A Trip That Took Forever ... And a Day

We left Niue mid-morning on Sunday after a stormy, windy and very uncomfortable night at anchorage. We normally start our trips at first light, but this time we left a little later so we wouldn't arrive to Tonga in dark. The distance we were sailing was 248nm and if the wind is good we easily cover 140 miles a day. Our calculations had us making this crossing in 38 hours.

It all started fine. The sun was shining and the wind had settled to about 13 knots coming from North-East which was just what we needed. We left the anchorage with both sails up and happy to be back at sea, looking forward to Tonga and the promise of whales. For the better part of the first day, the wind was in our favour and even though the sea swells were against us, we were making good time.

It was sunset (my shift) when everything started to fall apart. We ran into a few rain squalls which had the wind playing tricks on us. Unfortunately it was a little more than I could handle alone, so Jens came up and took over. We had two or three squalls that night, each time turning us around trying to chase the wind. Eventually, the wind settled but it was coming directly from West and right on our nose,

We were still just barely at the halfway mark. It was a little too early to start motoring and the wind, even if it was from the wrong direction, was still blowing at 15 knots. So we did what good sailors do and we took a long tack, hoping the wind would change again at some point. We sailed on our North-West tack for 67nm before tacking again and sailing another 60nm. By this time, we had succumbed to the fact that we would be at sea a little longer than originally planned.

Such is the life of a sailor. There is either too much wind, not enough wind, or the wind is coming from the wrong direction. And to complete our experience this trip, the wind actually died out completely. There we were, 80nm from our destination in a sea that was completely calm, a beautiful full moon rising but no wind. Jens and I are both a little too impatient to wait these things out so we started the engine, changed our course to a direct line and motored the rest of the way.

We did arrive in dark, a full day later than expected. No, wait. We have to add another day to that. At some point in the night we crossed the line. The international date line that is. So our little sail that should have been a breeze, took us forever...plus a day.

Chasms, Cliffs, Caves, Coves and Coconut Crabs

Chasms, cliffs, caves and coves pretty much describes Niue. The coral and limestone body of this island has also created good holding for trees and plants so the inland portions of the island are incredibly green and dense with vegetation. The circumference of the island is dotted with scenic outlooks, all well marked and accessible. Because there is no reef around the island the waves are constantly crashing into the shore creating interesting and scenic caves and coves.

We set out to explore this little gem in the pacific and had great fun climbing down into caves with stalactites and stalagmites, exploring coves leading out to shallow low tide pools and trooping through the ancient forest with its jagged coral based floor.

On one of our walks I very nearly walked on a Coconut Crab. I was so busy talking that by the time I noticed this big guy on the trail, I was almost on top of it. It sure gave me a fright. The Coconut Crab is a species of terrestrial hermit crab and is the largest land-living arthropod. They can grow up to one meter in length and weigh as much as 4 kilos. They make good eating and are often hunted to extinction but they seem to be quite plentiful on Niue.

And then Tarzan Jens was using a rope along one of the paths on our way to see the natural arches in the Tavala bay and he slipped and scraped his elbow, back and ankle. So we made a trip to the hospital to have it looked at since I wasn't sure if he would need stitches or not.

Niue has a population of 1,600 people. There are three doctors on call and 12 nurses. It was Saturday afternoon and I think the population must be relatively healthy as there was not much going on at the hospital. Anyhow, two lovely nurses tended to Jens' wounds and started him on some penicillin which is standard practice when a cut or scrape is caused by coral as the risk of infection is quite high. No stitches were required but just for the peace of mind I think it was well worth the $15.00 we paid for the service and medication.

New-Ay

We have arrived to Niue (pronounced New-Ay) and so far have been quite impressed. Niue is described as being the largest upraised coral island in the Pacific and is 250 square kilometres and its highest point is at a mere 69 meters. With its steep, jagged coast line and no beaches the island can look a little unwelcoming, especially for us yachties who prefer a shallow, sandy bottom for anchoring. The waves crashing into the rugged coast have created coves and caves with lagoons suitable for snorkelling and swimming and just generally fun to explore.

On arrival to Niue, you contact Niue Radio by VHF radio and after a few formalities, they in turn contact the customs and immigration officials and schedule an appointment for your clearing in process. The Alofi bay has about 20 mooring balls that sit in 30 to 60 feet of water. The Commodore of the Niue Yacht Club also comes down to the pier to greet you and offers to take you up to the yacht club to sign in as they are the ones who provide the moorings. The pier is quite high and the swells can get quite large, so they have a crane to hoist your dinghy up and out of the water whenever you come to shore.

