I went down a wonderful rabbit hole recently.
I saw a video of a guys visit to Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific where he made excellent use of a drone.
Pitcairn, if it sounds familiar to you, was the island where the Bounty Mutineers settled to avoid capture and prosecution for the famous mutiny.
I’d read Nordhoff and Halls three books on the mutiny when I was a teen. For a while I inhaled all the material I could find on the mutiny. I wish I’d kept all of those books.
Today’s video took me back to the story.
I remember reading the story in National Geographic of the Bounty’s anchor being found by crew of the Brigantine Yankee. One of my first Christmas’ together my wife bought me a set of CDs with every National Geographic from the start to that year. Over 100 years worth. I wish they still worked, but alas, few applications from 25 years ago work on modern systems.
Now, you can subscribe to National Geographic online and get every single issue ever issued, and the current one as well. It is just $19.95 for the first year, and $29.95 a year after. No more shelves full of National Geographics.
My passion for the story survived adulthood. In 1996 when in Sydney Harbor, I made sure to take a cruise on the Bounty replica made for the Mel Gibson movie.
I looked into visiting the island in the 80s and 90s. Pitcairn is one of the most remote islands in the world. It is not big enough for an airstrip, and there is no actual pier for ships to dock. The only way to visit then was to book passage on a freighter from San Francisco to New Zealand that planned on making a stop to replenish the islanders supplies. If the weather on arrival precluded a safe landing, then the ship continued on , and you spent your time and money to only see New Zealand (actually not a bad deal).
Now some cruise ships stop, often for less than a day, and it is not always possible to get ashore.
A fairly regular resupply boat leaves Mangareva (East of Tahiti) periodically and lets you visit for four days. There are not hotels; you are a guest in private homes.
I’m not going to make the trip, but thanks to Google and their Street View trike, we can visit on Google Maps Street View.
My trip is not over. YouTube has many more videos taken by visitors and Google search found resources I have yet to read.
So today I visited one of the most remote places on earth from my desk. The point is, if I can get to Pitcairn you can get to virtually anyplace you want on earth, virtually.
Fix yourself a Mai-Tai and head to Polynesia, or some Ouzo and explore Greece. Maybe nice red wine for Italy.