Category: Ship’s Log

Dear F&F,
Sunday is church day on Palmerston Island and we were invited to attend.
Bob and Taia picked us up and we were whisked through the boat pass to shore. Here we met all the islands ladies and many gentleman dressed in their Sunday finest.

The religion is the Cook Islands Christian Church a Protestant denomination. The founder of the church, an Englishman, famously went on to be eaten by the islanders in Vanuatu a 1000 miles west of here in the mid/late 1800\’s.

The service was about an hour, some lovely singing and we met the islands nurse, Jock who was the Church\’s Deacon and school principal, Yvonne. Yvonne was the wife of Teddy and she had emigrated from the Netherlands. Her sister had married a Marsters and she met and married one herself.

After the lovely service (see Photo Gallery of Palmerston Island), we met Daniel, an Aussie ex-pat who lived in the UK and was a PHD candidate living on the island for the last 6 months. Daniel was even taller than me so you can imagine he stood out quite a bit. His thesis was not so much on the genealogy of the Marsters but rather about the viability of their future. He had lived amongst all the families and finally had his own digs on Bob\’s land in William Marsters\’ son\’s house. Also, the former infirmary. His tenure their was a bit mixed having gotten along with most of the families but after we had left, we heard he was on the outs with Simon and Edward\’s family. About what? We don\’t know. He was great friends with one of the current patriarchs, Bill, who ran the Palmerston Island Yacht Club. His Mom, Hinano was soon to become my dental patient. Who knew!? First, Bill….

Bill had spent a great time \”off island\” and was perhaps the most worldly guy on the island. He opened the Palmerston Island Yacht Club on the premise that an annual world cruising rally would be coming through. The \”boaties\” wanted a watering hole and gathering spot. Indeed, 150 boats showed up one year (about 10 years ago) and it was a great local hit. However, as the anchorage was a bit tenuous, the cruising rally chose to skip Palmerston in the future and the Yacht Club pretty much has lied empty since. Bill will tell his tale of lament to anyone who will listen. It\’s kind of a cool place and is where I first met Hinano, his Mom.

Jock told me that Hinano had a dental infection for several days and her face had indeed swollen up to three times normal. She asked if I\’d have a look. News travels fast when you have a skill in a place like Palmerston. Hinano, 82 years young, the islands oldest resident had asthma and a wonderful disposition. Jock, the nurse was asking my opinion, but all along grooming me to remove the tooth for her. I asked her if she had taken any teeth out before and she said yes, about 85, but I break a lot of roots!

She had indeed taken 3 out of Bob the week before I arrived. Unfortunately for Bob, two were the wrong teeth!… Doing this without X-ray in the USA would be malpractice, out here, not so much. My concern of course was Hinano\’s age, asthma and who knew what those roots were going to look like on a back lower first molar?!!! Jost told me she didn\’t know how to numb lower teeth so was doubly glad I was there. 20 minutes later, the tooth was out and patient doing well. The next day she wanted to adopt me.

We\’d met Bob in one of our Taia tours and along tagged Mehau, her youngest and cute as a button sister. Mehau was about 9 years old and endeared herself to Cindy immediately. She constantly punched me, I took that as a sign of acceptance. She is a very photogenic young girl and you can see her on the Photo Gallery of Palmeston Island along with the who family……We interestingly learned on our second tour that William Marsters asked to be buried NEXT to his headstone and not under the headstone as is traditional. Why? He wanted everyone to walk on him so he would be remembered. It was said that Taia\’s grandmother Sara had done the same.

All in all another very successful day at Palmerston Island.

Scott and Cindy

Dear F&F,
We were first to arrive, but the Puddle Jump fleet was about to arrive and in numbers!

Several hours after we\’d arrived, s/v \”Na Maka\” with Jerome, NAT and the kids arrived in the middle of the night. Jerome is not timid and found one of the two other moorings next to which he tied too. The next morning, bright and early, Simon and Edward came to \”claim\” our French friends.

As they were not in time for the great customs check in, they were told they would have to wait till Monday morning which didn\’t make them exactly happy. C\’est la vie! as they say in France.

We also knew that s/v Quickstar, s/v Visions of Johanna and s/v Curious were not far behind. As we were all pretty close and we were in email contact, we would try and give Bob a heads up as to when they expected to arrive. The reason this mattered is that part of the curious behavior of the claiming process is that the families don\’t like the \”boaties\” to get together unless they are with the same claiming family. Why? Well, it\’s due to those long ago established exclusive trading rights business. Please understand. There are NO STORES on this island. NONE, ZIP, ZERO. All food is imported, grown or caught. Hence, we \”boaties\” were and are a prime source of supplies to all the islanders.

Everything from gasoline, tools, entertainment and yes even food are substantially supplied by visiting yachts. The trading ships that do come here make only random visits 2-3 times per YEAR!

The next day, our host family showed up in force. Bob, daughters Taia and Goldeen along with son Bob. Bob was trying to be very careful not to damage our boat with his aluminum dinghy and yelled at Taia just before touch down, \”BAH MA GA\”!…… Suddenly, Taia stood up and kept Bob from playing ding \”Beach House\”.

