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Dear F&F,
We\’d heard that when you were at Palmerston the locals did everything they could to \”get some work out of you\”. We were no exception!
As soon as they found out we were SCUBA divers, we were put to work. First, we checked our own mooring to make sure it was in good shape and for the most part, it was. So in \”payment\” for our using Edwards mooring, he asked if we would put in another one for him. We did this as well as serviced two others for him. Then Bob got into the act! His moorings had all disappeared during the last Hurricane. I put 4 new moorings in for Bob. Then Corey, Jock\’s husband wanted me to replace his. I couldn\’t find the giant anchor he said I \”couldn\’t miss\” so that one remained lost. We tried! All in all, a lovely reef which Cindy did one fun dive on with me; but I got to work for my supper….:) My mooring work was particularly appreciated by friends catamaran from South Africa. One morning we saw him drifting away from the reef and hailed him on the radio to wish him a good trip to his next stop, the island of Niue. He called back that I had awoken him and he was sure glad I did as his anchor had dragged and he was drifting away from the reef. If the wind had been blowing the other way, it would have been ugly. He picked his dangling anchor up and picked up a mooring I had set up the day before. He remained firmly attached for the rest of his stay.

On our next to last day, we had arranged an \”all cruisers party\” which we \”boaties\” would bring lots of goodies too and it was hosted at Bob\’s. We weren\’t exactly sure why Edward and Simon were okay with this, but suffice it to say, the \”boaties\” put their feet down. Bob and Edward chewed the fat (literally) and it was a wonderfully successful event. By this time, there were 10 boats in the anchorage so we had quite the gathering and some good breeze to test my new mooring installations. Happily, all were solid including the one holding 60,000 lb. s/v \”Visions of Johana\”. See the Photo Gallery of Palmerston Island for details.

A rare visit by a supply boat also occurred on our last day which made all the locals really happy and lastly, Bill\’s wife was picked up by the Rarotongan Coast Guard to be taken by their vessel 500 miles to testify at an assault trial which she had witnessed a year earlier while visiting Rarotonga, (Capitol of the Cook Islands).

All in all, there are 15 Cook Islands spread out over an area over 1/2 the size of the USA! The largest can be driven around by car in 30 minutes!

All good things must end and after a final tour by Taia and a dinner we hosted for Bob\’s family aboard \”Beach House\”, we reluctantly but excitedly prepared to sail to one of the more remote destinations on Planet Earth….\”Beveridge Reef\”…..stay tuned!

Good bye Palmerston Island, we had a most delightful and memorable experience.

Scott & Cindy

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