Bound for Australia

Suwarrow Atoll in the Cook Islands was not somewhere we had heard of or planned to visit, but all our guide books suggested it as a remote paradise, and many of our cruising friends were heading there. It was a 700 mile trip from Bora Bora, our longest passage without crew so far. It was however a sunny and fast one, and we covered the distance in 4 1/4 days, arriving on Sunday afternoon 11th August. With 200 miles to go, our navigation equipment predicted an arrival at 6.00pm – too late to enter the pass and the lagoon - which would mean 14 hours going round in circles waiting for sunrise the next morning. This spurred both Carolyn and me to take control back from George the windvane and really focus on steering as best we could to get there on Sunday before sunset. 5 boats were there already, including a big catamaran we had met in Bora Bora, and soon after we had anchored, Harry the senior Park Ranger arrived in his dinghy and came aboard to do the Cook Is. paperwork. The other arrivals were 7 black tip sharks swimming round and round the boat, which rather put us off swimming, although they are supposed to be harmless. On the ocean side of the reef there are bigger and meaner looking sharks, which we were told firmly not to try to swim with. We also went twice to the spot about 300m away where the manta rays come in the morning – 4 big ones were there, and were not bothered by us at all. We finally got our underwater camera fixed, and so have been getting some underwater shots. The camera is quite a skill to use, and I am still learning again. Our new friend Jerry arrived two days later from Bora Bora – he is single handed, and has a beautiful traditional boat, but it is only 28 foot long. After a week at sea on his own, he looked like he could do with some R&R, so we cooked dinner for him onboard. Suwarrow is a National Park, and it is occupied by 2 Park Rangers for 8 months of the year – April until they leave in November as typhoon season approaches. Harry, and his assistant Charlie, were very welcoming and charming people, who showed us round the island, and took us on a tour of 6 other islands out of the dozen or so small islands dotted round the reef which makes up Suwarrow. They both very much enjoy their job here, but they will be really hoping the boat does not forget to pick them up in November. They laid on a bbq the night after we arrived, we had sundowner drinks a few times, and they put on another bbq for our last night and Harry played his guitar and Charlie sang traditional Cook Islands songs [Photo]. Sophia and Cameron sang their sing along version of goldylocks and the three bears. The whole park is run on a shoe string, so the lads are desperately short of petrol for their generator and boat, and also stuff like fishing hooks, coffee, sugar, yeast and rum. Fortunately, some other boats on our radio net had told us that they need petrol, so we brought some extra to give them, and passed on the word for those coming behind us. Charlie wants the yeast for his coconut homebrew. This only takes 3-4 days to make – and in that time how boozy can it get: actually, very – it is delicious, but very potent. They are trying a bit of gardening to grow some food by their hut, but the salt air, storms and poor soil make this not really viable. Charlie’s boat tour took us to a couple of islands with huge bird colonies on them – the first we have seen close up. Then an island with lots of big coconut crabs – these are very different to the average sort of seaside crab. They climb trees, cut down coconuts, climb down again and rip them apart to eat with their powerful claws. Lastly we had a long but fantastic snorkel in the lagoon. Sophia swam the whole way too – she is really getting good at snorkelling now – and saw a baby turtle. Cameron didn’t feel like it today so stayed in the boat. We left for the tiny country of Niue after 5 excellent days here – it has been one of our most favourite stops.