Sailing Brahminy: July 2015

Wednesday 22 July 2015

PALMERSTON ISLAND

Palmerston Island - 18.0667° S, 163.1667° W

Palmerston Island, a true atoll consists of a number of sandy motu’s on a continuous ring of coral reef enclosing a huge lagoon. The largest of the islets include Palmerston, North Island, Leicester, Primrose, Toms, and Cooks. Palmerston is the only inhabited motu. There are several small passages through the reef for boats, though there is no safe entry for yachts. There is no airfield so sailing here is the only option.

All the islets are wooded with coconut palms, pandanus, and native bush. There are some of the biggest old growth Tamanu trees we have seen anywhere here with their great roots anchoring the sandy islands down when the storms roll across the Pacific. These Tamanu trees were and still are heavily exploited for their rich dark red timber for building and traditional outrigger canoes so it was a relief to see some of these ancient trees still standing on the more remote Cooks. There are only 62 people living in Palmerston all descendents of William Marsters an English barrel Maker and ships carpenter who settled on the island in 1863 with 3 wives from Penrhyn Island in the Northern Cooks. William Marsters fathered 23 children and now the island is divided into 3 main family groups all direct descendents.

There are shipwrecks everywhere both new and old, testament to the viscous swells and squalls, which roll across east to west. William Marster’s original house is still standing built from huge what look like Oregon beams salvaged from an old wreck. You can only anchor outside the reef and lagoon in 15 – 25 m and need to carefully monitor your yacht in case the wind swings from the west, which will send you towards the reef. This was the fate of an American yacht wrecked here in 2011 and now upturned on the beach and used as a storage shed by Eddie Marsters, our host for our time in Palmerston.

On arrival into Palmerston, one of the local families will host you. Most of the time it is a race by several boats and the one that gets to your yacht first becomes your host. As your host they will look after you taking you via dingy through the pass and give you a tour of the island. You are not obliged to help them or give them supplies but of coarse you should give what you can spare as it is very difficult for the people here to get supplies. Anything is appreciated especially fresh food, old rope, fiberglass or epoxy, magazines, newspapers, books cloths or whatever! All the houses on the islands have salvaged bits of shipwrecks or gifts from yachties incorporated into the buildings. Our host was Eddie and he treated us to an amazing traditional lunch and great tour of the island with his nephew. The people here speak English with a noticeable ‘olde’ English accent to it making it pretty unique in the Cooks, let alone South Pacific. There is a beautiful little school here as well as the church. There are of coarse no shops or anything like that on the island. We met another family Bill and Caroline on the island who live just behind the cemetery. If you get a chance to go and say hello to these lovely and hospitable people, please do, they will welcome you with open arms and a hot cup of coffee. We got the feeling Bill doesn’t bother with the racing out to the yachts to try and host people. The snorkeling here was unbelievable both inside and outside the reef and well worth it!

A bit concerning to see a wrecked yacht as soon as we stepped onshore!

School on Palmerston Island!

The old graveyard

The main street, including the church and original house of William Marsters

William Marsters original home

William Marsters home, built from massive Oregon beams from a wrecked ship.

The old yacht club!

Bill and Caroline's home

Traditional lunch, with Eddies family and our sailing friends from Hot Lips

Eddies mother who told us stories of the old days of Palmeston Island

One of the roads through the island

Selfie!

Huge Old Growth Tamanu Trees

Palmerston Island

Friday 10 July 2015

AITUTAKI, Cook Islands

The dark silhouette of the peak of Aitutaki rose out of the night as we approached in darkness. As we sailed closer, the large island could be made out as the first rays of the sun glowed the eastern horizon. We had dodged several squalls during the night and now a light rain fell. The tide was high at 0900 and this was the best time to get through the pass. This pass it must be said was the most frightening of all the passes so far navigated on our voyage. There is always a strong outflow of current through the pass but this is magnified when there is a big swell running as the sea pounds the reef overflowing into the lagoon and needs to escape back out into the ocean. The swell was big that day at 3.5m. I decided to traverse the pass in the dingy first and checked it out several times while Sara kept Brahminy well away from the reef. It was tight, 8 metres across, with unforgiving reef either side and 6 knots of surging current steaming out creating 1 metre standing waves in the centre. It shallowed dramatically once through to about 1.3m and that was at high tide!

The next high tide wasn’t until late afternoon when the sun would be low in the sky making it more difficult to navigate the reef so the decision was made to go for it. I took a to the northern side of the approach of the pass as the current was a little less. The force of the outflow was extreme and one slight turn of the yacht or an engine stalling, gear cable breaking or any other slight breakdown would mean that we would be on the reef. I pushed both engines to full throttle at 3 thousand revs, something I rarely do and we proceeded at 1 knot with 6 knots of surging water steaming, bubbling and breaking past us. And we were through! As soon as we passed the thresh hold it calmed off and we navigated down the 500m channel to the anchorage. PHEW!!!

We were boarded by Quarantine, health and customs and everyone was very welcoming and friendly. We couldn’t wait to explore the island. Sara and I hired bicycles and rode around the entire island, which took a day stopping at lovely beaches, fruit plantations and homegrown cafes along the way. Aitutaki is a jewel in the Pacific, It is totally unspoilt, the people are absolutely lovely and there is zero crime. After French Polynesia with the snobby French bureaucracy, the constant fear of theft and the language barrier, this was like paradise.

We volunteered for a few days at an organic plantation and café with a lovely lady named Sonja, a 20-year resident of Aitutaki at Tuano’s Café. This is a must, Sonja is lovely, her food is absolutely delicious and the garden is a sanctuary for weary travellers. It was great to get my hands in the earth again, weeding and planting after so much time in the ocean, it was literally very ‘grounding’ for me and relaxed my nerves after so many open ocean sea miles. We harvested some bamboo and made an outdoor shower for Sonja’s ‘woofers’ (volunteer workers) and Sara helped in the kitchen making coconut milks from scratch, turmeric infused breads and breadfruit lasagne!

The weather turned and we stayed in Aitutaki for 10 days to await the trades again, but loved every minute of it. The island council recently banned anyone taking their own tenders into the lagoon as several incidents had occurred like someone spearing and killing ‘old George’, a massive GT (Giant Trevally) who the tour operators had fed for years to the delight of the tourists. We took a lagoon tour to some of the motus and were stoked to see nesting Red Tail Tropic birds with chicks, a first for me! We swam with some huge GT’s, and three Hump Head Maori Wrasse, amazing!

We departed early one mooring and the swell was a lot less, we were ‘shot out ‘of the lagoon at high speed and it was a little sad to leave. We made for Palmeston Island, 400NM to the South West.