Day 16 on Pitcairn (Thursday 5 September)

Crikey Neil and I both pulled up stiff and sore this morning after Wednesdays’ effort at Soccer!  Once we got going walking around it loosened up a bit.  Today the Claymore arrives and also the Braveheart again this time with a group of birdwatchers that have chartered the Braveheart to take them around all the Pitcairn Islands – Henderson, Dulcie and Oeno which are uninhabited and are full of bird life.
Also Brenda husband Mike arrives back – he was suppose to come back on the same boat as us from Tauranga but his doctor said it was too early for travel after his leg operations.
So we didn’t do much today except go out and fish from the Landing once they had finished loading and unloading.
The morning was spent listening and watching a slide show from Henderson.  3 people from the island had just come back from 2 months on Henderson with the rat irradication programme so Sue (one of the islanders that went) gave a fabulous talk and slide show on the island to the birdwatchers as she had quite a good collection of bird photos and could tell them where to find particular birds.
I promised Lea Ann that I would give fishing a go and judging by the days strong winds I didn’t think we would be too successful and I was right!  We got down to the Landing and the longboat had been left out as they still had to take the birdwatchers back out to the Braveheart

So we had to fish on the round section of the Jetty which is pretty slippery.  Bradley and Kimi joined us and they turned it into a competition … mind you so did Lea Ann

You can see the 2 ships in the background.

Now I am not exactly a fishing type person so I wasn’t exactly keen on catching any fish that I would have to kill but I still baited my hooks with octopus and dropped the line in … waiting …

Waiting …

Yep still waiting and beginning to get bored of waiting for a nibble …

Although to break the monotony of ‘waiting’ ooops I mean fishing we did have visitor and off course he/she had to cross my line and get a little bit tangled so I began panicing that I am going to end up killing a sea turtle and Lea Ann, cool as anything, took my line and pulled and waited for a wave to come in to loosen the line.  I think the hook got caught under his arm/flipper thing!

So no fish except for a small parrot fish by Bradley and 3 white fish from Kimi … Lea Ann and I got nothing (much to my relief for myself not catching anything that I would have to kill!)

Walking back up the hill we saw Emily and Ryan with the little goat that followed us back from Tedside

Last night I finally finished my basket … actually the basket was easy to make it was the’ how to keep the lid closed’ that was difficult.  As a temporary measure I made a big square button and used ribbon to hook the lid closed … when I get home I will substitute the ribbon for elastic and the makeshift square button with a large button(s)