The Niue Yacht Club is touted as being "the biggest little yacht club in the world" with more members than residents on the island and probably the only yacht club in the world with no yachts of its own. Keith, the Commodore is a great ambassador for the tourist industry in Niue and proudly gives all yachties a quick orientation to the island making us all feel very welcome and very much at home.

We have arrived at the same time as S/V's Mahine Tiare (John and Amanda who operate a sailing school), Ninita, Orkestren and Hydroquest. We first met Ninita and Orkestren in Galapagos, this is the first time we have met the Canadian boat Hydroquest and we actually raced Mahine Tiare from Beveridge Reef. So it is a little of a reunion of sorts which was made rather official because Wednesdays are pot lucks at the Yacht club and all crew were in attendance together with the local members making for a very fun evening with lots of food, drinks, music and stories.

The bay we are anchored in is not sheltered or protected in any way and if the winds come from the West, the anchorage becomes very rolly and quite uncomfortable. Which is exactly what happened on Saturday night. It rained and the wind howled for a good part of the night and the ocean swells made sleeping near impossible. In the morning the sun was out and as planned, we made ready to set sail to Tonga. Time to meet the whales!

The Dive I Never Told You About

So we have been diving with sharks swimming around us ever since we got to Galapagos, right. Hammerhead sharks, reef sharks and the like. And we swam with hundreds of sharks in Fakarava, right. And we swam with Lemon Sharks in Mo'orea, right. All very cool. No drama and almost having reached a point where we had a rather laissez faire attitude towards sharks.

Well, all that has changed a little. It doesn't take much to shake you up and remind you that sharks can be quite intimidating. And you quickly remember that they are known to bite humans. Now don't get me wrong. I really hate the movie Jaws where they turn sharks into man hunting killers and I really hate the media stories of shark bites where they over-dramatise the event to the point that people vow to never swim in the sea again, when in fact, it is the coconut that vacationers should fear the most. Did you know there are more deaths by falling coconut than death by shark bite every year*. Interesting statistics, but any journalist would be hard-pressed to get the coveted front page for a story on the head cracking coconuts of the Caribbean.

So, back to the sharks. We knew when we arrived to the Society Islands in French Polynesia that the dive and snorkelling companies had taken up the habit of feeding the sharks. This guarantees that you see sharks on every trip. Well, sharks are pretty smart. And they soon associate a human being and the sound of a motor boat with free and easy food. But if that human being didn't actually bring along some food, what then? Perhaps the hand will do, or the foot might look like a delicious piece of fish. I don't know. It doesn't seem to me like the best practice in the world. Apparently the naturalists and maybe a publicised shark bite or two have recently caused them to outlaw feeding sharks at many of the islands.

We were doing a last dive at Bora Bora and the second dive of the morning was in an area where we could expect to see Lemon Sharks. Remember, these babies are big. Up to 10 feet long and are probably the more fiercer looking of all the sharks. I take that back. Most sharks look pretty fierce with the exception of the Hammerhead which looks a little silly with its eyes at the end of its flattened head, but regardless they are described as 'considered dangerous' in my fish reference book. Our dive master did mention to us that despite the banning, some of the tour operators have continued to feed the sharks so we should not get too close to the tour boat with all the snorkelers just over yonder (hint, hint).

So with that warning in mind our group of six divers goes down into the clear waters just outside the reef. The water was amazingly calm with no current so it was a very nice time to dive. We saw some Lemon Sharks but they kept their distance and pretty much ignored us. Then about halfway through our dive, I was bringing up the rear of our group of divers and noticed this one very large shark coming around, circling in and then back again, then circling in a little closer and then off again. I started to get a little nervous but what really made me pay attention was when I spotted a large tuna and when the tuna spotted the shark, he swam off so fast it was a blur in the ocean. Ok, so I figured if he didn't like the looks of that shark, then neither did I. That tuna spends a lot more time in the ocean than I do and he has probably learned to recognise a shark on the hunt or he wouldn't have gotten a chance to grow so big.

