GHOST

According to the Lonely Planet, Cook Islanders are a mix between the Maori of New Zealand and French Polynesians, and the islands make a very convenient stopping place for boats travelling across the Pacific. The only trouble is that with the exception of Suwarrow (which is an atoll that you can sail into but is quite far out of our way to the north) all of the anchorages are more or less perched on the western side of the islands providing little shelter from any weather or swell except for the SE trade winds which, while dominant occasionally give way to variable winds, a function of the south pacific convergence zone. With this in mind and keen to make some progress on our trip after 2.5 months in the Society Islands we decided to bypass most of the Cook islands, but Delos convinced us that Palmerston was worth a stop. The population of this small atoll numbers 67 on an island only 2 square km across, all descendents of an English trader called William Marsters and his three Maori wives who settled here 150 years ago! It is widely renowned as one of the friendliest islands in the Pacific and the tradition here is that the first locals to welcome incoming yachts act as their host for their stay. 7am in the morning after our midnight arrival (in fact rather too early given we finally went to bed at around 1.30am) we were welcomed by Bob Marsters (Alpha Golf as he is known locally by his radio call sign) who was to be our host.

Unfortunately as it was Sunday we were not able to check in until the following day so weren't able to go ashore to look around. Instead we cleaned the boat thoroughly (including the kitchen cupboards!) and went for a dive on the reef around the boat. The visibility was good and the reef looked pretty healthy, we saw a couple of white tip reef sharks and it was a mind trip to comprehend just how steeply the coral wall fell off into the deep abyss of the South Pacific but what made it special was the humpback whale song that lasted the duration of the dive - it was just a shame we couldn't see them. It was so clear we'd hoped for an underwater glimpse but as any avid Blue Planet viewer knows they could have been miles away on their migratory path to Tonga to bear young and mate. We got chatting with Bob and told him that we knew Delos who had laid some mooring buoys for one of the other families here last week (there are 3 main families on the island now - all with their own area of the island and the surname Marsters). When he saw our dive kit he looked excited and we agreed to lay another mooring buoy for him the following day. We settled down to some sundowners and our nightly radio call with Delos which was interrupted by a strange snorting/blowing noise outside the boat. I rushed up on deck to see a humpback breaching about 5m from the back of the boat - what a treat! So far on this trip we have only seen pilot whales at a distance so it was really exciting to see one so close; Brad was gutted though to have missed it because he wasn't quick enough up the companionway!

This morning Bob came out with chain, rope and some buoys and Brad found a secure swim through great for securing the chain in the ideal spot and set up an extra mooring for Bob - it was very rewarding to be able to help them out in this way as they have no dive equipment on the island. We also had to formally check into the Cook Islands, which was the easiest and most polite check-in yet as Terry the government representative came out to the boat, filled in all the forms and just outlined a couple of do and don'ts while checking over some of our food products on board.

At lunchtime Bob picked us up and we went ashore to meet his family - his wife Tupou, daughters Taia, Munokoa and Mehau and his son, Bury. Then Bob and Taia gave us a tour around the island showing us William Marsters' original house made from the timbers of a shipwrecked boat called the Thistle and his grave (probably the only graveyard in the world where everyone has the same surname). We then walked to the other side of the island and watched the islanders efficiently filet and clean a huge crateful of parrotfish they had caught and were preparing ready for export to hotels in Rarotonga; they freeze the filets following a catch and it is collected every few months by cargo ship which then drops off a new load of supplies. Families of the islanders in Rarotonga collect the cash for the fish and organise for the replacement provisions which come on the next boat. Bob explained how the island is divided up between the families and showed us around the school which is currently educating 27 children of varying ages and the principle, Yvonne talked to us about her approach based on a home school programme where each of the children work through by themselves within the communal classroom. It was a really amazing day and fantastic to meet such friendly people and absorb the atmosphere of their island.

After the tour Bob's family cooked us a delicious lunch of Mahi Mahi, breadfruit, and curried chicken and we had a good chat along with a couple of the other boats whom Bob was acting as host to. Finally we went for a quick walk around the island and then headed back to GHOST with Taia and 4 hard drives from various villagers all keen to update their movie collection! Taia worked all night (in fact stayed on board with us) copying from our hard drive to ensure each hard drive was tailored to the individual! We found out the supply boat is very overdue so stocked Bob up with some excess rice, flour, sugar and rum to keep him going and donated some crayons, pencils and notebooks that we had picked up in Panama to the school. Visiting Palmerston has certainly been a very rewarding experience, exactly what you imagine visiting a beautiful and remote atoll in the Pacific would be like!