Oceania - 4. Oce Chapter 4

All other former homes are in the process of being renovated, of which some will be made into cafés and shops, while essential buildings like the police station and detention complex, the island health centre, and the general store, are almost completed having major extensions made to each of the buildings.

Everyone was very happy with their new modern homes, although some complained about having to travel so far, just to get to Adamson, even if it is only a few kilometres.

Instead of having two more villages for residents and guests, it was decided to have one group of five cottages at the back of Adamstown for guests, and just one more village for the community, which is to be located in hollow flatland near the centre of the island, and will have 8 bungalows in the village.

Over the following six months, work steadily progressed, with the airport taking the longest time to get built because of its difficult location, and the need to be extra careful with not affecting the nearby island and the surrounding reef system.

By the end of the twelve months of the project, the island now has a total of 11 kilometres of sealed roads, 23 kilometres of raised pedestrian boardwalks, providing safe access to all the best locations to view of the island, all of the islands permanent residents and all the visiting government staff from New Zealand, are now housed in large and modern bungalows, in six villages around the island, and all of the poorly made homes had been dismantled and removed from the island.

The sewerage treatment plant, desalination plant and the wind turbine power station were now providing an efficient essential services system, that was making a huge difference to the island in the way of better for the environment and financially also, plus the improved police station, government administration, shopping precinct, health centre and also a much larger school.

Of the 72 former residents of the island, who had left for a better life in Australia and New Zealand, on learning of the huge changes to the island, they had decided to return to their homeland, increasing the population from 50 up to 83, with there were enough new homes to accommodate them all.

The Island Council was now bigger and busier, as they were now responsible for the operations of not just the essential services, but also the newly formed CQS Force - Customs, Quarantine and Security Force, the now operational Airport and a Pitcairn Tourism Centre.

The island now has two full-time police officers, who are responsible for law and order on the island, while CQS is responsible for all business relating to immigration. There is also an increase in medical staff, with an additional doctor and two more nurses on the island, and the

With the contracted supply ship now retired, the island now has weekly supplies flown in from New Zealand, on board the island’s second Gulfstream 600, which has been fitted out for just cargo, with its maximum cargo weight of 2,500 kgs.

With plenty of tourism promotion happening in Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific region and the UK, as of 3 months ago, the island has been getting on average 132 visitors to the island each month, with twice-weekly passenger flights, departing from Auckland, New Zealand, also tourists come from visiting cruise ships, which has increased from 6 to 14 ships annually, bringing an additional 500 to 2000 day tourists to the island.

The island now has every adult resident employed in some way, as a result of the huge increase in tourism, which of which all is during the Summer and six weeks on either side of it. The 6-month peak tourist season start in mid-October and ends in mid-April, a lot longer than areas in the Northern Hemisphere.

There is now a total of three cafés, four gift and souvenir shops, and three tour shops, that keep everyone very busy. The tour shops provide kayak tours, walking tours, scuba and snorkelling tours and long boat tours, which are all in high demand.

The island council now allows workers from New Zealand, Australia and the UK to come to the island, on a four-month working visa, to assist with the high demand on Tourism, and a hostel was built at the back of Adamstown, to accommodate the Visa workers and any backpacker tourists, and more recently, the government administration, has relocated from Auckland to Pitcairn Island.

When all the improvements were done, and the island now has a very bright future, the time had come for the Aquaria and Oceania to leave. It is now mid-June, so it is the quiet time of the year, with just one flight a week, onto the island, and when Jonah and I announced to the council, that we would be departing, the island decided to hold a big celebration feast as a farewell gift.

Taking nearly a week to organise, with extra supplies needed to be flown in from New Zealand, a Hangi feast and celebration of music and dance was held down at the now much enlarged main harbour, which now has a 220-metre-long sea wall along the rocky shoreline, creating 30 metres in the width of more space.

There is also a 180-metre floating pontoon, secured to the ocean floor, with large concrete bollards, 120 metres out from the harbour, which stops large waves from crashing into the harbour for a safer landing at the jetty.

After an afternoon and late-night celebration party, with all but a small security team, rotated at 4 hours intervals, remaining on board the two vessels, all the crews were on the island attending the celebrations, and everyone had a great time.