They came aboard to invite us to lunch, all smiles and very pleasant. I asked Taia if she had a clue what \”BAH MA GA\” meant and she said, \”Of course\”, it means \”Push Em\’ off Girl\”! I said, \”You\’re kidding?\” She smiled and told me that they speak two languages. English and Cook Island Pidgeon. The Pidgeon amonst themselves and the English to the rest of us. I asked if it was a Polynesian dialect similar to Maori? She said, \”No not really, no other Cook Islanders would be able to speak it to us\”. She said none of them spoke Polynesian per say but just the local Pidgeon.

We were whisked off to shore through \”Boat Pass\”, a very small unmarked tricky twisty shallow pass through the reef. Once ashore, we were given a tour of the house. Think very rustic charmer!…. Then lunch, lot of Parrot fish and then a tour of the island by Taia. This to me was a great highlight of our visit. Taia, who is a wonderful young lady has had it pretty rough. She had to go to New Zealand as a very young child and missed a great deal of school. The reason for the trip was a one year medical visit to have eye surgery, a small benign tumor removed and re-hab. So, it wasn\’t exactly fun. The Marsters due to their unique heritage have three threads of health issues. Eyes, asthma and joint issues. This of course has made them a bit of a living laboratory for various study groups from around the world.

The tour was amazing. Taia had done it a hundred times, but made it seem very fresh to me and unabashedly answered any questions. She told us about the families history, the infighting, the jealousies, etc. She among all the islanders was the most open about the history as she understood it. We were shown the demarcation lines of the three families on \”Home Island\”. It quickly became clear that Bob\’s family had the largest piece by far of \”Home Island\”. Though all divided amongst the families in roughly equal amounts when you added up all 7 islands, Home Island was largely Bob\’s families\’. As this was the case and everyone lived here, Bob donated the land for the Church and the School. The original William Marsters house and his first son\’s house were also here as was the islands main cemetary.

Cindy and I asked why boats like ours were not allowed to enter what was known as \”Big Pass\”. Jerome had heard that some boats including a catamaran from the year before had entered the shallow pass. We were told officially that it \”hurt fishing\”. That some of the past \”boaties\” had polluted the lagoon with their toilets.

Jerome listened, read between the lines and it was his opinion (which I shared), that it all came down to control. If the \”boaties\” were inside, they wouldn\’t need an escorted ride ashore. This meant that the host family could not control their movement and it came down to that trading thing again. Frankly, Bob didn\’t seem to care so much, but he knew that the other two families did. Another advantage Bob\’s family had was that all shore traffic had to pass right in front of his house and land on his beach. The other families had no choice, but didn\’t seem trustful of each other when it came to \”business\”. Socially, they seemed to get along fine, but when it came to trade….a trade war was always a looming possibility.

For details on our tour with Taia, see the captions in the Photo Gallery of Palmerston Island.

Scott and Cindy

Dear F&F,
After our adventure in \”up anchoring\”, we set sail for what would be an expected brief 200 mile passage to Palmerston Atoll. We pushed on and made the 200 miles in 36 hours arriving at 4 p.m on the 18th of July. This trip was much lighter in wind and smaller of sea than our last, but Cindy wasn\’t doing so well; we\’d be happy to be moored after two days and one night at sea. If any of you have seen the Tom Hanks movie, \”Cast Away\” or the movie \”Nim\’s Island\” with Jodie Foster, this is the area of the Pacific where they would have taken place.

Palmerston would be one of our more interesting stops due to it\’s unique history in the South Pacific. It turns out that in the mid 1800\’s, a whaler by the name of William Marsters jumped overboard and swam ashore at what was an uninhabited island in the middle of the South Pacific. An atoll only 4 miles in length and 3 in width, Marsters somehow acquired a wife from distant Tuvalu in the northern Cook Islands. Soon, his wife became lonely and somehow got her two female cousins imported to Palmerston and soon enough, William Marsters had started three families.

Marsters over his lifetime realized that intermarriage amongst his immediate offspring would not be a good idea and due to clannish jealousies which were to eventually evolve, he set up strict rules for the families to follow about intermarriage and divided the seven small islands up between the three families. Each of the three families owned a part of each island, but in varying amounts. Long story short, everyone of the remaining islanders eventually all moved to \”Home Island\” as it was the most habitable and easiest to get in and out of the reef at. Additionally, as it was on the down wind side, trading vessels which stopped to anchor here would chose this island as the natural protection it is from the prevailing wind and sea conditions. Segue to 2010!

After over 2500 of Marsters descendants had moved off the island (mostly to New Zealand or Australia; a few to other Cook Islands), the society has some pretty quirky traditions. First and foremost is the concept of \”claiming\” a visitor. In the old whaling days, when a family spotted a sailing ship approaching the island, they would with great skill and not a small amount of danger, race out to be the first to make contact. This entitled them according to family rules and traditions to EXCLUSIVE trading rights with that vessel. This led to arguments, jealousies and a plethora of issues between the three Marsters clans. This tradition REMAINS TODAY! By the way, there are only 62 Marsters still on \”Home Island\” as of this writing. Most are under the age of 25.

