We spent a fantastic time in Suwarrow. We took 5 days to sail from Bora Bora to Suwarrow, Cooks Islands. On the way over one of the stitches of the main sail open but we were able to fix on the way and it was not a big problem. The wind was good and we could keep good speed all the way. We were able to arrive early in the morning and there was not a lot of current or swell in the pass to the atoll. Some days later the swell was coming into the pass and it would be a bit scary if we needed to go out. We could surf beautiful waves on the side of the pass (not that we would do that with current, reef and sharks around). Suwarrow is a marine reserve where two caretakers look after from June to November. Harry and Anthony (Antz) are good ambassadors of Suwarrow. This year 140 boats visit the atoll, they said it was twice the number of the year before. When we arrived there were only 5 boats but after some days they all left.

The first days we had rain and we took our time to put some stitches back on the main sail. We were able to catch fish every day and we snorkelled many times. We cleaned the fish in the other side of the island and the sharks would be waiting in a pool for the scraps and also the moray eels. There are lots of reef sharks there but when we went snorkelling we never saw many. There is a reef where the manta rays go in the morning and we went there more than once to have a look at them.

We could only anchor in only one area in the atoll and to visit another island we needed to go with one of the rangers. We waited for a week for Alouette to come to go to see a bird island (Manu Island) and to do some snorkel on the way back to the anchorage. The bird island was wonderful, full of birds in the nest and we could get very close to them to have a look and to take pictures. I will post Nina's diary about the trip.