Cook Islands & Nieue
30/06/10 23:18
One thing about sailing across the Pacific is that distances that used to be significant and challenging have now become a short sail. We left beautiful Bora Bora on the 9th June for the 490 nm sail to Aitutaki in the Southern Cook Islands and this equates approximately to sailing from Falmouth to Bayona in Northern Spain. For us now it is merely a short hop of about 3/4 days. We arrived in Aitutaki at 08.00 on the 13th June and anchored outside the reef close to one other yacht from the Rally, Fai Tira. Nearly all the other Rally yachts headed for Rarotonga because the entrance through the reef in Aitutaki is very shallow. As it happened, we stayed anchored outside the reef because the channel has silted following the February Cyclone. Fortuitously the weather was benign for our entire stay. What all this meant is that we virtually had the island to ourselves.
Aitutaki is a delight. The island itself is not as stunningly beautiful as those in French Polynesia but it is still very pleasant and does have a magnificent and virtually unspoiled lagoon. After a day of settling the boat and checking in we hired a motorbike and drove round the island stopping off at various places to take photos and have lunch. The oldest church in Aitutaki was being rebuilt following the February cyclone. It was originally built in 1828 by John Williams, the man who introduced Christianity to Aitutaki. As a reward for his missionary efforts he was later cooked and eaten in Vanuato. As we ventured away from Arutunga, the “capital”, it was sad to see families living in tents after their houses had been destroyed in the cyclone. They are still waiting for aid promised to them.
The following day we linked up with the crew of Fai Tira and went on a tour that, amongst other things, took in snorkeling in the lagoon and a bar-b-q on a desert island. Of particular note from this trip were hundreds of giant clams within the lagoon and the unique nesting site of a strange tern like sea bird that has a red beak and long, thin red tail.
After a very enjoyable 3 days on Aitutaki we left for Niue just as the wind was beginning to pick up. Pete on Fai Tira had to dive down to release their anchor from the coral heads but we were lucky. The 500 nm sail to Niue was boisterous and we had some of the roughest conditions since our sail down the coast of Columbia. The wind was never over 35 knots but the seas were big and very uncomfortable. We were happy to round the north of Niue and get into the lee of the island before tying up to a buoy off of the Niue Yacht Club. This was in an exposed position and any weather from the west would have sent us scuttling back out to sea at short notice.
Niue Yacht Club is a unique institution and claims to be “The biggest little yacht club in the world”. Its membership outnumbers the population of Niue and Carol and I are amongst the latest intake. Keith Vial, the commodore, does not own a boat and has never sailed in his life. Neither have any of the local members. The patron is 80 years old and has a short term memory problem - his welcome speech stalled after 30 seconds. But the hospitality that the club extended to us was wonderful. Nothing seemed too much and the club house quickly became the centre of gravity for everyone from the Rally.
Niue itself is literally a large rock stuck in the middle of nowhere. When going ashore our dinghy had to be lifted out of the sea by a crane because there is nowhere to tie up and go ashore. What Niue lacks in terms of dramatic scenery it makes up for by having a wild coastline with numerous caves and hidden pools where one can swim with reef fish and sea snakes. We declined. Over two days we rode round Niue on a motorcycle in both clockwise and anti-clockwise directions. It has an overall air of “after the gold rush” with hundreds of houses deserted after the owners upped and left for New Zealand and elsewhere looking for work. After 3 days we cast off the buoy and left for Tonga about 250 nm away.
Yet again this was a rocky-rolly passage with all sorts of objects flying around below decks. Our biggest problem was trying to slow down so as not to arrive at night. Despite all our efforts we arrived at 05.00 and anchored for a couple of hours sleep before negotiating the convoluted entry to Neiafu. After checking in and paying through the nose for overtime to obtain clearance on a Saturday we tied up to a mooring buoy in a lovely, sheltered bay (full of jelly fish) where we immediately caught up on some much needed sleep.
Sunday morning saw Carol and me dressed up and heading for the Catholic church to hear the singing of hymns. No matter what one’s beliefs this is a moving experience and several Rally crews took up pews just inside one of the ever open side entrances. The church soon filled with nearly all Tongan worshippers wearing national dress and/or their Sunday best. The first round of sonorous singing gave way to a 45 minute sermon in Tongan. The monotony was soon broken by two dogs copulating just outside the side entrance. Was this divine intervention? The casual observer could have been forgiven for believing that the tears in my eyes were a consequence of me having been touched by the word of God. They actually stemmed from watching the poor dog being dragged round the churchyard by his willy as half a dozen other dogs tried to join in the action.