As ordered by Jonah as the senior ranking officer, all crew had to be back on the Aquaria or Oceania by 2 am at the latest, as we would be setting sail at 11 am, that same morning. Once all crew were onboard, both vessels submerged, and sat on the ocean floor, for the rest of the night and the morning.

Shortly before 1 is, Jonah made a radio call to the police station, which our vessel tuned into, “Aquaria, Pitcairn Island Police, over” we hear him say. “Pitcairn Police, Sergeant Langston speaking over”, came a response shortly after.

“Sergeant, we are setting sail now, thank you for your patience during these past twelve months, on behalf of Lloyd Family Corp, we wish all the Pitcairn people, the very best for the future, and we look forward to visiting you when one or both vessels are in the area, over,” Jonah said.

“Captain, this is Administrator Kauri speaking, on behalf of the government and the people of Pitcairn Island, we wish you both a safe journey and the thanks of a grateful small nation, for all that the Corporation has done save our islands from extinction.

It was discussed at an emergency council meeting this morning, that the crews and staff of Lloyd Family Corporation have been granted honorary citizens of the Pitcairn Islands, and that you are welcome at any time, good luck and may the sea provide you with a safe and rewarding journey, no matter where you go,” an unexpected voice said.

“Thank you, Administrator, see you in the near future, this is Oceania and the Aquaria signing off, over and out,” Jonah said to end the call.

I had already given the order to set sail, during the radio call, and our heading was north-west for 8,425 kilometres to home base on Wake Island, an eight-day sail, where Dad would be waiting for us.

Jonah and I had been informed that there had been some large changes in the past twelve months since we have been away, with the only clue being that a lot of construction projects had happened and that the Corporation had also purchased Johnston Atoll, Howell, Baker and Jarvis Islands from the US government.

We were informed that they too had been cleaned up, with some basic facilities built on Johnston, while the other three islands have had a flora restoration project in progress for the past six months.

I was curious about this and because Oceania was a lot faster, I decided to take a little peek at what has been happening on the three small islands, since they were not far off from direction that we are heading, and it is about the halfway mark back to Wake Island.

Arriving just over three and a half days later, in the late afternoon, the humidity was quite high, which surprised me a little, I learnt from a bit of research during the journey, that Jarvis Island is 4.5 square kilometres in area, with the highest point being seven metres above sea level, and is just 40 kilometres south of the Equator, which explained why it was so humid.

What I had not expected to see, from the deck one airlock, and a pair of binoculars, is to see a lagoon in the centre of the island, a small jetty on the north-west side, and two buildings, that look like they have been made from shipping containers, and finally, the majority of the island was green.

The green on the island was not grass, but trees and shrubs, of various sizes and types, but most of them are no more than one metre high.

The reflection coming off the top of the buildings was a big clue that there was solar power on the island, as well as the obvious Satellite dish, and that there are a number of large poly pipes running from the lagoon to one of the buildings.

Interested to know more, I organised a landing party to go and investigate, and I was too curious not to go, as I ordered for the vessel to come to a stop on the western side of the island not far from the jetty.

As we approached the jetty, a big clear signed stared right at us, “Jarvis Island Wildlife Reserve. Property of Lloyd Corporation, Keep off. This island has Satellite Video Surveillance, you have been warned”. I smiled when I saw this, and ordered for us to land at the jetty, where I spotted the first video security camera, and I looked directly at it, smiled and waved.

Moments later I received a radio call from Oceania, informing me there is a call for me from the Corporation Chairman at Wake Island, and I asked for the call to be redirected to my radio, and moments later we were connected.

“Dad, how are things going on Wake Island,” I asked casually, “Not bad thanks son, now what are you doing on Jarvis Island?” my father responded, and I chuckled at this comment, “So you really do have a direct feed from the video cameras?” I asked.

“Yes, I am looking at you standing on the jetty of the island,” Dad said to me. “Well I became curious when you told me that the Corporation now owns three other islands, and I thought I might as well as take a look since it isn’t that much of a diversion” I commented.

“I see, and what are your views on what you have seen so far?” Dad asked me. “Well what I saw from the bridge, and from the jetty, it looks quite impressive. What are the two buildings?” I responded.

“One contains the desalination plant and water reticulation pump, with underwater freshwater tanks located nearby, and the other is the Solar power plant, with power storage batteries, to keep everything going, plus there is a Video Surveillance system, with a direct feed to the Satellite dish” Dad responded.