Received June 9th, I apologize...I've been sooooo busy.
June 9
We did the 530 miles from Bora Bora to the Cook Island’s Rarotonga in a little under 4 days, quite good! The trip was pleasant I thought, although a bit rolly the first couple of days which made Louie seasick. On our 3rd day out we spotted a passenger ship in front of us just as the sun was starting to peek over the horizon. We thought it was heading straight at us so we radioed it to ask where it was going since our AIS had told us it was heading the same direction we were. The captain told us they were heading to Rarotonga but had changed route to head to Bora Bora since they heard the weather was really rough in Rarotonga with 30 knots of wind and 10 foot seas. We were not worried about his weather report because we checked the weather when we left and it said it would get calmer the closer to the Cook Islands we got and that was actually what happened.
We arrived in Rarotonga’s Avatui harbor at 3am!! We could barely see anything around us, we even struggled to see our lead in lights because of a massive fuel ship’s blinding deck lights. Once we got in we dropped anchor in the middle of the bay, which is actually quite small, then went to sleep. All the other sail boats in the harbor (around 7) where tied up stern to up to the wharf, this is not something we are very interested in attempting in our little tank that has very little steerage in reverse. If there was a wide space for us to try it we would have but there was only a cosy little spot between two other yachts. After a few hours sleep we radioed the harbormaster and got permission to tie up to the fishing boat jetty just opposite the wharf.
Rarotonga is a wonderful little island! Getting closer to Australia we are back in more friendly territory. French Polynesia, although beautiful, in many places we found the locals to be very unwelcoming, not in the Cook Islands!! When it comes to people in general what we have found is that Americans, Aussies, and New Zealanders are the friendliest. By contrast, French, German, and English are not so pleasant! We have also met a few people from Denmark that are lovely and a few from Holland who are nice. Anyway, Cook Islands are made up of mostly Kiwi’s (New Zealanders), and Maoris. Cook Islands are where many Maoris settled down and where many migrated to New Zealand from. They are very big people, actually every island we have been to in the South Pacific we have noticed their natives are quite big people, you wouldn’t want to be on their bad side! .
We have been here nearly a week now and have seen the island very thoroughly. We rented a scooter for the week which was only $18 a day and well worth it, it has been so much fun and is an excellent way to get around the island. The only motor bike I ever remember riding on the back of was my Dad’s Harley and it has been a long time so this was a new experience really. I think Louie will be quite sad returning it today, he has especially enjoyed it. Rarotonga is only 32 kilometres in circumference so it only takes about 30 minutes to circle the whole island by scooter without stopping. We spent an entire day going around it and checking out all the resorts, beaches, and cafes. The snorkelling here is not as clear and beautiful as in Bora Bora but we saw some interesting fish we had not seen while snorkelling before... we had a massive blue trevelli circle around us for awhile and we also saw a big Sole fish and a massive Stone fish on the bottom. You have to watch where you walk here, there are a lot of stone fish. We also found the water is much cooler down here and the nights are quite cold as well in comparison to where we have been. We actually have to wear sweaters at night when we go out!
On Friday night we had made reservations to attend a show at “Highland Paradise” we were told it is the best on the island. We were joined by a couple on a Danish boat that we have seen throughout the entire south pacific we just had not spent time with them yet. The boat is a 55 foot Tayana and has one owner on board along with his girlfriend from Columbia plus they have 3 other crew at the moment. Two of the crew came with us, Palle and Margaret, they are a lovely couple close in age to Lou and I so it was really nice getting to know them. The evening was fabulous! We got picked up by the Highland Paradise bus in front of the boats and driven up into the mountain where they do their show. Louie was elected as our bus/group leader so he represented us the entire night, he even had to dance on stage at one point, it was quite funny and I got it on film!! The dinner was amazing, there were many different authentic dishes and the show was not only full of wonderful dancing and drumming but was educational, quite a cultural experience. They go into detail about their ancestry from when they first arrived on the islands to when the missionaries arrived, up until now. The missionaries made a huge difference in Cook Islanders way of life, it was a mostly very welcomed change. They became more civilized really, stopped eating people, and became Christians... to this day Christianity is extremely important in their lives, there are many CICC (Cook Islands Christian Church)’s around the island.