We are now preparing the boat for the arrival here of my son Russell followed shortly thereafter in Fiji by Carol’s son Jamie. Needless to say we are both very excited to be spending some quality time with our offspring after being away for so long. And the thought of this really does bring a tear to my eye – only 3 days to go.
Sail on!
Aitutaki is a delight. The island itself is not as stunningly beautiful as those in French Polynesia but it is still very pleasant and does have a magnificent and virtually unspoiled lagoon. After a day of settling the boat and checking in we hired a motorbike and drove round the island stopping off at various places to take photos and have lunch. The oldest church in Aitutaki was being rebuilt following the February cyclone. It was originally built in 1828 by John Williams, the man who introduced Christianity to Aitutaki. As a reward for his missionary efforts he was later cooked and eaten in Vanuato. As we ventured away from Arutunga, the “capital”, it was sad to see families living in tents after their houses had been destroyed in the cyclone. They are still waiting for aid promised to them.
The following day we linked up with the crew of Fai Tira and went on a tour that, amongst other things, took in snorkeling in the lagoon and a bar-b-q on a desert island. Of particular note from this trip were hundreds of giant clams within the lagoon and the unique nesting site of a strange tern like sea bird that has a red beak and long, thin red tail.
After a very enjoyable 3 days on Aitutaki we left for Niue just as the wind was beginning to pick up. Pete on Fai Tira had to dive down to release their anchor from the coral heads but we were lucky. The 500 nm sail to Niue was boisterous and we had some of the roughest conditions since our sail down the coast of Columbia. The wind was never over 35 knots but the seas were big and very uncomfortable. We were happy to round the north of Niue and get into the lee of the island before tying up to a buoy off of the Niue Yacht Club. This was in an exposed position and any weather from the west would have sent us scuttling back out to sea at short notice.
Niue Yacht Club is a unique institution and claims to be “The biggest little yacht club in the world”. Its membership outnumbers the population of Niue and Carol and I are amongst the latest intake. Keith Vial, the commodore, does not own a boat and has never sailed in his life. Neither have any of the local members. The patron is 80 years old and has a short term memory problem - his welcome speech stalled after 30 seconds. But the hospitality that the club extended to us was wonderful. Nothing seemed too much and the club house quickly became the centre of gravity for everyone from the Rally.
Niue itself is literally a large rock stuck in the middle of nowhere. When going ashore our dinghy had to be lifted out of the sea by a crane because there is nowhere to tie up and go ashore. What Niue lacks in terms of dramatic scenery it makes up for by having a wild coastline with numerous caves and hidden pools where one can swim with reef fish and sea snakes. We declined. Over two days we rode round Niue on a motorcycle in both clockwise and anti-clockwise directions. It has an overall air of “after the gold rush” with hundreds of houses deserted after the owners upped and left for New Zealand and elsewhere looking for work. After 3 days we cast off the buoy and left for Tonga about 250 nm away.
Yet again this was a rocky-rolly passage with all sorts of objects flying around below decks. Our biggest problem was trying to slow down so as not to arrive at night. Despite all our efforts we arrived at 05.00 and anchored for a couple of hours sleep before negotiating the convoluted entry to Neiafu. After checking in and paying through the nose for overtime to obtain clearance on a Saturday we tied up to a mooring buoy in a lovely, sheltered bay (full of jelly fish) where we immediately caught up on some much needed sleep.
Sunday morning saw Carol and me dressed up and heading for the Catholic church to hear the singing of hymns. No matter what one’s beliefs this is a moving experience and several Rally crews took up pews just inside one of the ever open side entrances. The church soon filled with nearly all Tongan worshippers wearing national dress and/or their Sunday best. The first round of sonorous singing gave way to a 45 minute sermon in Tongan. The monotony was soon broken by two dogs copulating just outside the side entrance. Was this divine intervention? The casual observer could have been forgiven for believing that the tears in my eyes were a consequence of me having been touched by the word of God. They actually stemmed from watching the poor dog being dragged round the churchyard by his willy as half a dozen other dogs tried to join in the action.
We are now preparing the boat for the arrival here of my son Russell followed shortly thereafter in Fiji by Carol’s son Jamie. Needless to say we are both very excited to be spending some quality time with our offspring after being away for so long. And the thought of this really does bring a tear to my eye – only 3 days to go.
Sail on!