We had read in a sailing magazine an article by Captain Fatty Goodlander and his wife Carolyn\’s experience here with the Bob Marsters family.
They sounded good to us and so we kind of hoped we\’d be \”claimed\” by them. When we arrived 3 miles from the anchorage (no access to the inner lagoon…well that\’s another story), we saw a small aluminum skiff with an outboard and a man and a young woman aboard. They quickly came up to us and told us they were Bob and Taia Marsters. This was indeed the same family easily recognized by the photos from Captain \”Fatty\”. Feeling a little relieved, we were instructed to follow them to the anchorage. We were the only boat there!…. We saw three moorings and went to pick one up. Bob told us we could, \”for the night\”, but he\’d have to ask his cousin\’s Simon and Edward if it would be okay and what they would want from us in return to use it. It seems that only Edward and Simons moorings were in tact from the last Hurricane and Bob had none to offer. We tied up and were moored literally to the minute before \”customs\” closed for the weekend which would have kept us onboard till Monday.

Simon and another cousin by marriage, Teddy (representing the third family), appeared just before 6 pm on Friday night. They quickly checked us in and told us how lucky we were to have arrived when we did or we would have not been able to come ashore till Monday morning. Bob coached us to tell Teddy that we had hailed by radio before 5 pm or we\’d be stuck for the weekend. Why? Who knows, it\’s all part of the politics of Palmerston Island. The anchorage was more comfortable than the outside of Aitutaki so we were hopeful of a pleasant stay.

The next several days turned into a fascinating tour and history lesson and quite a learning experience about present day politics on this small island in the South Seas!…
Stay tuned.

Scott & Cindy

Dear F&F,
July 15-16, 2010
HOW WE DECIDE WHEN TO LEAVE

Thursday, July 15

We must exit this island\’s shallow pass during high tide. The tide gets
later by nearly an hour every day. Wednesday July 14 Scott helped lead in
our Canadian dock mates on sailboat \”Quickstar\” at 11:40 a.m. Thursday\’s
time was 12:30 p.m. Friday will be 1:35 p.m. If we wait any longer, we will
be obliged to do one of two less than desirable actions: spend one night
anchored outside the reef and leave the next morning. OR leave right away on
the late tide & have to spend 2 nights at sea for the 200 mile trip to our
next destination

I was tempted to stay another 2 weeks, when the high tide would cycle around
to be in the mornings again. Peter & Diana just arrived & we only had 2
nights to catch up with them. Sailboat \”Visions of Johanna\” are due to
arrive July 17, so we would just miss them! Scott\’s compelling argument that
we leave Friday was the reminder that the large group of \”Puddle Jumpers\”
would likely catch up to us if we lingered here that long. Hmmm… We like a
certain amount of socialization, but that group is big. Often 50 boats
descending on an island altogether. Marcus told us his experience with this
crowd in Moorea which sounded awful. I agreed with Scott, we will depart
Friday & push our speed to spend only 1 night at sea.

Once our decision was made, we began to get into \”go mode\”. Hoarding more
food, stowing loose items in their proper place onboard, saying our
goodbye\’s. We thanked the following Aitutaki residents for their kindness &
assistance: Pitonga from Air Rarotonga, Richard & Onu from Bubbles Below,
Bob at Customs (while Scott completed official check-out paperwork), Bonnie
from the fuel station, Allen from Rino\’s scooter rentals, the free range egg
lady and all the workers in the nearest market who were always friendly &
helpful. They are used to yachties & other tourists coming & going. Our stay
was longer than most. Despite disappointing scuba diving, the lagoon clams
were a happy surprise and it was the calmest anchorage I am likely to see in
2 months. It is unlikely that we will ever return there, and that knowledge
gives me a bit of pang. Just as we settle in & become familiar & comfortable
with a place it seems time to leave. This is the bane of us vagabonds: Do I
Stay or Do I Go? (can you hear the song?

We had lunch at Mac Ned\’s. We had been told by several people they have the
best burgers on the island. Scott preferred his burger at Koru (where I had
the best ever fish & chips), but I was pleased with the Mac Ned burger.
Finding a slice of beet in with the beef patty & cheese was a pleasant
surprise. Never met a vegetable I didn\’t like! We both agreed the fries &
thick shakes were terrific. You have to order a \”thick\” shake to get it
American style. If you just order a milkshake, you\’ll get a very thin one –
more milk than ice cream.

LAST DAY at AITUTAKI – Friday July 16

I wanted to buy more eggs if possible & see what other produce I can score
at the market. Food hoarding mentality is in full gear as we prepare to sail
even further \”off the grid\”. Scott gets more New Zealand dollars from the
ATM because the next island where we might need money (Niue) does not have
an ATM. Apparently you can get a cash advance on your credit card at the
bank, but we have been stockpiling NZ money here since we know we will use
it.

We had heard a couple days ago that a local cargo ship was coming in from
Rarotonga. We thought that was a bit weird since everyone had assured us
they get supplies by ship only once a month, directly from NZ. When we awoke
today & looked out the pass we saw the cruise ship Paul Gauguin! What a
surprise. Too big to come into the pass, they use high speed shuttles to
ferry their passengers ashore. They set up a shade tent, literally rolled
out a red carpet & had local natives hitting drums & one man in a hula skirt
blowing a conch shell in welcome. The first time we saw & heard the show it
was amusing. The 2nd shuttle\’s welcome routine was still interesting. We
were stunned to see a mass of tourists descend on sleepy little Aitutaki. By
the 3rd shuttle, it was annoying & we needed to get on with our business.
Scott took a few minutes of video of the mayhem. Their \”Welcome Tent\” was
set up exactly where we tie our dinghies to come ashore. Big step up onto
the cement wharf, dry landing with old car tires as fenders.

