Palmerston
02 November 2009 | Palmerston
Palmerston
The Gospel festival was a bust. It was held in a soccer field with no shade and people from the different churches around the island competed. I was a little dubious about all of the churches. O and I had to laugh because we had never heard of any of the religions before. I kept expecting them to call out "and the next set of dancers are from the Covering My Bases Church" or" I'm Not Religious but I like BBQ Church", come on out, "Nothing Else to do on a Sunday Church" etc.
Anyway, I feel a little mean saying it, but most of the dance troupes were in desperate need of more rehearsal time. There were a few in each group that knew the dance and the rest of the people closely followed them, always a few steps behind. We lasted about two hours before O had had enough.
We wanted to leave Aitutaki on Tuesday, but due to National Gospel Holiday, Customs was closed for two days and the office was closed the Friday before when we tried to clear out, I think they figured why have a four day holiday when you could make it five! preparation of the Holiday. We had to find the agent to clear out. O spent his time at the Gospel thing seriously stalking any local man that looked even remotely like our customs agent. After Otis accosted his third victim, the man who was not "Bob the customs guy", O hit pay dirt because the man knew where the customs man lived and agreed to take us there. So we all hopped on our bikes and set off to find the customs man. We found Bob who rolled out looking like he had been sleeping one off. However, he did not seem to mind going to the office and clearing us out.
After clearing out, we spent the rest of the day running around the island on our scooters exploring the beaches and lagoons.
The following morning we picked up the last of our provisions, retuned the scooters, which I found difficult to do because I really enjoyed the freedom, and cast off the lines.
The anchorage in Aituaki is tight. It isn't really an anchorage because there is no room to swing, so we had our anchor out and were tied off to two coconut trees, "Med. Style" which is the equivalent of being on a dock. Every morning I went for long walks and I always picked a bouquet of wild daisies for the aft deck. These two things made me an instant fan of the island
I was very surprised by the cost of things in Aituaki. Fuel was $10.00 US per gallon, a loaf of bread $3.25, a liter of UHT milk $2.50, hamburger $13.50 per kilo. I thought that French Polynesia was expensive but Aituaki made FP look like Wal Mart.
Thankfully, the veggies were abundant and relatively cheap. I have not tasted garden fresh tomatoes like those in way too long....ymmmm. Sadly, I did not find any pumpkins/squash for the boys to carve for Halloween!!! I only have one. In a moment of panic I decided that we would drill coconuts and hang them instead.
So, Tuesday we left for Palmerston. The winds were light from the aft quarter but the seas were not in sync with the wind, they were on our beam, so it was a bit uncomfortable for the first 18 hours. We had to motor sail for a while but then the winds filled in and we were able to make up lost time and arrived at Palmerston with just enough daylight to see the reef and pick up a mooring. Thankfully we had daylight because our charts are way off for this part of the world, and after seeing how close to the reef we had to get to pick up a mooring (or anchor for that matter), daylight is essential.
We are currently moored right on the edge of the reef which is breaking on our port side about 100 feet away and 100 feet to starboard it drops away to over 400 ft! The mooring is a piece of chain wrapped around a coral head. While it all seems to be intact I am not sure about the breaking point of coral. Our host recommended that we also drop our anchor, just in case. When I asked him about the chance of the mooring holding it he said it was about 70%....not great when it is your home floating on those odds. The anchor/mooring situation has caused a bit of angst. Not to mention the fact that the swell is rolly/lumpy and bumpy.
There was a guy waiting for us at the mooring when we arrived. He was to be our "Host" while we are here. Because they are so far removed from the other Cook Islands, they relish contact with yachties and actually compete for being a host. There is no air strip on the island and the cargo ship comes once a month but this is not consistent, sometimes as long as 4 months between trips, as is the case now. The islanders (about 50 people live here) have nothing left, they have been living off fish and coconuts for over a month! You can imagine when a yacht rolls in with fresh fruits, veggies and tinned goods!
Our host's name is Edward and he invited us to lunch the following day. Even though they have very limited supplies they still extended the invite to join them for a meal. He does make it abundantly clear that they will share and give you anything they have and expect the same in return, whatever you can spare. Which I think is more than fair and I was happy to accommodate. Edward arrived with the customs official the following morning to clear us into Palmerston and then take us to the island for lunch.
When we arrived on the island, we walked up a sand path to Edwards house where the table was set and the food prepared waiting for us. I brought a tomato, cucumber, onion salad and Edward had lightly fried parrot fish, steamed reef fish and white rice. It was delicious. He then walked us around the island and showed us the school, telcom building and introduced us to a few of the locals. He dropped us at the beach and returned to building his pig pens. Ben & Sam were enthralled by a litter of piglets that were born one hour before we got there, so they were very excited to watch the babies suckling from Mom and even helped keep watch so she wouldn't roll over on one of the helpless little things. Just before leaving the island for the evening, they both had to rush back to the pig pen to bid good night to the piglets.
The problem with the island is that you cannot use your own dinghy to move back and forth freely between your boat and the island. Your host is responsible for your transport to and from the island. This is due to the strength of the current and shallowness of the pass. They do not encourage or allow you to use your own dingy. When you want to go ashore you have to call your host. I HATE the set up. While I understand and appreciate it is suppose to be helpful, I do not like having to rely on people, especially when they are busy doing things. The other day when we wanted to get home we had to wait an hour while Edward finished a project. I would have enjoyed ourselves a lot more if we had been able to get through the cut with the big boat. The lagoon is stunningly beautiful and the reef brimming with fish.
Due to the mooring situation we decided we would not stay long. So, I loaded Edward up with rice, tin veggies, fruits, fresh cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, yeast, dried milk and flour and said our good byes.
The people are generous, the islands breathtaking, but it just did not work out so well for us. I need to feel comfortable in my anchorage and have mobility.
At the moment we are on our way to Suvarrov. The park ranger is supposedly gone to NZ for hurricane season so I think we will be on our own there. Hopefully we can get through the pass and have a little chill time before heading to American Samoa.
I am longing for a secluded place to relax that is user friendly, nice beaches, good snorkeling and mobility.