Cook Islands
Friday September 30, 2011 – Pacific Ocean somewhere between Palmerston Atoll and Niue
We had a very pleasant 2 day trip from Rarotonga to Palmerston Atoll with some great light
air sailing. Palmerston Atoll is a very small atoll (roughly 5 miles by 7 miles) with six small
motus . Only one of the six motus is inhabited and that is Palmerston Island. As I mentioned
in a previous update, Palmerston has a unique history as it was settled by an Englishman named
William Marsters who had three Polynesian wives. He fathered 26 children and divided
Palmerston Island into thirds for each of his three families. The three family structure is
still in effect today and about 75 Marsters descendants make up the entire population of
Palmerston.
While we were really excited to visit Palmerston because of its remoteness and history, we
were also quite concerned about the visit due to the mooring situation there. There is no
pass into the lagoon for cruising boats, so the mooring area is outside of the atoll and very
exposed to the open ocean. Not only is it exposed, but you must moor very close to the
reef (take a look at the satellite view on the Where is Hokulea page to see how close)
because the depth of the water drops off so quickly. This means that you can only stay
here when the wind is out of an easterly direction otherwise you get blown onto the reef.
There are 8 moorings that are owned by the various families on the island and the condition
of the moorings is somewhat questionable. Two months ago a boat named RiRi went up on the
reef when its mooring failed. The boat was a complete loss and the owners spent a month
there
trying to salvage as much of their belongings as they could. It was a heart breaking
story
and weighed heavy on our minds as we approached Palmerston.
When we arrived the wind was blowing out of the northeast at about 20 knots and there
were 3 other boats in the mooring area. We were met outside of the reef by Bob Marsters
who welcomed us to Palmerston and indicated that he and his family would be hosting us
during our visit. He kindly showed us to our mooring and said that he would be back in an
hour with a Customs Official to check us in and then to take us onto the island for a walk.
As soon as he had driven off to help Solstice on to her mooring, I donned my scuba gear
and dove in the water to inspect our mooring. Thank goodness it looked OK, but just in
case I rigged up a secondary mooring line which would buy us some time should the mooring
fail. On the other hand Bill on Solstice dove on his and said that it was in really scary
condition with different pieces of line tied together. He ended up dropping his anchor as
a backup.
To access the island, there is a fairly treacherous small boat pass into the lagoon and for
this reason you must call your host family for a ride. Bob returned with the Customs official
and then took Bill and I ashore to see the island. Jackie was pretty tired from the passage
and decided to stay on the boat. Bob took us for a walk around part of the island, showing
us his home, the church, William Marsters’ grave, and their water collection system. He
introduced us to his family and many of his neighbors. As we were walking down one of the
incredibly beautiful beaches, the outline of a sailboat laying on her side appeared in the
distance. It was the remains of RiRi. It sent chills up my spine. The islanders had drug her
off of the reef with a series of winches and a tractor and she had been stripped down to
bare fiberglass. To see the empty shell of someone’s home and lifelong dream lying on the
beach gave me a really sick feeling in my gut. Immediately, I thought of Hokule’a and Jackie
and
wondered if they were both OK.
I think Bob sensed my uneasiness and said let’s get you back to your boats for the evening and we will have lunch at my house tomorrow. As we were heading back to his boat, a man approached and began speaking in Cook Island Maori and pointing towards the reef where the boats were moored. That sick feeling returned to my gut and we ran down to the beach to see that one of the other boats had broken its mooring and was adrift. Fortunately the owners were on board and were able to get the boat safely on to another mooring.
Needless to say, Jackie and I got no sleep that night, even though I had rigged the backup line. We tried to sleep in the cockpit but spent most of the night constantly checking the compass and the GPS to see if we had moved any closer to the reef.
By morning the wind had lightened up considerably and shifted to more of an easterly direction which made us a little more comfortable about leaving Hokule’a for the day to visit the island. Bob picked us up at 10am and we walked around the island and visited with more of his neighbors. One of his daughters befriended Jackie and she took us to the school to meet her teacher. She was apparently excused from school that day because we were there. Bob’s wife cooked us an amazing lunch consisting of breaded parrot fish, coconut cakes and potatoes. In the afternoon we helped Bob and his son collect coconuts to feed the pigs and the chickens.
