Suwarrow to Samoa

We arrived bright and early to the pass at Suwarrow on Sept 7/10 after 4.5 days on the rolling ocean. Suwarrow is a tiny little atoll in the northern Cook Island group. It is basically a narrow perimeter of sand and coral rock around a 5 x 5 mile lagoon. In several places the sand raises high enough out of the ocean to support a few coconut trees. But from all accounts, this is the cruising destination of the whole south Pacific! All of the boats passing through here say that it is by far #1 on their list of the best places that they have been. Many stop for a few days and end up staying a couple of weeks. This place is not unlike many of the other places that we have stopped so far with regard to topography and lagoon, beautiful yes, but what makes this place special is the two fellows that are stationed here as the rangers/customs officers for the Cook Islands, James and Apii. They roll out the red carpet for the boaters coming to visit their corner of the world. Sure they check you in and out of the country with a smile, but they are also great social conveners. They organize coconut crab hunting parties and fishing trips, then host delicious pot luck dinners with crab, lobster or the catch of the day as the feature food items. After so long at sea with just yourself and your mate for company, all boaters jump at the chance for some face time with a bunch of like minded people, good food (even if it is 15 different pasta salads) and of course refreshments of choice. James and Apii also know where all of the good spots are in the lagoon for diving and snorkeling and set up group expeditions for this or private trips if you wish. It really is in their best interests to be such gracious hosts as their government basically drops them off for their 6 month posting with a small boat (no extra fuel) and a fishing rod. So the boaters return all of their good will with food items (not fish) and jerry cans of fuel. After the cold un-friendly attitudes of the French Polynesian islands, the warm fuzzy community that these guys create is truly refreshing. So we lucked out, the day we arrived was a crab pot luck dinner night with 16 other boats in the anchorage. We did our check in and out the next morning and arranged for Apii to man the surface boat for us to do a dive in the afternoon. We attempted to snorkel on the third day, but the winds were pretty stiff so it kept blowing us over the reef. We have been monitoring the weather everyday for the last week and know that there is a big system coming in so we have to leave for Samoa on our third day or stay for at least another week and chance that things will stay calm enough in the lagoon for our anchor to hold. We choose to head on to Samoa. So here we are again rolling along in 2.5 meter seas with 20 knots of wind, thankfully all on the rear. Our current position 13.20.498 lat. and 165.19.446 long. We will be in western Samoa the morning of Sept 12.

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