Arriving at Palmerston Atoll, with the pass being too shallow to enter the lagoon and the reef outside that comes up dramatically from 30m to 2m, anchoring is not an option. We radioed ahead for permission to pick one of their six mooring buoys and a fellow named Simon Marsters (Alpha Serra as he is known locally by his call sign) took the call and welcomed us to Palmerston. As it was Sunday and the locals all at church we would have to wait until Monday morning to check in and visit the island. We were the only yacht there and later found out that we were the 18th to visit this year.

Palmerston has a population of 65 people, 63 of which are direct Marsters descendants and the other two residents being teachers from NZ and the UK. So it was with fascination that we wanted to learn about their way of life and how they manage being so remote from everything. Simon’s brother, Edward the Policeman, collected us the next morning, told us he would be our host for the duration of our stay and took us ashore. As we walked through the palm trees to his house we passed the wreck of the yacht called Ri Ri who unfortunately broke their mooring line during the night and was beached on the reef. It was a sad sight to see and a reminder of how dangerous these shores are.

At Edwards house he introduced us to his mother, wife, sister-in-law and nephew John who were all very friendly and welcoming people. Four year old John took us to feed leafs to the pigs and coconut shells to the hens. Afterwards Edward took us for a tour of the island. First stop the school. We were impressed with the quality of the buildings and classrooms, which thankfully the NZ government pays for. The principal was a lovely lady called Yvonne from NZ who explained that she started a system like home schooling where each of the 27 students work individually. They set goals for themselves on a daily and weekly basis then progress through the year when all their work is completed. Next on the tour was the graveyard to see the grave of William Marsters. It’s not many graveyards that you go into where all the headstones are of one family name! Then onto Main Street, which just happened to be sand and palm streets like the rest of the island but in a more orderly manner and finished off the tour with lunch back at Edward’s house.

During lunch Edward explained that instead of paying cash for the mooring buoy (which are NZ$10 per night) maybe we had something on our boat that we didn’t need and they could use. We thought this was a great idea until he asked for our new 15hp outboard. After politely explaining that we will need it for the rest of our trip he was more than delighted with the old snorkels & masks, fishing lures and AA batteries that we gave them. They also were delighted to be able to download movies from our hard drives which his wife spent most of the night doing.

What a great experience the visit has been. One quickly forgets how remote they actually are. They have regular day jobs like most of us, ride around on scooters, carry mobile phones, surf the internet and they even have one communal TV with sky satellite channels to watch English soccer games. The world is a smaller place these days!