The wind kept up from the previous nights increase allowing us to make good time. About 10 miles out from Palmerston we contacted the island on the VHF to inform them of our impending arrival. We were notified that we would be met by a boat on our approach who would guide us to our mooring.
A little more background of the island is perhaps in order. When William Marsters settled here with his three wives in the 1800s he begat his own dynasty. He parceled up the island into three lots each of which was allocated to the descendants of the three wives. To this day the island is divided into three families. With 67 people in total these are not large groupings. When cruisers approach the island the boat that gets to you defines which family will be ‘hosting’ you. They joke around a lot so it’s hard to know if they simply take turns or it’s who gets there first. Either way, we were met by ‘Alpha Echo’ meaning Edward. He gave us some direction before going back to fishing as they were a lot of wahoo in the area.
We made our way around to the west side of the island, furling the Code Zero at the turn, while Edward trolled a line not too far from us. As we approached three other moored boats we were given some additional instructions as to which mooring line to take. We were soon hooked up and agreed to take on board the island officials who were already aboard one of the other boats.
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Edward was soon back with Teri, the government representative (and husband of Yvonne for whom we’d brought supplies) and Simon (Edward’s brother) who was the island council representative. It’s probably worth mentioning at this point that Edward is also the island policeman but you’d never know unless he told you. Teri checked our paperwork from Aitutaki and Simon collected a small fee for the council. We offered them cold beers and drinks to welcome them.
As with Aitutaki we couldn’t have felt more welcomed by them. The deal on the island with the cruisers is trade. Being so remote (1 or 2 cargo ship visits per year) they can use just about anything we have spare. Edward and Simon asked about a few things we might have. We said we had a few things for them but hadn’t got it together. We were soon ready to go to the island with them. We boarded their runabout boat getting to see the huge Wahoo that Edward had snagged while bringing us in. The entrance they took through the reef was narrow and twisted. They knew their way of course and soon we were inside the reef being taken across the clearest waters perhaps we’ve ever seen.
At the shore they were already gutting the wahoo in the water. It was quite instructive as they were managing to remove the gills and intestines with very few cuts. I’ll have to try what I think I saw myself next time we catch a big fish.
After a short walk from the beach we were in Edwards family area. We sat down for a brief chat with his mother before we were invited over to see how they filleted the fish. Again this was instructional but I somehow think the ease they demonstrated came from a life of practice.
Edward proceeded to begin cooking lunch which was, of course, fresh wahoo. We had a little wander around seeing their pigs and chickens and a little of their land. We ended up chatting some more with Edward which is when we learned a bit about the island and him being the local policeman.
The fried wahoo and rice we had for lunch was delicious and more than plentiful. We were joined by Teri and later by Yvonne and later still by Shirley, Edwards wife. After some more chatting we were getting sleepy from lunch and the two nights of night watch. To wake up, Edward took us for a walk around the island while he played his ukulele and sang. This was almost surreal. By far this has been our most out of the modern world experience we have had on our travels. Modern life has hit the island. They have computers. They have internet in one place. But with no airport and very few commercial connections their main contact with the outside world are the cruisers. It’s hard to describe the experience but it is certainly unique.
We were taken to the school which was over for the day. We saw the two classes and some of the childrens’ work. We also had a chance to talk to the three teachers and learn of what they needed and what we may be able to help them with.
We then walked around to the main village where we met another group of cruisers who had been lunched there. We were offered more food – as if we had room. We chatted for a while before moving on back towards Edwards home. We didn’t get to see the end of the island where Teri has his home – this being left for another day.
Edward then took us back to our boat. We were accompanied by his wife, Simon and one of their sons. There we started going through our things and seeing what we had spare. Nothing we offered was turned down. From plastic pipes to fish hooks to food and gasoline. A small bag of chocolates were devoured there and then. A slab of Venezuelan beer was very welcomed.
Once we’d said our goodbyes and were left alone we contemplated something to eat. We were still full from all the fish and rice we’d eaten so we just sat down and watched a movie, not quite making the end before we were too sleepy to continue. Before the movie Ben and I did go for a swim to check the mooring line. I managed to spot a turtle swimming way below us. It was quite spooky looking down from the boat into a seemingly infinite abyss. The water very quickly drops off to thousands of feet deep here.
Lunch is again offered today. We’ve also talked to Edward about going lobstering one night. We (at least Ben and I) really want to learn how to best go about this. We’ll see but we’re looking forward to our next few days here.
