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In May of 2020, the barque Picton Castle will embark on another epic voyage, this time to the South Pacific. Trainees may sign aboard for the year-long voyage or for any of the four legs of the trip.
The Picton Castle is a 179′ long, steel-hulled three-masted barque-rigged sail training ship, best known for completing seven circumnavigations of the globe, in addition to other shorter voyages. The ship carries a professional crew of 12 and up to 40 sail trainees.
More about their upcoming South Pacific voyage from their website:
Picton Castle is bound for the South Pacific and you can sail as trainee crew on this incredible voyage to the South Seas islands. Visit ports like Panama, Pitcairn Island, the Marquesas, Tahiti, Bora Bora, Easter Island, Las Perlas, Cartagena, and the Yucatan while learning seamanship skills hands-on and to sail a square-rigged ship. You become crew, no sailing experience necessary as you will get plenty on the voyage!
Picton Castle is best known for her deep-water ocean-crossing voyages to exotic ports in the tropics. The South Pacific calling to us again so we’ll set sail on another iconic tradewinds voyage in May 2020. You can sign on for a three-month leg of the voyage or for the full year-long adventure.
Begin in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada, then set sail south for the Caribbean islands of Grenada and Carriacou. Turn west to Bonaire, then to the San Blas Islands of Panama and Portobelo before transiting the Panama Canal from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. Make a deepwater passage to the Galapagos Islands, then sail on to distant Pitcairn Island and the alluring Marquesas islands of French Polynesia.
The Tuamotus Archipelago are up next, then the Society Islands including Tahiti, Huahine and Bora Bora. Next the Austral Island of Raivavae before sailing south to catch the westerly winds that will bring us east again. Approach Easter Island from the south, then continue to sail north to islands in the Gulf of Panama and through the Panama Canal once more.
Then it’s on to Cartagena, Colombia and Cozumel, Mexico, gateway to the Yucatan, before joining the Tall Ships Challenge in the USA in the Gulf of Mexico. Continue around Florida and north and east to the Bahamas then Bermuda, then return to Lunenburg in June 2021.