One uniformed cruise crew member gave me a hand with my empty shopping bag,
my full trash bag & assisted me as I stepped up onto the red carpet. A
manager (we guess) came over & told me that I was disturbing his operation.
He asked us to move immediately. Telling us we must go ashore over there, in
the mud (wet landing). I told him, with no hesitation whatsoever: \”We have
been living here a month. It is YOUR Operation that is inconvenient to us.\”
I did not turn around but heard him aghast \”Well, excuse me!\” Indeed! I did
NOT excuse him & was royally pissed that a fancy pants cruise ship can come
in & take over a place like they own it with no regard of sharing the only
public dock. The irritating little man did not dare say a word to 6 foot 4
inch tall Scott as he secured our dinghy in the \”forbidden\” area & followed
behind me. Yes sometimes size matters.

BOOTY DU JOUR: The market that has ALWAYS had plenty of refrigerated eggs
has none today. Oh well. I have 2 dozen in the fridge & 4 dozen free range,
never refrigerated eggs that will keep fine up to a month. I must turn each
egg upside down every day. Somehow this helps preserve them. As we eat up
the cold ones & have more space, I will add one dozen to the fridge at a
time.

I bought more apples, cucumbers & paper towels. A big bag of green tomatoes
& some bell peppers. Only found lettuce once during our entire stay. The
real score was a liter of chocolate ice cream! I have not had ice cream in
our freezer since the bars I bought in the Galapagos. Usually it is just too
far from the market to our freezer to risk it becoming a melty mess.

ADVENTURES IN ANCHORING, again!

The high tide to exit the very shallow pass of Aitutaki was at 1:35 p.m.
Every inch of water under the boat matters. We were anchored in the flat
calm marina with 4 other boats, a bit cozy depending on which way the wind
was blowing. One was a local fishing boat on a mooring very near shore. The
other cruising boats were all anchored bow & stern, including us. Marcus &
Tina crewing on the 56 foot catamaran \”Blue Callaloo\” were very likely over
our bow anchor. Try to follow along as I describe the up-anchoring dance (no
quiz at the end):

Scott is on Beach House controlling our engines to move her forward & back.
Plus operating both electric anchor windlasses with cabled remote controls.
At first I am in our dinghy giving her a push on starboard (R side) because
the wind (thankfully not strong) was pushing us to the right. Friend Peter
of sailboat \”Quickstar\” came out in his dinghy to help & positioned himself
toward the bow to be a bow thruster. With the 2 of us preventing Beach House
from drifting sideways into the fishing boat or Bernard\’s little monohull,
Scott was left to the deed of paying out bow chain, while picking up the
stern. It was all working fine until the last moment when it was apparent
that the stern anchor was stuck in the mud. He kept trying to drive it out
every which way, but no luck. On to Plan B:

I tie up our dinghy amidships & climb on board to help get Scott into scuba
gear. He really wanted a trowel or shovel of some kind to take with him
below to dig the anchor out. Gardening tools we don\’t have! I grab a sturdy
metal file & toss it to him while he gets ready to descend. Later, I
realized the crowbar would probably be the tool of choice. I get on the
stern anchor controls. Peter suggests I keep trying to pull up the anchor.
Scott had already tried every which way without success, but Scott (in the
water with tank, but still on the surface) agrees. So I push the UP button &
Voila – success!

I quickly help wet & salty Scott climb back onboard & get out of his scuba
gear. Sometimes you just have to \”threaten\” an anchor & then they behave. We
then go to our stations for upping the bow anchor. Me at the helm, Scott on
the bow rinsing & \”un-castle-ing\” the chain in the locker. Un-castle-ing
means tossing the stack of chain that piles up, spreading it out more. If we
don\’t do this, the mound of chain will rise right up to the windlass & there
is nowhere for the chain to go, it just gets backed up & the windlass stops
working. This is a BLUE job because it is wet, dirty and his longer arms
work better to reach down into the chain locker for de-castle-ing. And
especially now with my R hand gimpy, I am better able to drive the boat than
handle the chain.

Marcus, Captain of Blue Callaloo is now using his dinghy to push his own
catamaran sideways out of our way, so we can retrieve our bow anchor which
is under their boat. They arrived 2 weeks after us & with the limited space
in the marina, had to anchor over our bow. We expected some maneuvers with
that boat when we departed. Because of the wind angle, he is positioned on
the R side, pushing Blue Callaloo. to the left Peter is playing tugboat to
Beach House as needed. I am at the helm & Scott is on the bow upping that
anchor. We leave both anchors submerged just below the waterline because
their scoops are filled with mud. Driving around a bit with them wet, causes
the mud to wash off.

