Up at 3 AM I was this morning, ready for another leg in my big once-in-a-lifetime journey to Pitcairn. As in the rest of the South Pacific, people in Tahiti are very early risers. Bernhard drove me to the airport on his scooter and then I checked in for my flight. Tahiti to Mangareva is, at 3 hours and 45 minutes, the world’s longest flight on an ATR, and only half the seats are sold due to weight constraints. The currency exchange kiosk at the airport doesn’t open until 8 AM; inconvenient when my flight is at 7:45. Of all the places I’ve been, French Polynesia is the most difficult place to change money (and I thought China was difficult in that regard). I should have known to eat before the flight because you don’t get a meal and only coffee and water are free. With glee I felt as I’m heading for another destination of my dreams. A few rows behind me I could hear an older lady speaking English. When I asked where she was from it turned out she was from LA. Behind her, a gentleman asked me where I was headed. When I said Pitcairn he said he was Randy Christian. One local I've now met, and about 46 more to go. Heather, the tourism director, told me there were two locals heading back from New Zealand. She had also advised me to take a motion sickness tablet about an hour before landing so I did just that.
Often when people fly they're all happy and jovial, but a young local couple actually got into a fight on the plane! They were slapping each other and the girl injured the guy enough that he needed stitches. Fortunately, one passenger was a nurse and he tended to the guy's injuries. The incident upset me enough that I collected my stuff and moved to another seat. It upsets me that I have such great difficulty finding a partner yet men hit their girlfriends and vice-versa. Furthermore, had this happened in another part of the world the flight likely would have been diverted and then my trip to Pitcairn Island would have all gone to waste. After more than three hours of endless blue ocean we landed without incident at Mangareva's spartan airport.
All passengers must take a ferry from the airport to the island and the fare is a rather steep 1000 XPF. Mangareva is stunning! Looking like something straight out of Jurassic Park, it's green and lush with a soaring peak that I'd love to walk up.
After a couple of provisions at the shop we'd all get into the dinghy, bound for the MV Silver Supporter. A dream come true this is.
You must climb the ladder whilst dealing with the swell. Some people had great difficulty getting up and needed extra support but I climbed up rather handily. The MV Silver Supporter is clean with all the amenities but by no means luxurious like the MV Sea Spirit on the way to Antarctica.
All food and drinks on board are included in the price but if you wanted alcohol it's BYO, so I made sure to get some wine beforehand. The captain, who is from Lithuania, collected our passports and passed out immigration forms for Pitcairn. To exit French Polynesia we had to get our passports stamped at the gendarmerie (police station). Mangareva isn't an official entry/exit point but is used for journeys to Pitcairn with permission from the French government.
Dinner tonight was a light tea of pasta and the like, and some cake delivered by a bakery in Tauranga was passed around for dessert. 32 hours I'll be at sea...bound for Pitcairn Island with no mutinies en route.
