Surarrow

What a wonderful paradise this is! The uninhabited atoll of Suwarrow was "first discovered" by a Russian explorer who named it after his ship, the Suvarov, in 1814. According to one guidebook, in 1855 a mysterious box with US$15,000 was found, probably left by the crew of a wrecked Spanish galleon in 1742, so it appears that others had been here before. The locals from the northern atoll of Manihiki say that the indigenous people have always come here to dive, and I am not sure how far back in history the native population has been here. I will find out as I listen to the oral history that Api, one of the rangers here, knows so well. 


In the early 20th century Australians tried to introduce gold-lipped pearl oysters unsuccessfully and a copra (coconut) estate was established until termites took over. During WWII New Zealand coast-watchers were here, leaving behind an old building on Anchorage Island. From 1952 onward New Zealander Tom Neale lived alone on Suwarrow and wrote a book about his experiences titled An Island to Oneself, which I hope to read while we are here. Api is somehow related to Tom Neale through family, and as I pay attention to the valuable information I hear, obviously I will learn more about the details of this area. What an opportunity! 


After a fantastic day with Api coconut crab hunting on a distant motu, Tuesday evening the yachties all brought food to the clubhouse, which is part of the old Tom Neale house, and a coconut crab/lobster feast was had by all. WOW! James and Api gave a toast to Graciela, who was celebrating her birthday, and to all those cruisers who had been with them for two weeks and were about to leave. It was a very special evening, enhanced by Api's soothing songs from Manihiki. 


Yesterday about six yachts left and we were treated to a beautiful day of relaxation; we dinghed nearby and dove a fairly deep reef looking for mantas but found a huge turtle instead........bummer!.......along with an array of coral and big parrotfish. Later I also dove a shallow area near Sidewinder, which is wonderfully clear and colorful. Late in the afternoon we went ashore and strolled around the entire motu, in awe of the variety of coral left behind by the ocean, along with pretty little sand beaches lined with sweeping coconut palms. We sat with James and Api as the sun set and talked into the evening, feeling so lucky to be here with these two wonderful human beings. Today it is windy but clear and we hope to go with Api to Perfect Reef. Hmmmmmmmmmm. Doesn't this sound like the perfect summer camp?! - S.         

They Made It

David here letting everyone know we made it to Suwarrow and are safely anchored in one amazing place. The atoll is fairly big but with only a few islands and most of them you can't go on because of birds hatching eggs or turtles doing the same. It's down right beautiful: water that is gin clear and more fish than we have seen anywhere. It's no wonder this is a national park of New Zealand; it deserves no less. 


The crossing was fairly easy considering some of the horror stories we have heard with 50 + knt winds and sails getting blown out. Fact is we feel lucky! Nothing broken and not even any blood to show for our efforts. Tomorrow we go coconut crab hunting to go along with the lobsters they are getting as we talk. I wanted to go with them for the lobster hunt tonight, but I was pretty burnt out after spending most of last night sailing around in circles getting ready to run this pass. The pass ended up being a piece of cake, but the anticipation was gut wrenching, to say the least. This is a fairly large atoll with only one pass, so all the water in the lagoon has only one place to escape back out to sea, and that's through the pass. Thus the current and rips are pretty hairy, and at one point even though we were at almost full throttle, we were still only going 1.2 knts. But we made it and are both so glad to be stopped and settled in, even if it's only for a few days. Fact is it may be for a week or so because this place has so much to offer and we don't want to miss it. I have to go to bed now and Suzi will take over. -D.

Hi there. It is now morning and our beautiful anchorage is shrouded in clouds with gusty winds blowing through. It is an awesome motu with two amazing local Cook Island rangers, James and Api, who are so welcoming and excited to be here for the cruisers. They take people on adventures every day and have created a yacht club nestled among the palm trees, where one can exchange books and hang; there is a potluck tonight to say good-bye to the many who have been here for two weeks and plan to leave tomorrow, given a weather window. Coconut-crab hunting (on a motu about 4 miles away) today should be quite interesting; I will take our new camera and record it all. Love, me

OK, now that we are back from our crab hunting adventure, I will try one more time to send this. It was lots of fun, but since I am definitely not a hunter, I took the camera just to record the experience. Lo, and behold, of course the battery ran out of juice, and I had no spare with me. Will I ever learn to think ahead?!!!? Oh well, I will try to get some pictures from others who had their cameras, and I will take photos of the crab and lobster cook-out/potluck tonight. 

Day 5: Almost There (Really)

We made it through the night with the pole up and gentle warm winds, and today is our last full day of being out here. The sun is shining brightly, the seas are still a bit lumpy but definitely smoother, we just ate leftover fish and chicken k'-bobs, and I am almost finished with Josh Slocum's Sailing Alone Around the World, written eloquently in the late 1800's and making me think our little six day journey is nothing! We are keeping our eyes open for humpback whales; it is the season for this area.  Location: S 13° 20'  W 162° 2'  with about 69 miles to go.  :)  Suzi

Day 4: Almost There

This passage has reminded David and me of all the ups and downs of this journey of cruising. The constant motion is both stressful and exhilarating, along with the power of the ocean and the weather. We do pray to the weather gods, and I sing to the ocean every day, hoping to be safe as we glide along our way. The seas and the wind were much calmer this morning and we were able to take down the main and raise the headsail with the pole, just in time for a squall to hit. Change keeps us on our toes, but also creates tension and a bit of fear. Often we are not very good together during sail changes because of how slow I am with lines and knots and how impatient my lovely hubby captain (bless his heart) can be. You can imagine how the story goes. 