Once I am free to move, I proceed to maneuver where I know there is a safe
depth & I can turn Beach House nose to the wind. Scott had a different idea
of what I should be doing & got quite beside himself when I did not \”follow
orders\”, but used my own judgment. Let\’s just say it was one of our \”Italian
Moments\”: Some yelling from him. Some cursing from me. But when it was all
said & done we gave high fives & complimented each other on handling a
tricky situation about as well as possible. It was not graceful, but we
didn\’t hit another boat or run aground, so we are happy.

I will make a separate post for the passage because I am getting long
winded.

Cindy & Scott

Dear F&F,
July 13, 2010
Clam Close-Ups
Day #18 Aitutaki, Cook Islands

I was awake at 6:30 a.m., but it is pretty dark then still, so lingered next
to Scott until 7. I asked if he was up for a return trip to the lagoon. We
decided it best to get our work done there early, before the tourist boats
arrive, still not knowing if anyone would protest our diving at the site.
And not wanting a crowd of snorkelers kicking up the sand. We had the tanks
topped off, gear loaded in the dinghy, camera equipped with the 105 mm lens
& off we went. This second time I was a bit more bold speeding through the
rock & coral patches. The wind was a little less than Sunday but it was
still a wet & bouncy outbound ride. We were underwater by 9 a.m.

The silly boy wore only his 3 mm suit again. After an hour I felt cool but
not chilled in my 6 mm wetsuit with double layer beanies. We barely moved. I
stuck close to Scott in case he needed my extra flashlight to help the
camera to sharply focus. He has a focusing flashlight attached to the camera
rig, plus strobes, but sometimes the extra beam helps. I love his artistic
results so much that I am a very willing assistant. I am very careful to
maneuver, mostly walking on my hands not wanting to kick up sand.

The term \”clam up\” is not a joke. They are sensitive creatures & we had to
hold very still & allow them to get used to our presence & wait until they
opened up. Sometimes a passing cloud would cause one to close, or withdraw
its colorful body (mantle) into it’s shell. I found the two pipe fish again,
but they are not very cooperative subjects. First of all they are tan &
white on a beige background, difficult to see. And the little thread-like
fish would not hold still. They bob their heads & wriggle across the rock.
Don\’t they know that this is their big day, that they could be famous?!

As I catch up on writing you, Scott is sifting through the 170 images shot
today. He distracts me for my opinion, but I don\’t mind because the preview
of today\’s efforts are stunning. Naturally I am his biggest fan, but his
abstract art photos are my very favorite. I am sorry you will have to wait
to see the results (now posted “07-2010-Aitutaki UNDERWATER photo gallery”),
we don\’t have access to high speed internet, so unable to upload photos to
the website.

We are expecting two boats of friends to arrive in the next 2 days. We are
not sure how long we will linger. We are glad that we stayed long enough to
discover the hidden beauty of Aitutaki. What\’s next? Humpback whales
possible at any of the next 3 islands…stay tuned.

Cindy & Scott

Dear F&F,
July 12, 2010
Wine & Friends

As Scott was focused on uploading the morning weather report via ham radio,
as he does nearly every morning…and I am scurrying about making breakfast,
making the bed, generally tidying up…I glance out the stern window & see a
new catamaran just off our stern. They are preparing to drop their bow
anchor on top of our stern chain, which would be a mess and put them
dangerously close to the rocks behind us. Scott jumps outside & steers the
nice South African couple deeper into the harbor, toward the cement wharf.
They are receptive to his explanation of the \”lay of the land\” and they
decide to side tie their boat to the cement wharf. Further from us, always a
happy thing! The boat is named Albatross III, a 44 foot Norseman catamaran
that is nicely appointed. They are the 2nd owners of her & somewhat new to
sailing. After raising 5 children to independent adulthood, they got \”the
bug\” and set out from South Africa 2 years ago. Like us they plan to arrive
in NZ by the end of this year. Unlike us, they plan to apply for immigration
& permanent residence status. Best wishes to them. We know that New Zealand
does not grant foreigners long stay visas readily. You either have to have
to be young with a much needed skill, have a pile of money or both. They are
in their 60s so we wish them well on \”buying in\”. (*Footnote: We later
learned that white South Africans practically have refugee status & are
warmly welcomed in New Zealand.)

Sunday night we noticed a large cat anchored outside the reef. This morning
I heard them trying to hail the Port Captain on VHF radio channel 16. It is
about 12:30 p.m. & I know that no business occurs during lunch hour. And
often the officials are closed after noon. I reply to \”Blue Callaloo\” &
introduce myself. We switch to ship to ship chat channel 68. I explain that
it is ok to come to shore in their dinghy even though they have not cleared
Customs & Immigration. Scott had just left with the scooter rental guy to
fill out paperwork so we can rent a scooter again. I tell them I will call
them back when he returns & they should come to our boat by dinghy to get
the full scoop on boat life in Aitutaki.