It certainly made me more than a little skittish and I quickly closed the gap between me and the rest of the group. I pointed out the shark to Jens who I guess from the expression on my face, quickly figured out that this guy had me a little frightened. Our dive master also caught on pretty fast and motioned for us to get up ahead of him. Very brave move I would say. And when sharky shark saw our group all together ready for a face off, he realised we were on to him. He made one last advance and then decided to bugger off. Well, we also decided to bugger off and headed back to the safety of the dive boat lickity split.

After this encounter and after reading the shark descriptions in my fish book a little closer where I notice that most sharks are described as 'considered dangerous' and some are 'occasionally' or 'at times aggressive and considered dangerous', that I wondered how smart was it really to be diving with sharks. Jeez Louise. I am glad I still have all my fingers and toes and I certainly have a renewed respect for sharks.

Now, to make matters worse, we heard that a yachtie who recently went to Beveridge Reef jumped in the water and promptly got bitten by a shark. Right in the rear. His girlfriend had to stitch him up. Imagine. So, needless to say, yesterday when we were at the Reef we took the dinghy with us while we were snorkelling in case we happened across a hungry shark ready to take a chunk out of my glutenous maximus and needed to make a quick exit out of the water. Of course then every time we spotted a shark, we kept a close eye on it and stayed just a little bit closer to the dinghy. It kind of makes the snorkelling experience a wee bit less relaxing than it used to be. I wonder how long it will take us to become cautiously complacent again.

The photo below is of a Blacktip Reef Shark. They get as big as 7 1/2 feet and are 'usually not dangerous'. But he still looks rather fierce!

* note: not a confirmed fact.

Segwun Lives up to its Namesake

Imagine living on an island about the size of a large city block.

Imagine that you share this island with 60 people, all part of your family ... brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins and their respective spouses.

Imagine the only food available is coconuts, chicken and fish.

Imagine that to get off the island you need to wait for a passing boat to stop in and agree to take you to another island which is at least two or three days sail.

If you can imagine all that, you have arrived at Palmerston, Cook Islands. Palmerston is at the west end of the Southern Cook Islands. Everyone on the island is a Marsters or has married a Marsters. And the Marsters are all descendants of William Marsters who arrived here in 1863. He had three wives, 17 children and 54 grandchildren when he died in 1899.

We arrived here yesterday morning and were greeted by Simon, one of fourteen children of Toaini Marsters and a great great great grandson of William. Segwun was carrying 40 kilos of sugar, 45 kilos of rice, 45 kilos of flour, a box of cookies and a couple of duffle bags of personal items to be delivered here. Not a little unlike her namesake, the regal steamship RMS Segwun of Gravenhurst who used to deliver mail to the northern outposts on the Muskoka Lakes. The delivery we made was on behalf of Yvonne Marsters who we met in Rarotonga.

Yvonne was in Rarotonga for a medical visit and when she saw our yacht in the harbour she asked if we wouldn't mind to bring some goods to Palmerston if we were headed that way. We were happy to oblige as it is quite often the locals who are helping us so it is nice to have an opportunity to return the favours. Yvonne is the principal of the school and is originally from New Zealand.

Simon was our delegate for the duration of our stay at Palmerston. It is a tradition for them to adopt visitors into one of the families, providing an island tour and shuttle service to and from the island. Palmerston is surrounded by a reef after which the depth drops like a cliff down to more than 2000 feet. You can't sail into the lagoon as it is too shallow and too crowded with coral heads. Instead, they provide mooring lines for visitors and prefer to come and collect you to bring you to shore.

Simon brought us around and showed us the school, church, Telecom office, Palmerston Administration office and his home. We met his Mother and his younger brother who is the only policeman on the island. Yes, I know. You are probably also quite surprised to know there is a policeman on an island that is in fact one big family and of the 60 residents about 30 are children attending school. As we got to meet and hear about the others on the island it appears that many are holding some sort of Government job. I suppose this supplements their main income from fishing.

They depend on a supply boat which comes by every four to six months for many of the necessities. So good planning is crucial to a varied dinner menu I would think as there is no corner store for that one thing you need. Without good planning and a well stocked pantry it would be back to the coconuts and fish diet until the next supply boat showed up. Actually, you can add chicken and pork to that. We learned that chickens and pigs eat coconut so there are plenty of chickens on the island and a few pigs being fattened up for a Christmas feast.

It has turned out to be a unique adventure, from meeting Yvonne in Rarotonga to making the delivery here in Palmerston. The icing on the cake was the humpback whale we saw yesterday. He was about five meters off the port side of the boat when he first surfaced and as he swept around the back of the boat we saw him surface two more times before he left us. Wow oh wow oh wow. What a sight.

