After sailing for five days 700 miles we arrive at the the barely visible, low lying atoll of Suwarrow. Suwarrow belongs to the Cook Islands and is literally hundreds of miles from anywhere. It is a National Park and Marine Reserve and every year two Park Rangers set up home for six months to protect this 5 mile wide lagoon and its tiny islands. It's so isolated no other people live here apart from the rangers and visiting yachts taking a break before venturing the next 500 miles to Samoa or Tonga.
The pass entrance was straight forward, the anchorage just a short distance away but still a vigilant eye was needed to avoid any coral heads lurking to catch us unaware. It's always a relief once the anchor is safely down.
We now sat patiently for the wardens to arrive to complete the numerous official forms required for checking in to the Cook Islands.
While waiting we noticed that the noise of the sea breaking on the reef was for once being drowned out by the thousands of sea birds, mainly Sooty Terns, that were swirling overhead. With the nesting season beginning the birds were in full courtship.
The wardens Harry and John arrived and after completing the paperwork and explaining the park rules they soon revealed their passion for looking after this tiny atoll in this vast Pacific Ocean. There is no regular supply ship for these guys. They are dropped off with six months of supplies which they carefully have to manage, collect rain water for drinking and rely on a generator and solar panels for electricity. Just the week before their freezer broke and they lost their supply of meat, John was particularly upset at losing his New Zealand lamb. They now have only tins, dried goods and must fish for protein.
The Rangers return home to their families at the beginning of the cyclone season in October but last year the ship which was to collect them decided it didn't have enough fuel to come so they were abandoned until a passing yacht took them to one of the main Cook Islands. But still they return for another season the pull of Suwarrow is so strong.
All eight boats in the anchorage participated in a pot luck evening on the beach hosted by our lovely Rangers who provided the freshly caught fish for the barbecue. We stayed late into the night enjoying everyone's company and singing along with Harry and John who competently played an array of songs on the guitar. It was a very special evening in a magical place, only accessible with a yacht and one reason why we enjoy sailing.
We had yet to swim with the magnificent Manta Rays so were very excited to hear just a short distance from the anchorage was a cleaning station for the Mantas. The Manta Rays come into shallower water to visit the little Wrasses that live amongst the corals. It is a win win relationship as the Wrasse like to feed on the parasites that the Mantas pick up.
At last we got to see these graceful giants which seemed unperturbed with our presence as we followed them through the water. The largest Manta we saw was the rare pure black, 3 meters from wing tip to tip which is affectionately known to the Rangers as Black Joe.
Suwarrow is also home to a variety of sharks but it was too rough to drift snorkel the pass so we had to be content with the many harmless reef sharks that swim around the boat.
Time to lift the anchor and as we sailed away we certainly understood the pull of Suwarrow.