Approaching Pitcairn
Island
The morning of Tuesday 7th February dawned and
Paul and I were awake from 5:00am. Every
day on the Saga Ruby cruise ship we had been putting our clocks back by an
hour, so our sleeping rhythms were confused.
At 5:30 am we were up walking the deck in an anti-clock wise direction. Seven laps of the ship equal a mile. It’s a great way to walk and talk and meet
your fellow passengers. Paul walked 40 laps which was 6 plus miles. It was
extremely windy and heavy cloud kept obscuring the stars and moon. At that time
of the morning it is cool and lots of passengers take advantage of the circuit
to keep their fitness up. The planet Venus was directly ahead and Jupiter was
slightly to the starboard side. We knew it was only a matter of time before
Pitcairn would show up on the horizon. Even though we knew we were still seven
hours away from Pitcairn we were hoping for an early glimpse.
We had mixed feelings and walking was a good way to help
dissipate those feelings of anxiety. My
anxieties centred on the transition we would have to make from the cruise ship
and onto the long boat. Every lap we walked, I passed the huge rope
ladder. I had inspected it and found it
to be extremely heavy and strong. It was wound up into a huge cylinder shape on
the deck and covered with heavy duty covers. I couldn’t imagine how this would
be lifted and hooked over the side of the deck. Was there a machine that would
lift such a massive piece of equipment? The steps of the ladder were wooden and
the shaped pieces with an inset curve for hands to grip were also segments of
wood. All the many pieces of rope were linked with strong hemp like rope. I
looked over the side to the sea far below and tried to imagine lowering myself
down the side. The butterflies in my stomach began to flutter even more
strongly. I wondered if the captain would consider lowering the big gangplank
walkway just for me if I went to him and explained that I was just a tad
anxious? Probably not!
The effects of the Scopoderm sea sickness patch behind my
ear had given me severe blurred vision so I removed it. If I had known the
strong side effect of applying this medication I would never have applied the
patch. Everything in my close vision was vibrating with a double effect. It was most unnerving and meant I could not
see to read. Even the large script on
the diagram chart of the decks was beyond me.
We had been on the ship for three nights and I still had to refer to the
chart to find my way around. The multi-levelled ship had so many corridors and
lifts that moving from one place to another meant I had to rely on the
diagrams. The veranda deck was the only
level that gave access to the outside.
From there it was possible to climb up two more levels with outdoor
seating and deck space. At the top was
the gymnasium.
I decided to make use of the ship’s computer room one more
time just in case it would be a few days before I could get internet
connections on the island in my new home. I read an incoming email from Hilary
Millard, the current school teacher on Pitcairn. She said that there had been
torrential rain on Pitcairn over the weekend.
The drought had well and truly broken and there were massive landslides
on the Island. The road from the landing
to the top of the hill, known as the Hill of Difficulty, was blocked by a slip
and there was damage to many of the dirt roads. The slip that had come down
over the road to the landing had filled the harbour with mud and rocks and the
long boats would currently find it difficult to launch as the harbour was now
too shallow. The slip way was covered with the landslide and the grooves in the
concrete that the long boats normally slid down were under mud and rocks. The
winch had grit and debris in it. It was unknown whether the slips and harbour
would be cleared in time for the visit of the Saga Ruby! The men of Pitcairn
were working around the clock to get it cleared in time.
The email had been sent during the weekend. It was now Tuesday. Surely we would land on
Pitcairn Island this day. The thought of
having to view the island form the ship but remain on board and continue on the
ship’s journey to Tahiti with the rest of the passengers was unbearable. If we
remained on board it would mean going around in a circle journey to Tahiti, and
then flying to Mangareva to join the Claymore supply ship and then once again
arriving at Pitcairn but this time in early March. Hillary’s email did nothing
to calm my already taut nerves.
Ruth, as you learned, the Scopoderm seasickness patch is powerful but ...
ReplyDeleteA trick used by many sport fishermen and sailors is to suck on some ginger, candied or crystalized as we Yanks call it, or a slice of raw ginger if you can stand sucking on it. The ginger saliva will calm your stomach and the nausea will be gone within 20 minutes.
The most popular preventative, Dramamine, makes many people too drowsy to function, but we found if you take it at bedtime the night before going to sea, the effect is there without the drowsiness.