Suwarrow photos

Axel caught the biggest trevally

 Ranger Harry and his wife Vaine

Shark feeding frenzy

Sep 23-27 Suwarrow, Sep 27-Oct 1 enroute to Niue

We really enjoyed Suwarrow. This island has sporadically been inhabited by 1 or 2 people, currently the only occupants are the ranger and his wife that live there for 6 months a year. There is no public transportation to the island, so you can only get there by private yacht. Even the government and trade boats don't come by. The government paid to divert a transport boat to the island to drop the ranger and his wife off in May, but they keep hoping and asking for any boat that is going to another one of the Cook Islands to take them, as they are uncertain that the government will come pick them up this year. So it is extremely unique to get to visit a place in this world that is so difficult to reach. It is absolutely unblemished by first world priorities.

The reefs were teeming with fish and a garden of colorful coral, making the snorkeling and fishing incredible. We caught trevally, emperor fish and goat fish so we ate well. We relaxed on the beach with the ranger Harry and his wife Vaine. We hung out for hours in the warmest water I have ever been in. Even Axel did not want to get out of this water. On the far side of the island we fed the sharks our fish cleanings and got fantastic feeding frenzies. There are a lot of sharks in Suwarrow. The most prevalent are the black tip reef sharks, followed by the white tip reef sharks, both of which are thankfully harmless. Unfortunately, they have some grey sharks, and I did not like those. We did some school work, which is one of my least favorite activities with the kids, especially Axel, as it can be like pulling teeth to get him focused and started on his work.  We had quite a bit of fun and good food, as we celebrated Gary and my 19th anniversary and Gigi's 12th birthday.

For our anniversary we enjoyed a lot of really good food and wine. We had beef bourguignon and Gigi made a fantastic banana cream pie. For Gigi's birthday I made hamburger buns, so we could have burgers for lunch. Then for dinner we had fresh caught emperor fish with lemon pasta and caesar salad, topped off with chocolate cupcakes with pink custard frosting (that Gigi made). Before dinner activities included the first time we setup the xbox kinnect, so we had a rumpus session of just dance. Gigi of course was the best dancer. She got lots of nice presents including handcarved Marquesean art from Harrison and a black pearl pendant, but her favorite present was 15 minutes of sat phone time to talk with her friends.

Gary continued to pick Amiable, the sunken yacht in the anchorage, clean of any valuable parts. Every time he came back to the boat he had another piece off the boat. Looking at this boat daily reminds you how incredibly easy it can be to lose everything you have worked so hard for. On our sail from Bora Bora to Maupihaa, as we past Maupeti, we saw a catamaran that had run aground in the pass and was just off the island with one hull almost completed sunk. Fortunately the crew was rescued, but their home was soon to be at the bottom of the ocean. Due to the hazards of the pass at Maupeti the boat could not be towed into the lagoon and it was too far to tow it to Bora Bora. These 2 boats remind us that you cannot be complacent about the reefs or the passes, there are a lot of hazards out here.

Leaving the Suwarrow pass was exciting as the current pushed us through at 11.4 knots, I figure the current added about 5.5 knots.  Once clear of the Suwarrow atoll, we headed southwest toward Niue. We had an exhilarating first 24 hours covering about 192 miles, for an average of 8 knots. The wind was only about 15-25 knots, but the 3m+ waves gave us some good push. Of course that did not last, but the rest of the passage was pleasant sailing averaging between 5-7 knots.  We caught a large mahi mahi that gave Gary quite a fight. We were excited about this fish as it had been over 2 weeks since we were in a grocery store and we understood that the stores in Niue are quite limited.

We arrived in Niue at about 10:30 at night and had to find a mooring buoy in the dark. Fortunately the immigration liaison and the yacht club people were still awake and helped us over the radio so we knew what we needed to do. It took until midday the next day to actually clear through customs, but it was quite simple. Then we had to check in with the Niue Yacht Club, figure out how to get cash, since most store only accept cash, get groceries, get internet,…. Getting cash was harder than you would think it should be. You can't exchange money or get a credit card advance at the bank, there is no ATM, so we were told the only place to get cash was at the car rental agency (go figure). So after getting cash, then lunch, we went to the grocery store for the first time in 3 weeks. We were quite excited to get fresh lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and lemons. The first lemons since San Diego! Amazing how these simple food pleasures can make you happy. Although I am extremely impressed that I have managed to make our fresh food last as long and well as I have. We still had a few fresh veggies (mainly onions and celery) and fruit and one large beef roast.

