One of the most important things to know on the ship is the lines. And you should attempt to know all 205 + of them as soon as possible. Everybody has their own way of teaching and everybody has their own way of learning and so the deckhands have a lot of work cut out …
The Picton Castle spent eight days anchored off Palmerston Atoll. While two watches spent time ashore, one watch stayed on the ship. This is not unusual, this is the norm. We follow a similar pattern every time we dock, anchor or moor. But in this case at Palmerston the attention was particularly keen. While not …
Every morning on Palmerston we were woken up at 8 am for breakfast. It sounds late but, well, that’s when we woke. They truly spared no expense at meal time – the tables absolutely overflowing with fruit (coconuts, bananas and oranges), homemade donuts and pancakes, eggs, cereal, coffee, tea, juice (made with the palm tree …
Have you ever felt completely at home in a place you have never been before? Have you ever found yourself across the world from your home, from the familiar, from everyone you know and love, and discovered family? Welcome home, welcome to Palmerston Atoll. As we approached Palmerston a sense of excitement began to grow …
Pukapuka was not originally on the schedule for Picton Castle‘s fifth world voyage. In fact, we hadn’t really considered going there until a few weeks before the ship arrived in Rarotonga, when Captain Moreland was approached by Mr. Vai Peua, a member of the Cook Islands parliament who represents the islands of Pukapuka and Nassau, …
Our passage in the Picton Castle from Mangareva to Rarotonga (about 1,400 miles) was good enough, involving sailing north-westerly towards the Society Islands looking for good winds – in the end we had to steam for a few days – Rarotonga was the end of one leg of this voyage and the beginning of another …
Picton Castle has a special relationship with three elementary schools in Rarotonga – Avatea School, Avarua School and Nikao Maori School. During the ship’s ten day stay in Rarotonga, all students from all three schools came to visit the ship for a tour and the crew were invited to assemblies at each of the three …
During the early morning hours of Saturday August 21, Picton Castle hove to off the east coast of Rarotonga. It was thrilling to wake up with a view of the island, lush green hills rising above the white sand beaches, with the highest rocky points shrouded in puffy light grey clouds and the sun shining …
Picton Castle set sail yesterday for Palmerston Atoll in the Cook Islands after a fantastic and very busy ten-day stay at our home port of Avatiu, on the island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. Stories aplenty of our adventures here in Rarotonga will be forthcoming, but first a quick note to inform you of …
I stumbled onto the tarmac at 5:30 am, steadying myself and blinking. Sweet smoke hung in the air -mingling with the scent of ripe fruit – papayas and mangoes and breadfruit… The sun was scraping the horizon, arriving just in time to fuel my excitement. We were here! Eight of us will meet the Picton …
