Distant Horizons: Finally made it!

Two days of wondering around the Saga Ruby like a lost soul, waiting for meal times, watching the daily movie, listening to the daily lecture. I’m ready to get off this ship! Cruise ship life as a passenger is lovely, but a bit too slow for me.

Saturday morning finally arrived. The excitement in the air was tangible as we all gathered at the bow to catch our first glimpse of land.
Land Ahoy!

View from the Bridge

Time really felt like it was slowing down as the ship circled the island until a good anchoring spot was found.

It wasn’t long until we spotted the longboat full of waiting islanders. It was fun watching them go from being just a dot out in the distance to a boat full of people that we were trying to identify.

Observe 'dot' in the middle of the photo

Here is a closeup shot of O'Leary Auckland or 'Tub' as nicknamed by the Pitcairners. Tub is one of the two main longboats on the island. Run by a diesel motor, these are Pitcairns lifeblood as they are the only real way to access passing ships.

The longboat pulled up alongside the ship and it wasn’t long until everyone had boarded.

As are most passing Cruise Ships, the Saga Ruby is a valuable source of income to the Pitcairners. The first course of action was to start bringing their basket loads of souvenirs and carvings to sell to the Saga’s passengers.

After a brief but very happy hello to my family, it was time to set up shop. So just like that I went from being one of the passengers to being one of the islanders selling wares!

The Pitcairners got to enjoy a cruise ship style lunch before we all crowded into the longboat to head ashore. Needless to say by this stage I was bouncing with excitement.

I had the camera busy as we made our way around to Bounty Bay where the longboats and jetty is. Here are some happy snaps of Pitcairn and some of its coastline as we motored back around the island.