Today we rented a car and toured some of Niue. We all are extremely impressed with Niue. It may be one of the nicest places to vacation anywhere. But more about that in the next blog. I am too tired from today.

Julie

Sept 23, 2014 in Suwarow by Axel

Today was one of the best days of my life. I started the day on board Nirvana, my family's sailboat, in Suvurov. Suvarov is an atoll in the Cook Islands, it is also a national park. The first thing of the day I did was school, 2 pages of math, then at noon we went for a field trip to a ship wreck.
While we started going toward the wreck we did a little trolling for fish from the dinghy. I got my lure snagged on the coral bottom so we had to go back to the boat and get another. We trolled for a little while more before reeling in our gear and heading to the ship wreck.
The ship wreck was up sitting on top of the outside reef of the atoll. We had to do a long walk across the reef to the wreck. The wreck looked like a medium sized fishing boat with around half of it on the bottom of the ocean. I got a cool piece of the wreck that was a brass pulley that we might be able to clean up with muriatic acid.
We went back to the fishing spot and went fishing. I got a strong pull on my line, but that fish got away, my dad thought it might have been an emperor fish. I got another bite, this one was a small trevally, I got it right next to the dinghy but at the last second it got off the hook. I got a third bite, this one was a gianormous trevally. I was able to get it into the dinghy and back to Nirvana for tomorrow night's dinner. I was so excited to catch such a huge fish.
Tonight we had beef bourguignon for dinner because it was my parent's anniversary. For dessert I had banana cream pie, it was epically good.
Axel

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

Enroute to Suwarrow

We are approximately 125 miles to Suwarrow, in very light wind, so we unfortunately are motor sailing. Let's hope the wind picks up soon. We made exceptional distance the first 24 hours, about 170 miles. Of course our best speed was at night sailing wing on wing going about 8.5-9 knots. Quite fun sailing, but quite tiring. If we keep going at our current pace we should arrive in Suwarrow midday tomorrow. Everyone is excited about having a break from being at sea and going ashore.
We have been occupying ourselves with baking and eating all sorts of good food. Gigi made cinnamon rolls. Axel made pizza. Harrison has made 2 banana breads so far. We have an abundance of bananas that are all ripening at the same time. We have had no shortage of good fish either. Gary caught a red snapper in the pass at Maupihaa that we ate the first night out. Harrison just caught a mahi mahi that should feed us for a few days. Axel also caught a mahi mahi, but when Harrison tried to gaff it, the fish got away. Plus we have all the good provisions we got in Bora Bora.

After a few days in Suwarrow we have the next long passage of about 525 miles to Niue. Hopefully we will have more favorable winds for that segment.
Julie

It's Harrison now, blogging for the first time at the request of friends so here it goes. It's been good to be back on Nirvana after a month in British Columbia although that month was an adventure on its own, joining another boat delivery, getting in a few nights of racing at WVYC, visiting Haida Guaii and the Cariboo all in one short but action packed month. As I said it's good to be back in the land of coconuts and boardshorts. Maupihaa was a taste of the tuamotus and I quickly fell back into the pace of snorkling and collecting coconuts.
A big thank you to Angela and Larry for the recipe for banana bread, I have been honing my at sea baking skills with tasty success. I had just started today's loaf when the call of "fish on" came from on deck and I bolted to the rod to see a blue flash off the stern. After adjusting the drag I had the upper hand and slowly but surely brought a decent sized mahi mahi alongside and Gary quickly brought it on board with a well placed gaff. I am looking forward to some hand pressed tortillas for some mahi fish tacos!
I'm sure the course on the tracker looks a bit shaky and that is an understatement to how the breeze has been. I'm looking forward to seeing Suwarrow which we have read about in Tom Neal's book An Island to Oneself as his tale was an interesting read.
That's all for now, I will try and post more through the passages to New Zealand.
Harrison

Maupihaa

We sailed from Bora Bora and got to Maupihaa yesterday. We caught a delicious red tuna along the way that we have eaten for 4 meals. Otherwise the passage was uneventful.

