We left French Polynesia on Friday, August 22 for Suwarrow Atoll (Survarov), a national park in the Cook’s Islands some 700 miles west northwest of Bora Bora. In many ways our passage was typical of trade wind sailing as out of the 4 days at sea half the time we had 15-20 knots of wind. However, it was fortuitous that we took the opportunity to raise the main inside of the lagoon before departure as within 10 minutes of hoisting anchor our engine died. Thanks to one of the few improvements we made on Interlude before departing California Kurt had installed a new Racor fuel filter that allowed him to easily change the clogged filter in only 10 minutes. It is times like these that you are grateful that you are on a sailboat and not just a powerboat. By 1400 we had full main and reacher up and were sailing in 15 knots of breeze, as good as trade wind sailing gets, conditions that continued for the first 2 days. That evening we were treated with crystal clear skies that allowed us to sight Mars, which we initially took for being an UFO until we recalled the emails we had received from some of you with the notice about its closest proximity to earth in 300 years. Our easy sailing ended at 2200 on Saturday when the wind died and intermittent squalls became the norm for the next 24 hours. Our course was taking us through what is called the South Pacific Convergence Zone some 1000 miles long and wide and this, coupled with a front, created gusts of 30 knots. Kurt again used his seamanship skills to chart a more northerly course, allowing us to skirt the edge of turbulent weather, unlike some of our cruiser friends that endured 40 knot sustained winds. However we were not immune from minor mishaps. During one squall the wind picked up from 0 to 26 knots in 2 minutes and our mainsail,l which had one reef in it while motoring, blew out at the seam above the first reef. Once safely at anchor Kurt spent the first day on the boson’s chair for 8 hours sewing and gluing (3M 5200 fast cure) the seam. With luck it will last us until New Zealand where we plan on getting new sails.

Since leaving the Tuamotus we had been going through atoll withdrawal. An atoll is simply a ring of coral with a lagoon in the middle. The water is crystal clear due to the lack of sediment from rainwater runoff from a central island. The best underwater visibility we have ever seen has been on atolls with 100 feet plus visibility and abundant sea life. Suwarrow Atoll was discovered in 1814 by Russian explorer Mikhail Laserev and was named after his ship Suvarov. The spelling now more closely represents the Polynesian pronunciation. Other historical highlights include: the discovery of buried Spanish treasure with skeletons, a heroic feat of survival by writer Robert Dean Frisbee and his family who tied themselves to a large Tamanu tree during a hurricane, and New Zealander Tom Neale’s 25 solitary years chronicled in his book An Island to Oneself.

The atoll’s population today is Park Ranger/Caretaker Papa John, his assistant Baker and Wolfgang, a German journalist/physician currently making a documentary on Suwarrow. They come 600 miles from Rarotonga by supply ship are only on the island a few months out of the year when it is not cyclone season. The main motu is only a few feet above sea level and even with the new shelter Papa John does not want to repeat any of the heroics of the previous inhabitants.

One can only visit Suwarrow by private vessel. In fact, out of the 8,000 plus miles we have traveled to date since leaving the Bay Area over a year ago, Suwarrow is the first place we have been without an airport or regular supply ships linking it to civilization. It is also not close enough to populated areas to be visited by tourists or local fisherman. In a 600 mile radius around Suwarrow there is nothing but the deep blue water of the unobstructed Pacific Ocean. The island’s only visitors are the migrating yachties leaving French Polynesia and heading west that have a choice of a southern route through the southern Cook Islands or a northern route via Suwarrow. During our stay the migration of boats set a new record of 23 yachts at anchorage island Suwarrow. Within a week the number had dwindled back to ten.

