Pitcairn Islands Guide

Pitcairn Tours

Unless you own a yacht, the only practical way of visiting Pitcairn is on the tours offered by Pacific Expeditions Ltd. four or five times a year between January and March. These involve a flight from Tahiti to Mangareva in the Gambier group (extra charge), then a two-day cruise to Pitcairn on the 12-passenger research vessel Bounty Bay.

Time is spent ashore as guests of the Pitcairners, and rather than lie idle, the ship does a bird watching and scuba diving trip to Henderson. The Bounty Bay only goes to Oeno on its diving voyages—mostly to dive the wreck of the SV Wild Wave.

If you have a small group, Ocean Voyages Inc. of Sausalito, California, books crewed Tahiti-based yachts for trips to Pitcairn via Mangareva. Three weeks must be allowed for the roundtrip sea journey, with the possibility of stops at the Tuamotus.

Luxury cruise ships also visit Pitcairn occasionally between Easter Island and Tahiti, but they spend only a few hours ashore and in bad weather they're unable to land at all.