An Island of Our Own (almost)
15 September 2012 | Suwarrow, Northern Cooks Islands
photo: coral in the tidal flats on Suwarrow's barrier reef
Suwarrow is famous as the one-time home of Tom Neale, who lived here alone for more than 20 years and wrote An Island of One's Own.
It is now the only national park in the Cook Islands, and cruisers are its only visitors. During the cruising season (as opposed to the cyclone season), two caretakers live there, at Neale's former homesite on Anchorage Island, a large motu that shelters the officially designated yacht anchorage from prevailing SE and E winds.
Harry and Anthony (Ant), both Cook Islands Maori, were wonderful hosts, customs officials, tour guides, cultural interpreters and musicians. They had been delivered to the atoll in May and were hoping (though not, it seemed, entirely confident) that a boat would show up at the end of November to take them home as the cruising season wrapped up.
For many years this was a little-visited spot by cruisers due to its remoteness, but during our stay there were up to 30 boats in the anchorage! An all-time record, apparently - but not really surprising as almost everyone who visits would count it a highlight of their cruising experiences. Every cruising guide, magazine article or blog post we had ever read about the place has been just as glowing as our report.
Our two-week stay really felt like some kind of perfect international summer camp: lots of like-minded people to play with, a packed activities schedule and a big potluck on the beach every other night, complete with a singalong around the fire.