The skies cleared up late this afternoon and we did have a lovely barbecue dinner and enjoyed a beautiful sunset with the following seas settling down, along with the wind. Right now, though, the wind seems to be picking up, and we are hoping we did not make a mistake leaving the pole up at night. I will let you know tomorrow :) I always think positive thoughts and send loving vibes your way each night under the stars while I make my way across the wild blue yonder; it is such a magical time to be at one with it all.   OH yea, almost forgot....... Location:  S 13 degrees 33'  W 160 degrees 33'  - Suzi

Over Half Way: David's Perspective

We have gone 400 miles with a little under 300 to go and our GPS position is as follows: 14 degrees 13.8 minutes south, 158 degrees 18.2 minutes west. We have about 15-20 knts of wind out of the east/north east with a mixed swell out of the east. It's pretty rolly with a side swell out of the south, so we are running with only our main sail to try to smooth it out a bit. It's not working very well. 


We are hunkered down in the cockpit reading our books under the shade of our solar panels right now. It's not too bad down below except when one of those side swells hits, and you get thrown to the other side of the boat if you aren't holding on to something tightly. When you are off watch during the night, you have to sleep on your back with your arms out to the side so you won't roll off the bed or into the side of the bed. Every so often it still wakes you up, and before you know what has happened, you wonder why your loving mate just kicked you out of bed? But it doesn't take long to figure out what has happened, so you pick yourself up and try to pass out again before those precious 3 hours are over again, and it's your time to go topside and mind the farm.  Love to all, and we will be in touch, David

Day 2 at Sea + David on Fishing

Hi there........ Location as of 7:30 PM  S 14 degrees 53'  W 156 44.  The day was mostly beautiful with puffy clouds all around the horizon. We poled out the headsail and went downwind again, but this time the waves were too random and the wind was too much, and we back-winded the main way too many times, which can lead to all kinds of dangerous problems. The ordeal of taking down the headsail and pole seemed to take forever, and we were exhausted the rest of the day. Finding the best way to go downwind is always puzzling to us due to all the variables; we have ended up with our reefed main only taking us somewhat downwind, which is fine and safe, but quite rolie. We would prefer to just use the headsail and drop the main but that, too is a pain out here in the high seas. Oh well, this works for now and we are still going over 5 kts.  Ah, the life of the sailor! So many decisions to make!  Last evening the warm breeze continued to blow us pretty calmly, and the starry sky was again welcoming and wondrous. More music, a good read, an hour on the helm, and lots of stretches filled my four hours with joy and it looks like tonight will be much the same. We are very lucky to have this good weather so far. -Suzi

The following blog is a response from David to Darrell Boyle's query regarding fishing:

Howdy Darrell- Well, what you said about open water fishing turns out to be wrong. While in Bora Bora I met an ex-pat that runs (and owns I might add) a restaurant called Bloody Mary's. It's been around since 1979, and this guy says he is more a fisherman than a restaurant owner. He also makes his own jigs, and I bought one along with an hour of instructions on how to use it. Turns out he is a friend of a friend we have in Kona, so after BS-ing about the good old days, he made us dinner and started in on how to catch fish. He was so sure of himself that he said if I didn't catch a fish on our way to Suvarrow he would give me my $30 bucks back. No need for that though: less than 3 hours after leaving the pass in Bora Bora I was hooked into a 4 ft. Mahi that took me about a hour to land. Sidewinder isn't very set up for fishing and getting around trying to fight a fish is a chore to say the least. But I did it, and boy does it taste good! Probably about 10 lbs of cleaned fillets now in the freezer, and I can't wait to get my line back in the water. I was trolling way too far back before. He told me that at the 5 or 6 knts. we go, the jig shouldn't be more than 50 or 60 ft. behind the boat. Another thing he told us is that the boat itself draws the fish in, so the closer you can keep your jigs the better, just as long as they keep their action, which is breaking water every 10 seconds or so and the rest of the time leaving a bubble "smoke" trail near the surface. Now this is for Mahi and tuna, but wahoo is a whole different ball game. They feed much deeper, so you need to have your jig at around 200 ft. deep near a drop off. So there it is Buddy, Fishing 101 from the new "expert" on the subject who is once again the great provider putting dinner on the table. Hope it continues; reeling that brute in was fun! But Suzi started crying because it was so pretty and she hated to see it die . . .  didn't stop her from eating it though. We are about 1/2 way to Suvarrow and should be there Sat. morning if all goes well. It's a National Park of New Zealand and there are only two care takers who live there along with a bunch of cruisers who can only spend 2 weeks at a time there before moving on, as we will to Tonga or American Samoa as a lot of the boats do. So tell everyone Hi for us. We are doing great (knock on wood); Sidewinder is sailing as beautifully as she always does, and now we have fresh fish to eat. 

See ya later,  David & Suzi

At Sea: 1 Day Down, 5 to Go

Location: S 15 23  W 154 42   Good winds 10-18 kts and pretty mellow seas, although they, of course, are most often coming from the north, and the wind is from the east right now. Last night, though, was absolutely beautiful and calm during my watch, and again I realized why I love to sail. The spiritual essence of night sailing is beyond description as I listen to music while gazing at the billions of stars. Mr. Half-moon smiled at me around 1:00, and the warm trades blew gently. 


Today we had mostly a great day of sailing wing on wing until two squalls hit us suddenly; it is not so gentle and calm tonight, but oh well. Ah yes, David caught an incredibly beautiful mahi yesterday about a half an hour out at sea with the new lure he bought from Joe at Bloody Mary's. I cried when I saw the fish of course; I just can't stop that initial reaction watching such beauty die, and it is crazy because, of course, I like to eat the lovely fish. Oh well. Tonight the rocky rollies have David and me a bit edgey, but it certainly could be worse! We will keep in touch.