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
The Picton Castle left Avatiu Harbour in Rarotonga at 2 pm on August 31st. A dock full of well-wishers waved and cheered as we readied the ship for sea. It was reminiscent of a Lunenburg send-off, which was suiting because the Picton Castle also calls this harbour home as well. Among the crowd were some
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
South Pacific south-east tradewinds, as pleasent and fine to sail in as they are, and depend on them we do to get across this ocean, are not quite as reliable as say South Atlantic tradewinds, which never seem to quit. Due to a low between two highs far to our south, yesterday the wind built
