SUWARROW

We took the weather window to go to Suwarrow (500 miles), forecast was 10 knots, picking up on the last day.  This is not really what we look for as we generally don’t think of ourselves moving in 10 knots, but we had enough diesel, so off we went with Somerset, Pacific Flyer and Monkey Fist. 

We drive/motor sail the first day, charging the batteries and making water.  Then the next day we put up the gennicker and with 10-12 knot and flat seas we made good speed, we averaged almost 6 knots.   We took the gennicker down at night and flew the full main the first night, then a reefed main the next night.  This too worked well.   Still once Pacific Flyer caught the wind she was gone, or as Paul on Monkey Fist said “now you know why she is called Pacific Flyer”!  The last day the wind did pick up and the seas came from 3 directions and it was sloppy, so we were glad to get in.

The flat seas made not only for a good passage, but good fishing.  Or maybe the good fishing made for a good passage.  “Fish on”!  The rod holder breaks, so it must be a biggie!  Cheryl is working the rod and reel, I am handing the line in two feet at a time.  We bring it in 50 feet, let it run.  Bring it in 50 feet, let it run.  Then bring in the fish.  I hold it by the leader, out of the water, while Cheryl gets the gaff.  A swing and a miss.  A swing and Interlude.  A swing and a hit.  We get the fish on board, a 48 inch (yes, 4 foot) Wahoo!  WAHOO!! is shouted many times over the next couple of days!

WAHOOOOOOOO......

Suwarrow is a marine park, part of the Northern Cook Islands.  They have 2 rangers on an atoll, who among other things do your paper work and collect the fees.  The atoll has fresh water and someone has donated the shell of a life raft so you can do laundry, one half for washing and one half for rinsing!  The agitator is your feet, so you do the laundry dance, which is cha-cha-cha-swish, cha-cha-cha-dip!  The line was in the sun and wind, so the sheets were dry in an hour!

Clean sheets Yeah!

The bad weather we came in on stayed for our whole time there.  So we spent much of our time on the boat.  Each night was either drinks on shore or a pot luck if you wanted.  Oh my God, someone brought a salad, greens, fresh stuff!  After 2 months when you see a salad elbows came out and forks dig in, a riot broke out in the pot luck line!

When the wind finally dropped below 20 knots (to say, 19) we went for a snorkel.  The visibility was great, despite the wind.  Lots of corals and lots of fish.  So the next day we went to the manta cleaning station.  We spent about an hour and a half with the mantas, just amazing.  There were three in total, the one kept coming back.  They did not mind us being there, watching the cleaning and the dance was priceless.

 

Cheryl dancing with the Manta

 

You meet some very gifted people on boats.  We crossed the Pacific with a boat called Full Monte, in fact they were one of the ones we saw and spoke to on VHF during the crossing.  The daughter, Jessica, age 13, is a poet.  She had written a poem about the crossing the Pacific and we had a long awaited date for her to read it to us and for us to have cookies.  Her poem was amazing; she really captured the feeling of crossing the pacific.  And the brownies were great too.

Three boats presented:  Movie night under the stars.  Somerset with its screen and projector, Monkey Fist with its amplifier and Interlude with her generator showed Master and Commander on anchorage island in Suwarrow.

We have been travelling with Somerset for a while and Sunday was Jim’s birthday and our last evening together.  So dinner was on Interlude with all of Jim’s favourites.  Cheryl made bacon wrapped water chestnuts as an appetizer.  Carol brought a bottle of Moet Chandon!  Dinner was stuffed lamb with massive amounts of potatoes (for Jim and Cheryl) and roasted vegetables.  Desert was Blueberry Crumble.  It was a great way to celebrate Jim’s birthday and the time we had spent together.

The weather window for our trip to Somoa, 507 nautical miles was 20 knots for the first few days, then to diminish to 15 knots.  Lets see.  We had squalls the first night, sustained 35, so we had only a kerchief up and still averaged in the high fives, in fact did 10.5 knots at one point.  Basically the wind speed for the passage was 25-30, plus squalls.  At times on the passage we did have the whole head sail up, but really not that long.  And the seas, confused, which is not fun.  (Our friends who left at the same time going south to Tonga had it way worse, because of their angles to the waves, more wind, squalls for longer and the passage was longer!)

We arrive on Friday morning, we thought.  It seems that the date line has been moved!  And it is Saturday in Somoa.  No one works on the weekend so we stay on anchor on the boat as we have not cleared:  Health, Immigration, Customs or Quarantine!