Late in the afternoon, Bob asked if we could help him replace the mooring that had been broken the day before. So we headed back to the boats with a “new” mooring line and grabbed our scuba gear. Bob’s daughter came along and stayed with Jackie on Hokule’a while the boys worked on the mooring. Bill and I were only underwater for about 20 minutes, but when we surfaced the wind had shifted to the northwest. I looked over at Hokule’a and her stern was less than a boat length from the reef. Oh s#%t! Jackie was just starting the engine as Bob got me back to the boat. Jackie and I said our goodbyes to Bob and his family and spent the next 45 minutes taking turns either watching the mooring/reef situation or prepping the boat for passage to Niue. At roughly 6pm, with Solstice close behind, we left Palmerston. It was very disappointing having to leave so soon as we had planned to stay in Palmerston for 3 days. But Mother Nature always has the final word and so we are off to Niue…
Saturday, September 24, 2011 – Avatiu Harbor, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Apparently we have been in Rarotonga so long that even the local newspaper felt obligated to write about us (click here to read about Hokule'a and Solstice - Cook Islands News).
Well the good news is that Bill’s parts finally arrived late yesterday (Friday). It took 10 days from the day that the parts left the supplier in New Zealand to get to Rarotonga. The bad news is that John is flying home tonight, because the parts needed to be here by Thursday in order to have enough time to sail to Niue to catch his original flight.
The past week has been like that movie Groundhog Day where every day is the same. Here’s basically how the days went:
1. Get woken up around 6:30 to the sound of one of the construction workers arriving to work on his scooter with a boom box taped to the handlebars blaring hip hop music.
2. Doze off until 7:00 when the cranes and jackhammers start.
3. Go for a run
4. Back to the boat and eat breakfast
5. Get off the boat because it is rolling so much in the harbor.
6. Head into town to check emails
7. At 10:00 check with Bill to see if he has heard about the parts.
8. Parts are not here yet, maybe at the 2:00 mail sort.
9. Wander around town for a few hours and have lunch in town.
10. At 2:00 check with Bill to see if he has heard about the parts.
11. Parts are not here and the guy tells Bill that hopefully they should be here tomorrow.
12. Meet up with John and go for a swim
13. Shower
14. Dinner in town because it is still really rough in the harbor.
15. Go watch Rugby until you start to fall asleep.
16. Back to the boat and go to bed knowing that you won’t get much sleep because the boat is rolling so much.
17. Finally fall asleep around 4 AM.
18. Go back to step 1 and repeat.
Thank goodness that the island and the people are so nice, otherwise we would have gone crazy. We still love Raro!
So bright and early Monday morning, Hokule’a and Solstice will be heading to Palmerston Island which is about 270 miles to the northwest of Rarotonga. Palmerston is pretty remote and the only way to get there is by boat. Even cargo ships only visit 3 or 4 times a year. Apparently all 68 of the inhabitants of the island are descendants of an Englishman, named William Marsters, who settled the island in 1862 with his 3 wives. We plan to stay in Palmerston for several days and then we set sail for Niue.
We won’t have internet for a couple weeks, but as always you can still track our progress on the “Where’s Hokule’a page”.
Thursday, September 15, 2011 – Avatiu Harbor, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
So we are still waiting for the parts for Solstice from New Zealand. The guy just told Bill that the order has been shipped and that it should be here in 3 to 10 days. 3 to 10 days??? Seriously??? This is the year 2011 right? How hard is it to track a shipment? Oh well, I guess that’s life in the tropics.
On a more positive note, the Cook Islands have the coolest currency. First of all they are allegedly the only country in the world with a triangular shaped coin. Their paper bills are extremely colorful and have amazing art work on them. My favorite is the $3 bill. As you can see it has a picture of a woman riding on the back of shark. The woman’s name is Ina and the story is a legend from the southernmost Cook island of Mangaia. Interestingly enough we have heard many variations of the story, but the version below is my favorite.
Ina lived on the island of Rarotonga and she wanted very badly to visit her boyfriend who lived on Mangaia some 120 miles away. She did not have access to a boat, so she convinced a large fish called a Napoleon Wrasse to give her a ride on its back to Mangaia. She carried with her several coconuts which would provide her with fresh water to drink on the long voyage. After a day or so, she became very thirsty and attempted to crack open a coconut on the back of the wrasse so that she could drink the water inside. She accidentally hit the wrasse on his head giving him a very large bump. The wrasse became very angry and shook Ina off of his back and left her floating in the ocean. To this day Napoleon Wrasses have a large bump on their heads often called an “Ina bump”. Ina was worried that she would drown, but along came the king of the sharks who agreed to carry her the rest of the way to Mangaia. The shark had a very strong dorsal fin that Ina could crack coconuts on when she got thirsty. Ina and the king of sharks had a great time on the way to Mangaia where she lived happily ever after with her boyfriend.
