Not to miss

Ducie Atoll

Captain Edwards found this classic coral atoll while looking for Bounty mutineers, he named it ater his patron. Ducie has one larger and three smaller islets around a lagoon and has seen a few wrecks in its time, such as the Acadia in 1881. A marked trail leads across the island to the lagoon side.

Acadia, the main island named after the wreck, is home to lizards, tens of thousands of seabirds - including masked boobies, petrels, fairy terns, tropic birds and frigate birds - and the ubiquitous Polynesian rat. There are no palm trees and the vegetation is limited to two hardy species of shrub.

Scientific papers have been written about what washes up on Ducie - a huge variety of flotsam including countless glass bottles, plastic debris and hundreds of fishing net floats. Pitcairners visit Ducie irregularly, and you may be able to go with them, or via a yacht or passing passenger or cargo ship.

Adamstown

Adamstown is perched 120m (394ft) above the sea, atop the appropriately named Hill of Difficulty. Houses are either 'upside' or 'downside' of the main road. The public square is the heart of the island and contains a community hall, church, dispensary, library, post office and government buildings.

Among the many reminders of the island's origins are Fletcher Christian's Bounty Bible, kept in a glass case in the church. It was raffled off in 1839 but returned to the island in 1949. The anchor and a cannon of the Bounty, salvaged by a National Geographic team, are on display around the town.

Acadia Island

Tiny Acadia Island, only 100m (328ft) wide, is named after a British vessel shipwrecked here in 1881 and is inhabited by tens of thousands of seabirds. The island is wrapped around a lagoon with gentle whirlpools on its eastern side that drain water straight out to the open sea. The wreck of the Acadia is directly offshore in 10m (33ft) of water.

Henderson Island

This classic example of a makatea (raised coral island) was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1988 due to its rare birdlife and an environment thankfully unexploited for its phosphate reserves. It's the Pitcairn group's largest island and has a fringing reef with 15m (49ft) cliffs. Visitors need a licence approved by the Pitcairn Island Council.

Bounty Bay

Pitcairn Island is inextricably bound to the story of the Bounty mutineers who showed up in 1790. There are many Bounty artefacts around Bounty Bay, including Fletcher Christian's bible, kept in a glass case in the museum; the ship's anchor, salvaged in 1957 and now standing between the courthouse and post office; and, near the anchor, a Bounty cannon.