Photos below:
1. Arriving early morning to Palmerston
2. Making the delivery. On board is the island Nurse and the government official for Agriculture and Customs (Simon's brother)
3. The church and graveyard where William Marsters is buried. Simon and Jens following.
4. The original home of William Marsters
5. The Telecom office and phone booth.
6. The school.
7. Simon and his Mother at home.

Venus and the Moon

We are back out to sea headed for a little known place called Beveridge Reef. This is a submerged reef and lagoon about three quarters of the way between Palmerston and Niue. We hope to stop for a night and a bit of snorkelling before continuing to Niue.

Sitting in the cockpit watching the moon and the stars. And this time, the moon and planet Venus hanging off to the right. It's a beautiful crescent moon setting off the horizon. We have had some gorgeous nights these past few days. Yes, thats right. I am back on night watch and with not much else to do but ponder the stars and the universe and the planet we live on.

And I think of the strange life we are living. We meet people living equally strange or different lives to what we have known. Like those on Palmerston. But the common thread is the kindness of people to strangers. Simon, our host on Palmerston gifted us with some parrot fish. We had never before tried it as we were always concerned with ciguatera, a poison that comes from the coral that makes up the diet of the parrot fish. However, the parrot fish from this particular reef are free of this poison and make really delicious eating. And as a thank you for delivering the goods from Rarotonga, the Palmerston Administration gifted us with two big packs of Wahoo filets. We were also given some freshly caught shark meat from the fellows on s/v Nirvana who we have recently run into at a couple of anchorages. So regardless of our lack of fishing luck, we now have plenty of fish in our freezer.

We arrived to Beveridge Reef on the morning of our third day at sea. Beveridge Reef is probably not shown in your atlas and I wonder if you can even find it on Google Earth. So I will give you the GPS coordinates to help you. It is at 20°00'000"S and 167°47'000"W. If you haven't been able to find us on your maps, you can always refer to our track on TrackMyTour which you can find at http://trackmytour.com/p3NMd.

The reef itself is pretty much submerged and is only visible at low tide and because of the waves crashing over it. It creates a lovely lagoon with depths of about 30 feet in the middle and coming up to shallow edges suitable for anchoring with sandy bottoms at about 12 feet. The coral and fish life is abundant and the water is crystal clear. So you would think we would have this little known place, an island oasis of sorts in the middle of the ocean, all to ourselves. We had not seen anyone during our passage, but on arriving here we found two other sailboats already in the lagoon.

Our friends John and Amanda on their 46' Halberg Rasy had arrived a couple of days previous having sailed directly from Rarotonga where we had last met them. They run a sailing school and they had a new crew on board having dropped off the students that had sailed with them from Tahiti. This group will be with them for the next two weeks learning everything necessary to get a Captain's license. And we didn't meet the other boat as we anchored at the far end of the lagoon but we spoke to him on the radio when he gave us some guidance through the pass and we were told he is sailing single handed and has been here for a week or so.

We had a restful afternoon and evening. Did a bit of snorkelling (saw some lovely coral and a white sandy bottom that was littered with Auger Shells), a bit of cleaning up and a little repair on a battcar on the main sail that had succumbed to the pressures of the winds. After a quiet night, we are now ready for the 24 hour sail to Niue.

Aitutaki, Cook Islands

We spent five days on Rarotonga, a couple of them just waiting for weather. A bad weather system came in on Monday and has hung around for almost a week now bringing cold weather, rain and lots of wind. We are not used to complaining about the weather. The nights temperature was getting down to about 15° c. We had to dig out some warmer clothes and jackets. Sadly, it was just too cold to go snorkeling in the lagoon here so we busied ourselves with other things instead. We rented a scooter for a couple of days and toured the island. Very scenic and it looks like an ideal vacation spot. Plenty of fine dining, shops, beaches, golf course, diving, hiking and night clubs. They even have a movie theatre.

We had planned to sail out on Wednesday, but the weather was not great so we left on Thursday. Actually, it turned out to be really gusty on Thursday as well. But we sailed out anyway and I promptly got seasick. The worst ever even though I took some tablets. I crawled below leaving Jens to manage the 30knot winds and swells so big and so many it reminded me of the movie, The Perfect Storm. It was not a good day. Trust me. It was really not a good day. Oh, we weren't in any danger. Not at all. This boat can handle the weather. And Jens will say it was not so bad. But I felt like I was dying and couldn't help wondering "What the Heavens Am I Doing Here".

