Another lovely island, with a unique character.
Our first couple of days in Suworrow have been
bliss. For some reason, the leg from Bora Bora was not easy, and despite
several days of good sailing, the Skipper and crew were tired, and grateful to
drop the anchor once we had negotiated the tricky pass through the reef.
And I did not tell you that in the final 24 hours, Cleone covered 160 miles
without the aid of a current - she knew we wanted to arrive, and arrive in
daylight.
The first night we made little effort, apart from
the Skipper who took a short trip ashore. Here he met the only
residents; John the caretaker, his wife Veronica and their four boys aged, John
thought, (and he sought confirmation from his wife) 13,11 and twins of
10. This is John's second season as care-taker. Suworrow is a
Nature Reserve, and there is a forbidding sign strategically placed at
the end of its rickety pier, right next to the Cook Islands flag, which is
lowered at sunset to the sound of a conch blown by one of the boys. Cleone
tries to follow this ritual, lowering our Blue Ensign at the same
time. Last year, John left his children at home in Raratonga
with his brother, but after his first season here, he vowed if he came
back he would not do that again. And so the whole family
are here for this season, arriving by ship with all the necessities - food,
fuel, toothpaste, school books, light-bulbs and everything else they might need
for the six months they are marooned here. A short-wave radio provides
them with their only outside communications (despite that we are in the age of
the satellite telephone and e-mails), and their only human contacts are the
visiting yachts. But theirs is not a lonely life, because this little
atoll stuck on its own about as far away from its neighbours as it is possible
to get, is a Mecca for yachtsmen, though it has no water to speak of and nothing
else to provide except a sometimes exposed anchorage with what is described as
some dubious holding. It was here that the legendary Tom Neale spent many
years of hermit existence, staying all year round and enduring cyclones and many
other disasters. I am next in line for a read of his book An Island to
Oneself, and I will tell you more about him later.
John and his family live in a stilted wooden house
just next to the now run-down shack that Tom inhabited. Sadly the nearby
Suwarrow Yacht Club was blown down last year during a winter cyclone, but the
burgees and ensigns left by passing yachtsmen now adorn the ground-level
communal area of John's house. Much of the furniture has been
salvaged - comfortable chairs and tables made out of drift wood, hammocks
made from fishing nets, and swinging chairs fashioned from buoys washed up
on Suwarrow's surrounding reefs. So John hopes to rebuild the Yacht Club
nearby its old location on a lovely sandy beach with a stunning outlook over the
placid lagoon and a few small islands that break up the reefs.
Last night we had a barbecue on this beach,
organised by the new crew of the Italian Yacht Onelife. It was a great
occasion. The gastronomic centrepiece was an enormous saucepan of fish
pasta (enough for all fifty of us), and this was supplemented by salads (how did
the Aussies manage to keep lettuce fresh for so long?), rice, fresh bread and
some delicious grilled tuna and mahi-mahi provided by Lady Kay. A small
generator drove a lone light and the monster percolator from
Storyteller that provided us all with fresh coffee. Supervised by
Norfy, Cleone's contribution was an Elizabeth'n'Will special pudding, the recipe
for which will remain a closely guarded secret - possibly to be passed
reverently from the sworn-to-everlasting-silence crew to one chosen descendant,
but possibly not. After the feast, Northern Sky's Gerry ? another of the great
characters of this rally, and a multi-lingual, multi-talented man ? produced his
guitar and was soon joined by caretaker John, entertaining us with some old
favourites. And then our Will stepped up to the plate and, borrowing Gerry's
treasured guitar, received well-earned applause for his contributions in concert
with John.
It was a memorable evening, and later this
morning, we are all off in our dinghies on a guided tour of the atoll with
John.
Best wishes to everyone; all well with us.
James, Chris, Elizabeth and Will
Yacht
Cleone
Suworrow
Cook Islands