Two more sea days and we arrived at Ducie Island. Imagine the archetypal deserted island. Small and sandy with a single palm tree. Sharks circle the island. Ducie Island does not have a palm tree but otherwise there is a strong similarity. It is an uninhabited atoll in the Pitcairn Islands group. A couple of kilometres across and roughly circular. A large atoll fills the centre. The only land is a thin, horseshoe shaped strip. Despite its sparse vegetation, the atoll is known as the breeding ground of a number of bird species. More than 90% of the world population of Murphys Petrel nests on Ducie. Sharks and other dangerous sea creatures encircle it.
We only had time for a half day visit. A landing was out of the question. A couple of young, fit, expendable members of the expedition team did go ashore to investigate a small boat that had been washed up there. However, trying to get over a hundred geriatrics ashore would have taken all day and been a little pointless. There was not a lot to see. Zodiac cruising was fine. We were in the second group to go out. I whiled away the time photographing some boobies.
Just as they were about to call time on the first group, the rain arrived. Nasty little deluge. Everyone got soaked. We put our waterproofs on. Set off in the rain and got too hot. You cannot win. Fortunately, the sun came out. We bobbed around for a while and I managed to photograph a few birds. Diane saw a shark.
Eventually, we were all done and back on board. As the ship turned to leave, a catamaran yacht came around the atoll. The strangely named “six & half” was heading for New Zealand. They were not in a hurry. Estimated arrival of the small family is about a year from now. Next stop for us is Pitcairn Island, home of the mutineers.