I really love that story. I just hope that Bill’s parts aren’t being delivered on the back of a fish too…
Monday, September 5, 2011 – Avatiu Harbor, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Kia Orana (hello in Cook Island Maori) from Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. The sail here
from Bora Bora was the best passage that we have had to date. For most of the 4 day trip
we had perfect sailing conditions in 10-15 knots of breeze, mostly sunny with only a few
squalls, mild 3-4 foot seas, and several amazing sunrises and sunsets.
Several of you have asked “where the heck is Rarotonga?” so here is a short geography
lesson. The Cook Islands are made up of 15 small islands/atolls that are spread out over
1 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean roughly between Tahiti and Tonga. The
northern
most island (Penrhyn) and the southern most (Mangaia) are over 1,300 miles
apart. The
combined population of all the islands is about 19,000 and roughly half of
which live on
Rarotonga. Rarotonga is the largest island at a whopping 25 square miles
and it is also the
capital of the Cook Islands. Historically speaking, the Cook Islands
were under New
Zealand’s control from 1891 until 1965 when they were given their
independence. This is
partially why there is absolutely no animosity between the Cook
Islanders and New
Zealanders, unlike what we saw between the locals in French
Polynesia and the French.
Rarotonga is a beautiful island with deep green volcanic
peaks and the islanders are very
friendly. Best of all they speak English in addition to
their native Cook Island Maori.
The downside to Rarotonga, is that there is only one place for a cruising yacht to anchor
and that is in the tiny commercial harbor of Avatiu on the north side of the island. There
is only a small section of concrete wharf available for cruising yachts and you are required
to med moor (drop an anchor and tie your stern lines to the wharf). The harbor is also
completely exposed to the north and can have large waves rolling into it during passage
of
frontal systems. To complicate matters the harbor is currently under construction for
a
major redevelopment and the wharf area allocated to cruising yachts has been reduced
such
that it can only accommodate 5 or 6 boats. Needless to say we were a little anxious
leaving
Bora Bora on 4 day trip not knowing if there would be room available for
Hokule’a and
Solstice when we got there. Fortunately there were only 2 other boats here
when we
arrived on Friday.
What a dramatic change from all of our previous anchorages. Up to this point it has been palm trees, glorious sunsets, beautifully colored water, and white sand beaches. Well here in Avatiu harbor it is construction cranes, pile drivers (both vibratory and impact), jack hammers, concrete trucks, and lots of construction workers. It totally sounds and feels like I am back at work at LAX and in a twisted kind of way I really like it. Jackie however does not. But the beauty of the island and its people completely make up for the harbor issues (including the passage of a frontal system last night where got no sleep as 3 foot waves rolled through the harbor and crashed on the wharf some 15 feet behind the boat).
Our first morning here (Saturday) I headed into town around 6:30am with computer in hand looking for internet access so that I could listen to the Virginia Tech football game. Yes…I am obsessed as are most Hokie fans. So much so that I spent nearly 2 hours looking for wifi and at times literally walking around with the computer on trying to hone in on any signal. By half time I had found a connection, but by then the Hokies were up 52-0. I still listened for an hour sitting on the side of the road near some closed shops and a bar.
Later that night we went out to one of the local bars that Bill and I spent a few nights at on our previous trip. At one point during the night, Jackie was on one side of the dance floor surrounded by 4 or 5 male dancers in loin clothes and I was on the other side of the dance floor surrounded by 8 female dancers in coconut shells and grass skirts. We love Rarotonga!
We picked our friend John up at the airport this morning, so we are off to do some more exploring…
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 – Avatiu Harbor, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
We had planned to leave Rarotonga this morning and head 150 miles north to Aitutaki. So we spent most of the day yesterday doing some final provisioning and visiting the various government offices to officially clear out of Rarotonga. Unfortunately late in the afternoon, Bill discovered a major leak in Solstice’s hydraulic steering system. The good news is that there is someone here that can fix it, but the bad news is that could take a week to get the necessary parts shipped from New Zealand. While we love Rarotonga, we really wanted to move on and see some of the other Cook Islands before our friend John has to fly back home. We are taking it day by day and should have an update on the parts delivery later in the week. As the famous quote says “Cruising is mostly fixing your boat in exotic places”. On the other hand we have had a very fun filled week that has included circumnavigating the island on scooters, doing several dives, attending church service, lots of walking/hiking, lawn bowling, a Polynesian dance show and watching lots of rugby.
We will update you soon as we know more about the parts for Solstice.