Reading up on Circle Pacific fares last week on Flyertalk (and this site for an overview), I hit upon an idea I've had before - to visit some really remote Pacific destinations. Specifically, the Pitcairn Islands, a destination we've looked at here before. Last time we posted on the possibility of Pitcairn, in an article called Really Remote Travel, we linked to "several expeditions
you can take to the Pitcairn Islands over the next couple of years."
Hmmm. It seems that link is dead now. Maybe because there's a new dedicated passenger/cargo vessel called the Claymore II plying that route regularly, and able to accommodate twelve passengers. It's $4000 per person from the island of Mangareva in the Gambier Islands, French Polynesia, which in turn is accessible by air from Tahiti Faa.
I found that late last week. Remarkably, an email popped into my in basket today from a friend named Laurent we met on our recent sailing up the South Atlantic to St. Helena and Ascension islands. Laurent's a fellow photographer, living in France, and he and I pretty well scoured St. Helena's tiny capital, Jamestown, inch by inch for photos. I don't suppose you could guess where Laurent is this very minute?
Yep. His email says he's just been visiting Pitcairn Island on a cruise for an hour or so. But that's not all he says. I hope Laurent won't mind my quoting him a little bit:
There ore only 45 people on Pitcairn!
3000 miles from New Zealand....
No money, no banks, nothing....boring....raping their children....
No lawyers....
That they are not very fond of visitors is easy to understand....
Far from a paradise!
He goes on to link to the book in the photo above, called Serpent in Paradise. Its author's web site, DeaBirkett.com, links to a few additional stories.
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