Sept 22, 2014 Suwarow

We have been safely in Suwarrow for a couple of days now. Enjoying the insanely warm water, it is about 90F. It is so warm that even Axel doesn't complain it is cold, he actually wants to stay in the water longer. We are also enjoying chatting with the ranger, Harry, and his wife, Vaine, both native Cook Islanders. They have many jobs including doing all of the customs and immigration formalities, plus rangers plus working for the ministry of environment. They get dropped off on the island May 1 and picked up Nov 1. They arrive with all of their supplies for 6 months, so needless to say when we offered them a few cold beers they were extremely happy.
Suwarrow, or as it used to be called Suvarov, is an atoll consisting of numerous motus spread out about 8 miles in each direction. The atoll is famous for its former inhabitant, Tom Neale. He lived alone on the island for about 25 years. He didn't spend the entire time on the island, he would go back to Rarotonga to his wife and kids every so often. He wrote about his adventures in an entertaining book called "An Island to Oneself." Since he omitted to make any note that he had a family in that book, the locals have mixed feelings about him. Thanks to Dan Stroud, we had the book, and I finally got a chance to read it during our 3 day passage to the island.
The pass into the lagoon is interesting as you line up with an island across the atoll until you are almost in the pass then you must turn to port to clear a barely sunken reef. Not hard during daylight, but still challenging, but impossible to do at night. Luckily we arrived mid afternoon, but while I am sitting here typing this I am watching a sailboat standing off the island for the night as they arrived at 5:00 pm, just barely too late to see the reef, so they must sail back and forth until morning to safely enter the pass.
The anchorage is beautiful, but the threat of peril from coral reefs is omnipresent, as there is a sunken boat only a few feet away from us. This boat sank only a month prior to our arrival. We saw this boat in previous ports, it is a 52 foot Amel called Amiable. This is an expensive boat, beautifully outfitted. Not surprisingly Gary has been perusing the vessel for any parts that we could use, even though the ranger said it was strictly off limits to go on the vessel. Maritime salvage rights rule. So far we have some new lines and a 60 lb stainless plow anchor.
This atoll has amazing fishing. Gary has so far caught a yellow lipped emperor fish, a trevally, and hooked up with a sailfish, but unfortunately did not land it. We have had so much fish lately that we are concerned we may waste some of the nice beef we bought in Bora Bora, so we have been eating a lot of protein at every meal. Harrison has been hard at work climbing coconut trees to supply us with drinking coconuts. On the baking front Gigi and Axel made pretzels, Gigi made another banana bread, and Gary made wheat bread.
We have been back at school work, punctuated with snorkeling, kayaking and an exploratory walk around anchorage island today. Tomorrow brings Gary and my 19th wedding anniversary! This trip is our present to each other, and it is an adventure that will fill us with years of memories. We couldn't have got here without the help of so many friends. Thank you.
Fair sailing,
Julie