Papa John and his assistant spend the bulk of their time working 0600 to midnight to deliver a big Polynesian feast for the cruisers that takes place every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The day before the feast Papa John fishes, hunts for coconut crabs and collects tern eggs. Yachties are invited to join him and we along with seven other cruisers all piled into his 12 foot aluminum skiff and motored across the lagoon to another set of motus called Seven Islands. Here he showed us a whirlpool created by an underground tunnel about 200 yards connecting the lagoon with the ocean outside the reef. This tunnel has a very strong flow when tide is going in or out and you definitely wouldn’t want to accidentally swim over it on an ebb tide. We continued ashore where we learned how to catch the coconut crab that live in shallow burrows in the underbrush. The traditional method is to dig behind the crab and then pull them out by grabbing their behinds. The reason for doing this is they have very powerful claws that are used to crack open coconuts, as well as for self defense, and they sit in their burrows with their claws ready to snap off your finger if one just reached in their hole to grab them. Kurt demonstrated his engineering skills by coming up with his own method: he found a stick and positioned near the crab’s claw at the front of the burrow and as the crab grabbed the stick Kurt just pulled the stubborn crab out of the hole!

With settled weather, we were treated to several days of clear blue skies and glassy smooth 82 degree water with 150 feet of visibility. We decided to take the dinghy out to the pass for a drift snorkel. Kurt rolled over the side and reported several sharks in the distance. All of a sudden he jumped back in the dinghy and grabbed Katie by the swim top to keep her from going over the side. Here we were in 60 feet of water drifting out to sea without another soul in sight surrounded by 8 six to eight foot grey sharks! Unlike the mostly harmless black and white tip reef sharks that are always around during our snorks, these greys were far more aggressive. As we stood up in the dinghy to get a good look at them, one of them rammed the transom so hard that both of us lost our balance and landed on our butts. Our curiosity was overridden by our sense of self preservation and we were never so happy to have our trusty outboard engine start up on the first pull. Exit stage left before these killing machines figured out that we were in an inflatable dinghy. Not completely discouraged we did manage to enjoy a beautiful snorkel off a motu in a less frequented by greys. Here were more tropical reef fish than we had seen before (included sea turtles). After sharing our story with several cruisers in Suwarrow and subsequent anchorages it seems that sharks are getting more aggressive toward humans and we have heard numerous stories of shark attacks. The consensus is that with all the spear fishing that occurs the sharks are learning to associate humans with free meals.

We befriended Papa John and gave him fishing supplies of hooks, lures, weights and line which were much appreciated. He invited Kurt to join him and Wolfgang for an early morning fishing trip in his aluminum skiff outside the lagoon. At 0500 Kurt set out in 20 knot winds and rain armed with his rod and reel. After two hours of trolling on the outside of the reef the men came back with five barracuda, two cravelle jacks, and one yellowfin tuna. Papa John gave Kurt his choice of the catch and with the cravelle and the barracuda he went about cleaning the fish on our scoop stern. What a feast of fish guts and heads for the local reef sharks! That night we had Wolfgang and Papa John over for some sushi complete with Nori, Wasabi and Sake. Both had never had raw fish Japanese style and were very polite to give it a try considering in the South Pacific the only way to prep raw fish is with coconut milk and lime (Poisson Crue).

The following day it rained all day long and we entertained ourselves by watching movies and baking cookies for that evening’s potluck dinner ashore. Once ashore, Papa John gave us a handcrafted lure made out of oyster shell and coconut husks that he had worked the better part of a day making, included diving for the shell. The theory is the lure skips along the water with a short line connected to a bamboo rod and when the tuna bits the lure the fisherman is to flip the fish into the boat and in that motion the fish releases the lure. For thousands of years this is how the islanders caught their fish. After dinner the 40 plus cruisers ashore and our hosts entertained themselves by singing songs, dancing and Kurt contributed by leading the group in sea chanties. It is amazing how much fun you can have out in the middle of nowhere with 40 people you just meet. That evening we said goodbye to our new friends and on Monday, September 8 we left Suwarrow under blue skies, settled weather with 10-15 knots of wind on a broad reach. Our hearts were filled with wonderful memories of generous hosts, friendly cruisers and the most abundant and unspoiled wildlife we had seen on our trip so far.

Our next stop is in the Vava’u group of Tonga, The Friendly Islands where we will have some friends and family visit us. We wish you health and happiness in all that you do.

Love,
Kurt & Katie