By Cheri Davidson 18-39 S, 178-59 W Sunday September 8, 2013 After a rockin’ and rollin’ motor from Palmerston Atoll, we have arrived in Tonga! The beautiful islands of the Kingdom of Tonga came into view for the crew of Picton Castle on Friday morning. After a rolly few days of motoring at sea, they […]
By Cheri Davidson Monday September 2, 2013 Crew and ship are back to sea again after a brief but welcomed stop at Palmerston Island. Picton Castle has brought cargo to the people of Palmerston twice this past summer, and we have many good friends there. This time we carried just a couple small freezers, a
By Cheri Davidson Thursday August 29, 2013 20-15’S, 160-47’W Sailing at 4 knots, bound from Rarotonga to Tonga by way of Palmerston Atoll For some of the folks aboard thePicton Castle, last night was their very first night watch, and adjusting to the movement of the ship in the dark can be challenging. Port watch
By Cheri Davidson Wednesday August 28, 2013 Picton Castle departed Rarotonga this morning, hurrah! Motor-sailing NWxW under overcast skies. Crew are broken off into two watches now, Port and Starboard, with Port watch taking the decks just after a yummy lunch of roti wraps from Donald. Leaving Rartonga we set lots of sails! First with
By Kate “Bob” Addison Bound for Tonga, Norfolk Island and join the Tall Ships at Sydney! As this new voyage kicks off, the new trainees and professional crew are settling in, making friends and starting their shipboard orientation. The focus is on getting to know the ship and all her routines and equipment, basic sail
By Kate “Bob” Addison August 8th, 2013 It’s 0800 on Thursday the 8th August 2013, and Picton Castle is steaming towards Rarotonga. The familiar rolling emerald mountains are dead ahead, and looming larger every minute. It’s the end of another voyage, a voyage of almost four thousand miles offshore sailing around the Cook Islands. It’s
By Kate “Bob” Addison Thursday August 1st, 2013 This is a bit of a catch up log, which takes Picton Castle from her anchorage in Penrhyn lagoon to Manihiki, our last island call of the Northern Group of the Cook Islands. The saga starts in Penrhyn where our shipmate Tom had to be flown back
By Kate “Bob” Addison 25th July 2013 Penrhyn Island is named for the British ship Lady Penrhyn which arrived here in 1788. Its Maori name is Tongareva, which translates as Land Floating in the South. We came ashore on Monday morning with our small consignment of cargo for Penrhyn wrapped in tarps to keep it
By Kate “Bob” Addison The lagoon at Penrhyn Island is enormous; it looks like you could arrange all of the other Cook Islands inside the fringing coral reef and still have clear water to go snorkeling. From where Picton Castle was anchored at the northwest corner of the lagoon you couldn’t even see the reef
By Kate “Bob” Addison Sunday July 21st, 2013 Picton Castle is at anchor inside Penrhyn Lagoon at a position of 8°59’S 158°05’W. It’s a very calm and beautiful spot. The port admiralty pattern anchor is holding well in nine fathoms of water, and the ship is still and quiet. The lagoon here is huge so
