Friday afternoon, when the Pitcairn longboat delivered diesel fuel, Captain Moreland came out to the ship and announced that we will be staying another four days at Pitcairn. So each watch gets another two days ashore. Needless to say, we were all delighted at the prospect of another two days with our new friends and more opportunities to explore this delightful island. Since our first two days had been so wet and sunny, we were hoping that the sunshine would stay around.
Saturday - our day to go ashore - dawned bright. Brent, Morgan and I finished up our galley duties with preparing and serving breakfast Saturday morning; Maggie, Erin and Catharine took over with the breakfast clean up. Somewhat ambitiously I stirred together a double batch of pineapple-pecan coffee cake while Brent put together a fruit salad and Morgan made the coffee. Unfortunately, I did not realize that the oven was not turned all the way up and the coffee cake baked rather slowly. In fact, although the crust was nicely golden brown when I took the first pan out of the oven, the inside was rather doughy. Rather than let me put it back into the oven to finish baking, everyone ate it half baked and claimed it was delicious. The second pan stayed in the oven much longer and was served for dessert at lunch.
Since the road construction crew on Pitcairn was pouring cement, we had to wait for them to finish work before the longboat could come out to the ship for the shore crew to change over. Finally, we got word that they would come at 4:00 pm. Just an hour before they were due to arrive the radar screen showed a large rain storm coming from the other side of the island. And by the time the boat arrived, so had the rain! Fortunately it did not last long. My watch is getting a complex about rainy days ashore.
Sunday morning the sun peeked in and out of the clouds. Catharine and I decided to take the chance on going out for a walk and took our cameras with us. We lucked out...no rain! And the roads were much easier to walk on after drying out for a couple of days. I went barefoot which was fine until we got to the gravel pit. We went to the town square expecting to get there while the Post Office, Library and Museum were still open, but they only stay open one hour and had closed already when we got there at 9:30am. We walked by the Health Clinic, then over to Big Fence where a number of our crew are staying. (Big Fence is the name of a large house.)
Jeff joined us for a walk up to see John Adams' grave. John Adams was the last survivor of the Bounty mutineers and is a pivotal character in the history of Pitcairn. We stopped briefly at Len Brown's house where a canon from the Bounty sits in the front yard. Captain Moreland who is a long time friend of Len was visiting with him. He took our photos standing by the canon. We hiked on past some enormously tall Banyan trees...too tall to fit in one frame of the camera (I was sorry not to have brought my wide angle lens on this hike). After a few more photo stops, and a chance meeting with Joe, the ship's cook, we finally made it to John Adams' grave.
Unsure exactly how to get back to Brenda and Mike Christian's house (where Catharine and I were staying), we decided to stop in at Royal's house...she is the caretaker for John Adams' gravesite, so we knew that she lived nearby and her purple house is easy to find. Royal is in her 70's and remembers my mother, Mary Booth, visiting Pitcairn in '48 when she sailed on the "Yankee." Catharine bought a couple of handwoven baskets from Royal (I had bought several on my previous visit). Then she gave us directions to get home: walk up to the gravel pit, turn left; go to the Banyan tree, turn right and keep going up hill.
After a snack and changing into our bathing suits, Mike drove us out to St. Paul's on the ATV. We climbed down to the swimming hole...a spectacularly beautiful place that is beyond description: volcanic rock, crystal clear blue and green water and waves crashing over rocks about 100 feet high. Some of the big waves sent spray up to 250 feet high or more. Most of the Starboard watch on shore leave came out to St. Paul's to swim, surf in the crashing waves and celebrate Sam's birthday (Sam is our Chief Mate and watch officer, a delightful shipmate)...a bottle of wine and a fresh pineapple completed the celebration. It is the most phenomenally awesome place to swim. A great place to spend our only rain-free afternoon on Pitcairn!
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