Pitcairn

- where the descendants of the mutineers of the HMS Bounty are living

On 17th  and 18th march I was at the pitcairn islands with the Expeditioncruiseship MS Hanseatic. On 17 th we made ​​a boat tour along the coast of Ducie Island and on the 18 th March we went to Pitcairn. The Pitcairn Islands officially named the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, form a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. The islands are a British Overseas Territory. The four islands – named Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno – are spread over several hundred miles of ocean and have a total land area of about 18 square miles (47 km²). Only Pitcairn, the second largest and measuring about 2 miles (3.2 km) across, is inhabited.

The islands are best known as home of the descendants of the Bounty mutineers and the Tahitians (or Polynesians), who accompanied them, an event retold in numerous books and films.

• Among the links on this blog you will find explanations from Wikipedia and links to other websites
• Explorers journal from National Geographic
• Here you can read all Pitcairn Islands Expedition Blogs from National Geographic
• Mutiny of the Bounty / Wikipedia 

News from Pitcairn (Text Tourism Quarterly III)

The world renown National Geographic Society and the Pew Environment Group’s Global Ocean Legacy project are working in collaboration with the Pitcairn community to assess the condition of Pitcairn Islands’ marine life and to help conservation of its resources. 

In March -April 2012 a National Geographic Expedition to the Pitcairn Islands, including remote Ducie and Oeno - picture perfect coral atolls with turquoise lagoons - and Pitcairn’s World Heritage site, Henderson Island, a got underway.

 

The expedition is in partnership with the Pew Environment Group’s Global Ocean Legacy to explore, survey and help protect Pitcairn Islands' pristine waters, one of the last wild places in the ocean. 

The 13 person team of scientists and filmmakers visited each island, scuba diving in the shallows and use cutting-edge cameras to explore the deep. High definition cameras and a futuristic mini-helicopter, built by National Geographic's remote imaging department, have already provided incredible previously unseen images of one of the most unique and untouched marine environments in the world. 

The Pew Environment Group’s Global Ocean Legacy and National Geographic are currently working with the people of Pitcairn to help them assess the science and marine health of Pitcairn's waters and the potential costs and benefits of establishing a vast marine reserve in Pitcairn waters. 

Pitcairn Islands Tourism Coordinator, Heather Menzies, considers this work to be incredibly valuable, "We have increasing enquiries about our other islands. With the Pew Environment Group’s Global Ocean Legacy Project and National Geo-graphic’s assistance we will be better placed in carefully balancing sustainable island heritage tourism with conservation and economic development. We hope to be able to offer limited trips to the outer islands in the not too distant future. For now we are focusing on establishing Pitcairn Island itself as the gateway to our less accessible islands."

Thank you, Heather, for the permission to use the text for my blog.

This informations and more you can read at the Tourism Quarterly. You want also informations about this wonderful island? 

For the Tourism Quarterly sent an email to tourism@pitcairn.pn
 

Have a great day 
© Constanze Hoffmann

Make a wish

... but don't wonder or wanna a big portion of ice?

All my friends know, that I love to make expedition cruises, my favorite holiday destinations are the ice areas. 

Those people, whom once stood in front of a glacier, will know this desire, it might even break off a big piece. Many times we made zodiac tours with Ms Hanseatic in front of fantastic glaciers. All the time this amazing views and all the time everybody have the same wish –a large portion of ice, please. So am I!

On my last trip expedition Norway around Spitsbergen. We made a zodiac trip in the bay in front of the Monaco glacier, which is about 40 m high. Small pieces are falling down from wall. When I checked the pics on my camera, a scream scared me. It was something like, "Oh God, now the hole wall is breaking down." Any questions for the force of thought desire? 
 

By the way - I made wonderful pics, which you can see here.

My whole log, which I started in 2009 you can read here, please use Google translater, because I wrote all the logs from my trips in german. 

So the conclusion of my journey is, when you make a wish, be mindful, because you never know, how your wishes come true.

Picture from Dr. Arne Kertelhein

Have a great day
©mustangconny