Thankfully the rental guy convinced Scott to take the bike for 2 days, it\’s
not that much more money, so we don\’t feel rushed to do our shopping
immediately. We generally enjoy meeting fellow sailors & this German couple
were young & very friendly. We all sat in the salon of Beach House & got
acquainted over glasses of water. Captain Marcus was nervous about the pass,
as every prudent sailor is, but keen to get inside the much calmer anchorage
area of the harbor. Tina & he have been crewing on this boat for several
years. It is the best gig we\’ve ever heard of: the owner has been onboard
only 3 weeks in the past 2 years. The plan had been a circumnavigation with
this couple as crew, the owner & his best friend flying in to join the parts
that they wished. Sadly the friend died a year ago & it has left sorrow in
the heart of the owner. He cannot bear to join the crew, yet he feels
compelled to fulfill the dream of his friend. So the happy couple gets to go
where they wish, continuing the original plan, but without an on-site boss.
A sad, yet poignant reminder that we must follow our dreams while we can.

We explain to Marcus that we intend to dive in the lagoon again tomorrow,
but should be back in time to help guide him into the pass at 10:45 a.m.
high tide. They are very appreciative of our offer & we agree to visit more
later. Scott & I zoom up the hill in the scooter. During the past week we
have discovered 3 of the 6 \”mystery wines\” acceptable & want to stock up.
They have sold out of our favorite, but we get 18 bottles of the other two.
The checker understands our dilemma of being on a scooter, unable to
transport all those bottles. A delivery truck has to go out anyway, so they
will drop off our booty at the marina. We make two more stops hoping they
won\’t beat us back. First, Baxters Water World (yeah it’s a meat wholesaler)
for more frozen beef steaks and at the fuel mini market for more apples &
milk. Sure enough our wine was sitting on the cement wharf when we pulled
up. We parked the bike & stopped in to greet the couple on Albatross III,
Ruth & Rob. They invite us aboard, soon the German couple, Marcus and Tina
also appear & an early happy hour erupted. I am not much of a beer drinker,
so was content with water, fully enjoying the social opportunity. About an
hour later, I remembered my frozen meat tossed in the dinghy & bottles of
wine sitting in the sun, so we scurried off

Onboard Beach House, I already had other steak defrosted & saw solo Bernard
looking lonely in his cockpit (as he always does, just has that look) so
invited him over for dinner. Scott showed him our clam photos, we talked
story & had a lovely evening. A new experimental bottle of pinot noir was
not great, but we managed to polish it off anyway. Bernard had met Marcus
and Tina in the Marquesas several months ago. It can be a small world out
here.

Cindy & Scott

Dear F&F,
July 11, 2010
Giant Clam Photo Shoot #1

The day started with Scott re-cementing Natalie\’s loose crown. The procedure
was painless & successful. The retired dentist has not lost his touch.
During this time (about 8 a.m. local) we were able to glimpse a partial
eclipse of the sun. Thin clouds helped veil the intensity of the \”crescent\”
sun. It was viewed as a full eclipse from other locations.

Solo French sailor Bernard managed to come into the harbor alone, but Scott
helped him set his stern anchor from our dinghy. It is difficult to set two
anchors on your own, plus he recently fractured a rib, so any effort with
his arms or bending, etc is painful. He is now securely tucked between Na
Maka & Beach House. A much preferred neighbor to the Swiss boat.

We were keen to dive in the giant clam area on a Sunday as only 2
Seventh-Day Adventists tour operators work. We hoped to avoid the crowds of
snorkelers that cycle through on other days of the week. As we loaded the
dinghy with our dive gear, we could hear the harmonious singing from the
nearby churches.

It is about a 30 minute dinghy ride from the marina where Beach House is
anchored to the giant clam preserve. I drove outbound since it is into the
wind & waves, making for a jarring ride for the person in front. Scott also
helps me see the coral heads. It takes a lot of concentration to steer a
safe path though the many shallow rocky coral patches.

Once at the site, there was plenty of sand to set the anchor in without
damage to the coral. We decided to bank on \”asking for forgiveness instead
of permission\”. We don\’t know if scuba diving is forbidden. But we knew we
could take plenty of photos and cause no harm. Scott took the wide angle
lens first, which gives the best perspective of the size of these mollusks
with me posing in my usual fashion. The entire area is at most only 15 feet
deep so we knew our one tank of compressed air (each) would easily last for
2 dives

It is RARE that we ever change lenses \”in the field\” from the dinghy because
Scott has to open the watertight housing which means there is a risk of
water getting on the camera during the lens change. But due to the long
bouncy ride, threading through coral fields, and the \”Sunday\” factor we
decided to take both wide angle & close ups during one trip. After an hour
dive with the wide angle, we surfaced and carefully dried the outside of the
housing with towels we brought for this purpose. I tried to sit in a wind &
sea spray blocking position holding a towel up for added protection. Scott
swapped the camera lens and port, re-greased the ever important O-ring & we
were now in close-up mode. Which means I can wear my nerdy beanie & stay
warmer!

I didn\’t torment Scott by showing him the teeny tiny pipe fish when he was
using the wide angle lens, but was very glad I could find them again, since
they were now appropriate sized subjects. We spent another hour barely
swimming. Mostly kneeling in the sand to gaze (me) and shoot (Scott) the
gorgeous details of the many clams. Besides the almost 3 foot wide ones,
there are 1 foot sized clams that have a stunning blue/green edge on their
mantle. The siphons are interesting & look like space ships. Some
perspectives reveal an uncanny similarity to certain parts of the human
female anatomy. You will see what I mean when you view the \”07-2010-Aitutaki
UNDERWATER Photo Gallery\”.