Twenty-four hours later we arrived to Aitutaki and entered the calm waters of the lagoon. It was a bit tricky as the pass is narrow and shallow and the entire map is off by about 300 meters as you can see in the picture below where the yellow line is our track and the green bits is coral reef. So after a bit of hesitation and indecision as to whether or not we would give it a go, we finally saw a catamaran coming out which showed us the route in. We set anchor just at the end of the pass and breathed a huge sigh of relieve.

As soon as we were in calmer waters on the lee side of the reef I immediately felt better and once we were anchored I prepared a good breakfast for the Captain who had pulled an all-nighter and was exhausted. The wind continued to howl together with intermittent rain showers so we spent the day on board recovering from our short but intense journey.

The wind and rain has continued. We hope it clears up soon as the lagoon here is said to be really beautiful with plenty of reef life. We made a short visit to the island today. Everything is closed as is typical for Saturday afternoons and Sundays. But we found some wifi and checked the weather forecast. It should be good for a departure on Monday.

We discovered the water temperature in the lagoon is a very brisk 22°c, much colder than the usual 29° we have been used to. I don't know why the temperature would be so much colder inside the lagoon than outside. But if the sun comes out today, I am determined to do a bit of snorkelling. Hah! Let's see. Those who know me know that I am a chicken when it comes to jumping into cold water.

And, yes the sun came out so off we went in the dinghy to do a bit of snorkelling. The water was refreshing :). Really. It wasn't so bad especially wearing our wetsuits. The visibility was excellent and the coral was in great shape. And we saw the hugest giant clams ever. Oh, they were magnificent. I wish I could have taken a photo. They were at least a foot in length and many of them were not embedded into a coral as we usually see them, but were on the sand bottom. Very cool. And that together with a purple starfish and a turtle made it a good afternoon of snorkelling.

Rarotonga, Cook Islands

It is about 540 nautical miles from Bora Bora to Rarotonga. We had hoped to stop in Maupiti for a day or so, but when we got there the swells were high and the waves were crashing into the pass. We don't know how good we are at surfing and although we thought it wouldn't be too difficult to enter, we weren't so sure as to how easy it would be to get out again. We weren't in the mood to be stuck in a lagoon for what could have been a week or more waiting for the seas to calm down, so we just continued on and headed for Rarotonga, the largest of the Cook Islands.

We had good wind for the first two days, zipping along at about 7 knots an hour which is about 13 km per hour. On second thought perhaps zipping along is a bit of an exaggeration since you can ride a bike faster than that. Anyhow, we were making good time and thought we would arrive late on Friday. And as is typical of sailing, as soon as you start to take the wind for granted, it just goes and blows itself right out. The wind slowly died and we reluctantly took down the stay sail and the genoa and finally the main sail and started the engine. There's not much point in being halfway there and just bobbing in the ocean like a big plastic cork going nowhere. We pretty much had to motor the rest of the way and arrived early Saturday morning.

First business has to be taken care of. We met with the Harbour master, Saungaki Rasmussen. Imagine that, a Danish Harbour master. Seems his great grandfather was a Viggo Rasmussen, but it certainly isn't obvious to look at him that he is of Danish ancestry. He has never been to Denmark but has travelled to Germany.

We did a stern tie which is a bit complicated. It means we drop the anchor and back up to the pier pulling the anchor tight. Then we throw two lines to the pier and tie up there. The swells are too big and the pier too high so we can't put a bridge across to get to shore. Instead we have to use the dinghy even though we are only three meters away.

We couldn't leave the boat until the Health Inspector came aboard. He did a spray of the boat, (actually spritzed this bug killer a couple of times), filled in some paperwork, collected $25 and told us we could go to shore as the Customs guy likely wouldn't come by till Monday. Ok. Didn't sound quite right but what the heck.

It was recommended that we visit the Saturday market which was just 100 meters from the city dock. I think the whole island was there selling souvenirs, baked goods, food, vegetables and island tours. They also had a performance with singing, drums and dancing and ukuleles. And as we walked around we realized Rarotonga is very much a tourist destination for Aussies and Kiwis.

We proceeded to the Police Station to get our Cook Island driving license so we could rent a scooter for a couple of days. They took our passport and drivers license, snapped a photo and voila, we both now have an official Cook Island drivers license.