherwise the youngest inhabitant was 18

 

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. We then walked to the pool with a lovely guide Brenda: she had lived in England for 20 years but had been back on the island for 23 years and had built a house with a magnificent view. The walk was quite demanding, especially the very steep, loose gravelly part  just before the pool. This was really beautiful but, unfortunately, there was no way I could walk over the final rocks to enter the pool.

 

 

 

The way back was also tiring and we were ready for our  lunch in Christian ´s Cafe. David had fish and breadfruit chips whilst I had a salad. Afterwards we walked to the museum and then to the cannon, John Adam's grave and the cemetery. We returned to the Cafe for another drink, being made very welcome, and Shawn. took us straight from there on his quad bike down to the jetty. Back aboard we really needed a shower as it had been so hot and humid.

 

 

 

At the Sail Away party at 6 I got talking to Hutch and Gillian from Guernsey and continued to have dinner with them and the Irish Joe and Maureen