The Maupihaa pass is quite gnarly. It is about 40 feet wide with intense swirling current flowing out of the pass at about 4 knots. We lined up on the pass, then turned before heading in. Both Gary and I were flustered be the current, the coral heads in the pass and the fact that you can't turn about once you have started in. You really have to commit when you go through this pass. We circled a couple of times trying to decide whether to go in or head straight for Suwarrow. We decided we should not risk it, when a dinghy from another cruising boat came out and said it really wasn't that bad once you got started. They offered to be our guide, so we decided to go in. I let Gary steer this one and Harrison and I stayed on the bow to guide him. After the initial strong current, the pass spits you out into a deep lagoon, but not before you have to avoid a rather large coral head. And of course none of this is marked.

Once in the lagoon, we all breathed a huge sigh of relief, and realized that we were in one of the most beautiful atolls we had been to. We traversed the lagoon and anchored near the south end off a white sand/coral beach. We were greeted by black tip reef sharks swimming around the boat in the aquablue water. We relaxed, snorkeled, checked out the beach, kayaked and Gary went spear fishing and caught a good sized snapper. There is no cigateura on the island and we confirmed with the locals that the fish was ok to eat.

Tomorrow we head out to Suwarrow. That is about 550 miles from here. The winds look good, but not great. Maybe a little too light. Oh well, we will get there eventually. Hopefully the weather is right for entering the pass there, otherwise it is another 500 miles to Niue or 750 miles to Tonga. We have quite a bit of sailing ahead of us. Hopefully it is all fair winds and gentle seas.

Julie

Sept 10, 2014

My first entry to the blog is a salutation to French Polynesia. Seems like I've been spinning for the last year trying to get here and now we're on our way to the Cooks.

How lucky can a person be? my family, my friends…the boat, the trip!

We lie at anchor near the south tip of Bora Bora, Harry's strumming some Neal Young on the stern perch after splurging at Bloody Mary's.  Looking back there's no favorite place so far, it's all just such a great experience. Departing Point Loma with a green boat our crew of Shala, Harry, Angela and Scott made it work. The Pacific was blue and windy and green and warm and white capped and full of fish and lit by the moon. The Marquesas are impossibly beautiful and rugged to the core. The people, the pitching anchorages and the mountains, real mountains that rise from the bottom of the sea and scratch the sky with their saber toothed tops. I wilt before them but they embrace me. The people know no fear and call us Brother.

The lush and fertile slopes of the Marquesas are a striking contrast to the stark atoll plains of the Tuamotus.  Mountain men are replaced by smiling lowlanders whose only bounty comes from the sea. Crystal lagoons and the first flat water since Point Loma. The advent of charging surf is an eye opener after six months of boat prep and travel, but welcome.

Tahiti seems a metropolis but is actually another laid back Polynesian bastion, only with ice cubes. All of a sudden anything you could possibly want, even surf, maybe more than you need. I'll just say one thing about the Society Islands, Huahine!

Not a day goes by that I don't miss San Diego and anticipate our return but there's so much left to do. I really want to shake all those hands in appreciation for helping make this trip possible. First John Craig for decades of friendship and patience and diligence to see us off, of all the help the goofy trick to bypass a sticky thermo coupler on the stove may be the most appreciated. Ian and Nuka Storer for their generosity and passion for our quest. Chuck and Kathy and the gang at Ullman, more than sailmakers; special shout out to Charlie Jenkins for saving our bacon via random act of kindness. Both Rigworks and Sailing Supply for their integrity and enthusiasm.  Steve Harrison, from anchoring to using the head nothing happens without that guy. Mark Butler, always there in a pinch. Baker Marine, you really need a good compass out here. Julie's dad, Ed Petersen, we sleep well with his anchor. Congratulations to Damien and Tomira Craig on their forthcoming child and thanks for watching our home. Thanks to the members, staff and board of SDYC for absolutely helping in every way possible. Steve Harris, Tamajama kite is great in under 10 knots, too bad that's the breeze we have plenty of these days. Mark and Dorothy Steinbeck for everything. Winnie Baekkelund, we couldn't do this without you. And all our jillion friends who we can't wait to hug.

It's on to the Cooks, Tonga and New Zealand, stay tuned.

Gary