Most mornings on Pitcairn break with the exact same view, endless, pristine ocean.

It's the same view that Fletcher Christian peered upon hundreds of years ago, and it's the same

view so that his now distant descendants will see for decades to come, at least hopefully.

A few times a year, though, this morning view, is different. A few times a year though, this morning view is different.

A few times a year, this tiny, fairly undeveloped speck in the Pacific Ocean is greeted

by a towering behemoth, cruise ship.

Now I want you to imagine what that's like.

Living on this tiny island where you see the same 50 people every day where your

internet sucks, where your food is frozen, where your electricity

takes a break, where it takes four days and thousands of dollars to get anywhere coming close

to resembling a city, to having this delegation of the modern developed world floating just a few hundred feet away from your bed.

It's a pretty different sort of day.

A lot of cruise ships will be based in different hemispheres depending on the season. A ship might spend the southern summer

doing cruises from Sydney and then the northern summer doing cruises from Seattle, following

where the weather's warm. That means that sometime in the middle of Northern Spring there will be a procession of ships heading north and then in northern autumn there will be a procession of ships heading south.

Now for those switching from being based in Australia or New Zealand to North America

they have to traverse the Pacific Ocean which is big and empty.

These cruise ships never want to sail empty.

They only make money if their cabins are full, which

means they always have to find interesting places to stop to attract bookings.

While most go for New Caledonia, Fiji, Hawaii, and other stops with better name recognition, an exclusive few choose Pitcairn.

Some of these cruise ships that stop at Pitcairn carry more than 2,000 passengers.

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