It was a very successful outing. Poor Scott was pretty cold, submerged more
than 2 hours in only his 3 mm wetsuit. I was fine in my 6 mm. If the water
continues to get colder as predicted, I will probably be switching to my dry
suit. Especially when we do multiple dives, several days in a row, the
effect of temporary hypothermia creeps in, primarily exhaustion. Sleeping
better on the days we dive is a bonus we appreciate.

When Scott uploaded the photos for our review, we are pleased with the
results but quickly agree we must return to shoot one more time. He needs to
take the super macro lens, the 105 mm, to really capture the detail, color &
texture of these amazing clams. We don\’t seem to be rushing away from this
island, so we will do it.

Cindy & Scott

Dear F&F,
July 10, 2010
Teking Lagoon Excursion

This morning began with Scott assisting Laurel & Hardy to get unstuck from
the shallow sand where they were marooned last night. As the water depth
grew with the rising tide, Scott was able to give them a nudge with our
dinghy to steer them into deeper water & float off.

Scott later emailed the Swiss boat story to our friends Amanda & John Neal
who teach people how to sail & take them on learning cruises. They replied
that similar mayhem & rescue occurred when they were in Raratonga with them..
They are a hazard to navigation & we hope to steer clear of them & similarly
clueless boaters. Onward..

We had a terrific play day on a lagoon snorkeling excursion. Teking (aka The
King) Expeditions was recommended to us by a New Zealand guy (aka Kiwi) who
has been on vacation here in Aitutaki 9 years in a row. Despite the crowd of
8 other guests on our boat plus a full load of 10 on a tandem boat, we
enjoyed the day & camaraderie. One group was 3 Australian families with 5
teenagers on holiday. One of the Dad\’s had to ride on our boat to balance
the load. Nice guy, software engineer with the hobby of fly fishing.
Aitutaki is becoming a destination for the sport of catch & release bone
fishing, as well as kite boarding. Andrew told us he had already met 6 other
men on vacation here expressly for fly fishing. Who knew?!

Besides Andrew, on our boat was a NZ family of 5: husband, wife, 23 year old
daughter, her \”fiancée\” and 14 year old son. The Mum is taking this
engagement with a grain of salt since there is no wedding date set, he\’s
still in university & she is unemployed. Plus another young Kiwi couple. It
was a commodious group. We liked our driver, Pickam. Teking himself drove
the Aussie boat.

I slathered my finger in vaseline to help reduce \”soggy paw syndrome\”. Not
an official medical term, but the best description for what happens when I
get my still irritated right index finger wet. I did my best to keep it in
the \”up periscope\” position as much as possible when snorkeling. The water
was a chilly 78 degrees & I regretted wearing only my 3 mm wetsuit. I would
have been happier with twice that, which I do own.

It was wonderful to be back in the water & see some of our fishy friends.
They have successfully imported from Palau & Australia some giant clams
which are quite awesome to behold. An interesting native species is an all
BLUE starfish. Traditional 5 legged variety, totally harmless. What we saw
snorkeling in the lagoon was more interesting & beautiful than the sites the
dive companies go outside the reef. That is unusual & we have heard that
there are better outer reef sites here, but they are not easy to get to,
especially as it is almost always quite windy here, making for rough water
on that side of the island.

We saw one very large Crown of Thorns starfish. Even the snorkeling
operators know that they are a menace to the reef & must be disposed of.
Peckam asked Scott to gaff it. I kept my distance & gave it the finger!

We had 4 snorkeling opportunities plus walks on 2 small islets (motus) to
admire the white sandy beaches with palm trees, postcard perfect paradise.
The lunch was Dee-licious: grilled fresh wahoo with grilled slices of onion
& eggplant. A lovely display of giant clam shells were used as the bowls for
potato salad, green salad, coleslaw, watermelon and star fruit, slices of
chocolate cake & fresh grated coconut. I enjoyed every bite & rescued a
couple of the teenagers from their portion of eggplant – more for me! It is
such a luxury to eat a meal that I did not have to prepare myself.

Teking has his tourist schtick down pat. I\’m afraid even though he spoke
excellent English, as most Cook Islanders do, many of his jokes were missed
by the NZ/Oz group. Scott & I guffawed out loud & applauded him many times
on his straight-faced humor & timing. We got more bold being \”part of the
act\” as the day progressed which was fun for us. Scott was asked to say
grace at lunch. I held my breath wondering how my typically irreverent
husband would cope with this request. He simply sung out the word: \”GRACE\”
which was accepted by Teking as he invited us to partake of the buffet.

The 5 teenagers were terribly bored & any parent who thinks their 9th grader
will appreciate a tropical vacation with the parentals is hugely naive. They
sighed & posed & kept asking each other when would this day be over… They
were blatantly rude when Teking told stories about native plants & ancestral
culture. He responded appropriately by turning his back to them, effectively
excluding the rude children (& also a few rude adults) from the circle.

We intend to return to the shallow site where the clams & starfish are to
take some underwater photos. It is too hard for Scott to hold his breath,
dive under, frame the shot, focus, etc. So even for very shallow areas, if
we want photos we try to go on scuba instead of snorkel. Now that the
generator is repaired we can fill our own tanks & go.

