#plancius

We arrived off Tristan da Cunha on Thursday, April 10 after eight days of sailing from The Falklands.  We were to spend three days at Tristan da Cunha and its neighboring island, Nightingale.

The 207 sq km. (80 sq mi.) island is home to a population of 275 (2009 figure).  Tristan da Cunha was first sighted in 1506 Portuguese explorer Tristão da Cunha, although rough seas prevented a landing.  In 1643 the crew of the Heemstede, captained by Claes Gerritsz Bierenbroodspot made the first recorded landing.  The 1961 eruption of Queen Mary’s Peak  forced the evacuation of the entire population via Cape Town to England. Most families returned in 1963.

Tristan da Cunha holds claim to being the world’s most remote inhabited island.  The nearest land, South Africa, is 2,816 km distant (1,750 mi.).  There are no air flights to Tristan da Cunha, and it can be difficult to land there even by boat.  High seas prevented us from landing on our first day so instead we boarded zodiacs and cruised around an area near Sandy Point looking especially for the elusive northern rock hopper penguin.  

Our 2nd day the seas had subsided, and we landed on Tristan in the morning and remained there till early evening.  Some of us trekked to the summit of the 1961 Volcano, some visited Tristan’s famous potato patches, while others toured Tristan’s small settlement of Edinburgh.  I was able to trek to the 1961 Volcano summit, and visit the potato patches and tour Edinburgh, but as my shipmates would tell you, I had been conserving my energy.   

Here then is the second of two photo sets from Tristan da Cunha, the world’s most remote inhabited island.

"Mit Frauen soll man sich nie unterstehen zu scherzen."

(Never get funny w/ women)

J.W. von Goethe, 1801