On Sunday we actually attended a CICC church service. It was really nice, the service is in both English and Maori, and the Maori singing is beautiful... it made me think of something you might hear in a church in Africa. We stayed for a service and for communion then joined them for refreshments after... during refreshments we met a lovely couple, the husband Tom Masters is from Palmerston atoll, it had to be meant! Here’s a little background on our next stop... Palmerston atoll, also in the Cook Islands (just 280 miles North West of here) is a small atoll with only about 60 people living on it. William Masters, from England lived on this atoll alone with his 3 wives back in 1863 and it became their atoll. The atoll to this day is populated by 6 generations of Masters, they do not have any shops and ships only go there about twice a year so they really rely on passing yachties to bring supplies, etc. They really enjoy having yachties come through and consider it an honor to host you on your stay. The village is divided by 3 sections from what we understand given the 3 original wives, and when they see a sailboat approaching the first person to reach the boat gets the honor of hosting the yachties throughout their stay!! We are quite excited to experience this and were extremely excited to meet Tom Masters and learn more about it before we arrive and find out what we can take to the island. Tom and his wife Margaret (who is originally from Holland) now live in New Zealand and are retired but are in Rarotonga for a 5 week holiday before they head to Palmerston for awhile as well. There are many Masters on Rarotonga and they introduced us to some of the cousins, one of which we offered a ride back to Palmerston because he has been stuck here for around 4 months waiting for a ship to take him home. He ended up declining the ride because his son wanted him to stay a bit longer but we are taking heaps of supplies over for him and for Tom for the families over there. It was wonderful meeting all of them, they are really lovely people with such an interesting past.
On Monday we met up with our Denmark friends on Lady Sunshine and went on a hike, well saying a hike is an understatement, it was more like being on Survivor!!! Our plan was to hike to a famous peak on the island called the “Needle” then over the other side to a waterfall. Well we got lost along the way, we left at 9:30am and around 2pm realized we were definitely not on the right track... we had to literally climb up muddy ledges using tree roots to pull our way up, we were climbing, sliding, and falling over a slippery muddy surface, it was actually quite intense! When we turned around at 2pm hoping to head back down and give up on the Needle we realized we were actually then on the right track and continued along to the top and then over to the waterfall. By the end of it we were sore, scratched up, and dirty and Louie had a torn shirt and ripped up shoes which went straight into the bin upon our return! The island is stunning, it is extremely lush and green, but also full of mossies and they sadly didn’t seem to mind the OFF I kept applying because I was nailed about 12 times by the end of the adventure. When we finally reached the road again we realized we were on the wrong side of the island and hitch hiked back, not arriving to the boats until 5pm!!! What a day! We ended it having a fabulous BBQ on Lady Sunshine then quite possibly the best sleep I have ever had!!!
Yesterday I woke up sorer then I think I have ever been in my entire life! We spent the day preparing the boat to head out again. It took me half the day just to do our laundry since I did so in a bucket with our hose and plunger! While I did laundry Louie enjoyed playing with his newly acquired ukulele he purchased at the farmers market on Saturday. Last night we were invited over to Tom and Margaret’s place for dinner, it was a lovely evening. Tom cooked up quite a feast! We had breadfruit cooked up in two different ways, both fried and boiled, both great. He also did steak, fish (Wahoo), vegies, mashed potatoes, and we had milk straight from the coconut to drink. It was all delicious! It was great to have a nice home cooked meal the night before our next voyage. We had wonderful conversation through dinner; they are both very interesting... Margaret told us all about her immigration to New Zealand from Holland. She is the same age as you Eddie (Louie’s Dad who is also from Holland)... you may have immigrated at the same time!
Rarotonga has been a great experience and we are really looking forward to our next stop on Palmerston. We are hoping for the right wind because we cannot actually get into the lagoon at Palmerston so we have to anchor outside of the reef and if the wind is wrong we won’t be able to stay for long or we will end up on the reef. We would like to spend a week there though so hopefully the weather will behave. We are heading out in a few hours and Tom and Margaret are coming down to see us off!
I doubt we will have internet in Palmerston, we will go to Niue after that and most likely will not be in contact again until Tonga... so it may be awhile.
We hope you are all well!
Much love from Louie & Alicia
xoxo