Cindy & Scott

Dear F&F,

July 9, 2010

Aitutaki – Generator Success

We got the long awaited generator parts 2 days ago, but surprise, surprise
it was not as “plug & play” as Scott hoped or was told.

Today he received a tech support email from Florida telling us how to
re-program the digital brain (replacement part) of the generator. It worked!
Happy days. Scott then noticed the raw water intake pump is leaking, but we
have a spare, so that takes him only another hour to replace & we are in
business. Tonight we will give it a good long run, but it seems that worry
is solved. Very, very happy & relieved. I am not sure how it evolved, but
Scott has taken to saying \”Namaste\” when he starts the generator which I
find adorable & hilarious. Laughter is so great.

Finger Update: I went to the hospital to see if a local might know anything
about my lingering sore finger from a Crown of Thorns starfish prick. Two
medical interns from Australia were very sweet & good listeners, but not
that familiar. The guy said he saw one case & the patients’ leg from the
knee down was swollen (from a prick in the foot) but after 1 week just the
ankle & foot were swollen. He did not know the outcome.

Dr. Koko, possibly Korean, was beckoned & heard my story & took a look. He
suggested another course of antibiotics plus 4 days anti-inflammatories. He
said nearly 4 weeks was slow healing & suspects that there is still a part
of the thorn in my finger. We can\’t see anything, but because it is still so
painful, swollen & tender my tissue is very likely reacting to this foreign
body. It is too bad we did not know about the hot water plus vinegar soak
immediately. We knew this for jellyfish stings & I had to use that treatment
many times in Mexico & it worked great. C\’est la vie.

Lucky me, such a \”sensitive\” girl having a strong reaction to this silly
starfish. Ok, I was the one trying to murder it…so maybe it is my karma.
At any rate, I began a different antibiotic today, Cipro, plus Aleve.

Food: It is more hot & humid. I try to think of food that does not involve
cooking, or minimal time with the stove on. I defrosted already cooked &
peeled shrimp & made \”shrimp remoulade\”. I used 2 boiled eggs & ate mine
over a bed of lettuce. Will offer Scott pasta and lettuce.

VISITORS: About 4 pm we were just thinking about beginning happy hour when
Bernard appears at our stern in his dinghy. Solo French guy with the broken
rib. We give him wine & I make a treatment to his mid & upper back (just
sitting in the cockpit) which is very tense from guarding his broken rib. We
met him first contact at the last island when I was lonely & doing sunset
yoga while Scott was on the radio Net. So Bernard & I have a nice rapport.

Bernard is still onboard when Natalie pulls up in her dinghy with a tooth
question. I call for the dentist. It is pretty funny, we haven\’t worked in
all this time & suddenly we each have a \”patient\”. She has an implant crown
that is a bit loose. He asks her to return tomorrow p.m. & he will do
something (re-cement? not sure). Natalie & Bernard leave.

Jerome arrives to tell us about his kite boarding day & ask Scott how it
went with the generator. Scott is tired & hungry so goes inside & gets on
the net & pours himself more wine. I am enjoying my parade of visitors so
sit on the back chatting with Jerome for over half an hour. It is sunset. We
talk about many things. I really love both Jerome & Natalie – good people.

We notice the Swiss monohull between our 2 catamarans is trying to pull up
his anchor & having trouble. Jerome is being beckoned home by Natalie to
help with the family bath hour (they wash in the lagoon with just a small
fresh water rinse after). Scott gets in our dinghy to see if he can help the
poor old Swiss guy and his game but not overly able female companion. Their
stern anchor is stuck in the mud. Scott tries to muscle it up for them from
our dinghy – no luck. He instructs them what to do. They follow his
instructions pretty well. He also uses the dinghy to fend them off from
swinging in the wind & hitting us or Jerome\’s boat. It is getting dark. It
is not smart to go out this shallow pass without good light and high tide.
But they seem psyched to get underway. Eventually get both front & back
anchors up & seem to be away.

Five minutes later Scott sees that they have run aground in the pass! It is
now 7:00 p.m., totally dark & Scott goes out in the dinghy trying to help
them get free & going. My guess is that they will just anchor where they
are, if there are no dangerously shallower areas. But perhaps they will get
loose & continue tonight. Scott helped them get their stern anchor set and
told them he will return just before the mornings high tide to help the get
the boat off the sand bank and on their way. The next morning, Scott
successfully helped get their nose aimed in the right direction and wiggled
them off the sand bank. Happy ending after a night of leaning over while on
the bottom; fortunately a calm evening.

Tomorrow we booked ourselves as tourists on a highly recommended Lagoon
Snorkeling Excursion, with “Teking Lagoon Tours”. They will pick us up at
9:30 a.m. We will be with 8 other people. They provide some kind of lunch.
We\’ll go to 5 motus (little islets) inside the reef. I\’ll hope for the best
with my finger. I have been trying to keep it dry. I hope I can tolerate
snorkeling. Got to figure out which of my various wetsuits to wear. The sun
is hot & air humid, but the water is cooling steadily. Although if it is a
shallow area it might not feel too cold. Hoping for a fun day. See the
photo gallery 07-2010-Aitutaki TOPSIDE for our tour with “The King”….

Cindy and Scott