Rarotonga and our Palmerston Delivery

It is Sunday night and we departed Rarotonga around noon today. Started out with very nice winds, 15-18 knots, but has tuckered out to 9-10 by midnight. So we are currently just muddling along at 2.5 knots VMG. We had a really nice time in Raro (as they call it - or "The Rock").

I did a cross island hike with Ann and Bob on Wednesday. We mistakenly added an extra 1 1/2 hours to the already 4-5 hour hike. Took a wrong turn down a very well trodden path that was also very well vertical! By the time we made our way back to the intended path, we were a bit wiped out, but not ready to give up! We made it to 'The Needle' - which had great views over the island to the ocean. But as the name implies - that section of the hike was quite steep as well! But we forged on and did the entire cross island hike, making it to the other side around 4pm. Just in time to catch a beer and then the last bus for the afternoon to get back to the other side of the island where the wharf is. We finally made it back to the boats around 5:30pm. John was getting a bit concerned, but hadn't sent out a search party yet - good thing! Man did I pay for that hike though! My thighs have been burning for the last 3 days - unable to walk up or down steps without a railing to grab onto. Getting in and out of the dingy has been a real treat - I am sure I am providing local entertainment for anyone watching nearby.

Thursday made for an interesting scene at the wharf. Winds were directly out of the north, which put all our boats in a precarious situation. The wind was kicking up waves that were slamming up against the concrete wall, causing a bit of havoc for the half dozen boats tied up there. No damage done, but nobody went to far from their boat that day. You were also taking your life into your own hands when trying to go ashore. Not only was it a challenge to get into the dingy from the boat, it was also an act of bravery to leap from the dingy to the ladder between waves crashing against the concrete wall. We are all suprised no one landed in the water that day.

These last few days before our departure we have been taking on some extra food, beverages, and supplies to be delivered to Palmerston Island. Palmerston has an interesting history. The lineage of all the islanders can be traced to William Marster, an Englishman and a ship's carpenter, who arrived on the small island in the 1860's with three polynesian wives. There are now 3 main families living on the island (all speaking quite good English!), with other Marsters scattered throughout the Cooks, New Zealand, and Australia. Knowing that some of these islands don't see a supply ship very often, earlier in the week I had contacted Tere Marsters via email and asked if we could bring anything their way. His wife Yvonne and daughter Shekinah (I love that name!) just happened to be arriving at Raro on Tuesday this past week and so we coordinated with her to get the word out to everyone that we were taking a load of supplies on to Palmerston. People started arriving at the wharf on F riday with loads of goods to be hoisted onto Orcinius and taken to relatives back on Palmerston - racks of bottled soda, canned and dry goods, fruits, vegies, flat screen TVs, and BANANAS! (More in a minute about the bananas!) So we cleared out all of our cushions, pillows and all our other 'misc stuff' that gets stuffed into an unoccupied birth over time and stuffed it all into the forward birth - to make room for all the Palmerston supplies. Then John rigged up our topping lift halyard with a second control line, all of which we took to shore, and using a big canvas bag supplied by Charisma, we swung the goods from shore to boat - I think we did this at least 50 times! People were coming by with more stuff up until Sunday morning just before we were getting ready to pull away from the dock - I think we loaded over 1500 pounds of goods onboard! But we didn't turn anyone's goods away - we took it all on board. So not only is our back port birth full, we also have boxes and c oolers under our inside dining table, outside under the cockpit dining table, and bags of onions, potatoes and bananas stored up top on LeDoux Beach (up on the flybridge where our large cushion is). Bob and Ann were a huge help in getting all this stowed away - and will meet us at the other end in Palmerston to help us get it off loaded as well - thanks you guys!

And now for the bewildering case of the banana bundle that slipped away in the middle of the night! So on Friday we received a large stalk of bananas to be delivered to Palmerston. Before storing any stalk of bananas onboard we always tie them off to the back end of the boat in the salt water for a few hours to get rid of any little critters that might be lirking on them. So this was no different. John tied the large stalk of bananas off the back end of Orcinius and let them be for the night. When we looked the next morning they were gone - the bananas had slipped away! John swore someone had stolen them as there was no knot at the end of the rope where he had tied the bananas. The rest of us are suspect that it might have been a poorly tied knot, as we believe bananas are not a hot item on these islands as they grow everywhere, plus none of our dingies are missing - which we think would have easily been taken with the bananas if someone were up to no good. But John is adame nt that he tied the perfect knot, so I guess we will never know. So at the market later that morning I went in search of a large stalk of bananas to replace the ones we had lost. Lots of bananas are sold at the market, but in smaller bunches of 12 or so. After asking around a bit, I was directed to talk to the lady selling bananas out of her red truck, her name was Appie. I told her of our banana plite, and she got a good laugh out of it. She didn't have any large stalks with her at the market, but she said she would go home after the market was done and bring a large stalk of green bananas to the wharf around noon. Sure enough she showed up on her scooter with a very large stalk of green bananas - and wouldn't take a dime for them! How cool was that! So we took our chances with bugs, and just loaded the bananas straight onto Orcinius without soaking them in the water this time. Later in the day, more stalks of bananas arrived and straight onto Orcinius they were loaded - up top on the fly bridge. We currently have lots of cardboard onboard for the next few days as well - it couldn't be avoided. So we will keep our fingers crossed as to our bug situation once we have delivered everything to Palmerston. Offloading everything in Palmerston will be our next big challenge! Let's hope the seas are calm...

Lisa