Sevin Islands In A Tinny
16 August 2012 | Suwarrow Atoll, Northern Cook Islands
Ants (the park ranger) drove the tinny (a metal boat like a panga in Mexico) and nine of us climbed aboard for the ride to Sevin Islands. It's a lovely motu area on the far east side of the Suwarrow lagoon. We found incredible snorkeling, not a huge number of fish but great coral and the cleanest clearest water you can imagine. Back onshore the hunt for coconut crabs kept the men's attention. The crabs are a beautiful blue and they are very tough creatures, tough as in keep your fingers away from their pinchers or you'll lose one. Craig on 'Gato Go' had to wrestle with one that he was holding. It kept attaching itself with various claws to Craig's t-shirt. I have it on video and it's quite funny. After capturing and subdueing 6-8 crabs we took off in the tinny and on the way back we stopped at another atoll known for it's nesting birds. Frigates and baby frigates, terns and lots of others. We stopped near the South Reef by the pass for a final snorkel and then returned to Anchorage Island. That night we had a potluck on the beach and ate as much coconut crab as we wanted...so yummy.