Our coolest Niue experience – a whale shark

2008-08-29

Title:  Our coolest Niue experience – a whale shark

Last week a large whale came up right next to our boat.  Actually, he came right next to the cockpit twice – which we thought was a pretty unique experience.  However, when we tried to identify the species of whale he did not match any of the whales shown on the identification sheet that we had received at the Niue Festival.   Several days later Bill suggested that it might have been a whale shark.

He was right.  We searched the internet and found images of a whale shark.  That is definitely the creature that surfaced twice within 5 feet of our cockpit.  And it was really big – at least 35 feet in length. 

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about a whale shark:

The whale shark, Rhincodon typus, is a slow filter feeding shark that is the largest living fish species. It can grow up to 12.2 m. (40 ft.) in length and can weigh up to 13.6 metric tonnes (15 short tons). This distinctively-marked shark is the only member of its genus Rhincodon and its family, Rhincodontidae (called Rhinodontes before 1984), which is grouped into the subclass Elasmobranchii in the class Chondrichthyes. The shark is found in tropical and warm oceans and lives in the open sea. The species is believed to have originated about 60 million years ago.

As a filter feeder, it has a capacious mouth which can be up to 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) wide and can contain between 300 and 350 rows of tiny teeth.^[4] It has five large pairs of gills. Two small eyes are located towards the front of the shark's wide, flat head. The body is mostly grey with a white belly; three prominent ridges run along each side of the animal and the skin is marked with a "checkerboard" of pale yellow spots and stripes. These spots are unique to each whale shark and because of this they can be used to identify each animal and hence make an accurate population count. Its skin can be up to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) thick. The shark has a pair each of dorsal fins and pectoral fins. A juvenile whale shark's tail has a larger upper fin than lower fin while the adult tail becomes semi-lunate (or crescent-shaped). The whale shark's spiracles are just behind the eyes.

The whale shark is not an efficient swimmer since the entire body is used for swimming, which is unusual for fish and contributes to an average speed of only around 5-kilometre-per-hour (3.1 mph).

This species, despite its enormous size, does not pose any significant danger to humans. It is a frequently cited example when educating the public about the popular misconceptions of all sharks as "man-eaters". They are actually quite gentle and can be playful with divers. There are unconfirmed reports of sharks lying still, upside down on the surface to allow divers to scrape parasites and other organisms from their bellies. Divers and snorkelers can swim with this giant fish without any risk apart from unintentionally being struck by the shark's large tail fin.

Behold! The coconut!

The name ‘Niue’ translates as ‘Behold! The coconut!’, a reference to the fact that this rocky island could sustain the coconut palm, thereby making it a land worth inhabiting. Polynesians benefit immensely from this plant and have ingeniously evolved innumerable uses of it.  As stated in our previous log, Niue is basically one large limestone and coral rock and it is commonly called The Rock.

Unlike its neighbors Nuie avoided adapting the traditional Polynesian power hierarchy of priests and chiefs; and instead, relied on family or clan based units united under a ‘democratically’ elected monarch. This made Niueans very independent, both of each other and from their neighbors, and they remain so today.  Remember, smallest independently governed country in the world – except they can only survive with about NZ$5,000,000 annual contribution from New Zealand.
 
We rented a car one day and visited several points of interest around the island.  During this excursion we also noted the extremely high number of abandoned homes dotting the island.  We drove through one village where only 2 of the first 13 homes were occupied; the rest were abandoned.  You can’t blame these people for leaving their homeland and going to New Zealand in search of jobs.  There are almost no jobs available on Niue except employment in the government sector.  There are very, very few businesses or open restaurants on this island.
We think that the final blow to the inhabitants of Niue was when the island was struck by Typhoon or Tropical Cyclone Heta on January 6, 2004.  Heta was either a cat 4 or cat 5 when she struck Niue.  Because of the intensity of this storm there was a tremendous storm surge that caused very significant destruction on Niue.  One woman and her baby were killed when the storm surge suddenly rose more than 40 feet up the steep-walled western coast.  The sea actually came inward on the island for a distance of 275 feet.  If you could see how high up the coast is from the sea on a normal day, you would realize just how extreme this cyclone must have been.  Heta really wreaked havoc on this island and we think a lot of the residents looked at the destruction and decided, “why rebuild?” and moved away to New Zealand to start a new life.  The population today is estimated to be down to about 1350 inhabitants.  The population is shrinking rapidly.  It is sad to see the island dying off. 

First on our self-guided island tour was Togo Chasm.  This is pronounced “ton-goh” with the emphasis on the first syllable.  I do not know what causes some Polynesian words to include the “N” sound when the word contains no “N.”  The town of Pago Pago in Samoa is one of these words.  It is pronounced Pan-goh Pan-goh for some reason.  Wish I knew more about Polynesian phonetics.  Our Polynesian phrasebook does not elaborate on phonetics.

Let us continue on with the description of our tour.  The paved road ended and became a rutted sand road several miles before reaching the walking path to Togo Chasm.  First there is a long walk through the forest.  The forest floor is covered with very thin soil and sharp jagged limestone sticks up everywhere.  It felt sharp even through our hiking shoes.  The odd thing was that there were thousands and thousands of bromeliads growing straight out of the limestone, with no soil at all.  I know that bromeliads obtain nutrients from the air, but it still looked strange to see huge healthy plants growing straight out of rough stone.

The trail exited the forest and we beheld a large field of tall limestone peaks in all directions, some 20-feet high, all the way to the drop-off down to the ocean.  Someone had used concrete to make a very narrow path through and over the jagged sharp limestone peaks.  They had also installed poles and hand ropes in the most dangerous areas.  It was quite a hike across and down the limestone and I cannot imagine how anyone possibly got through this area without that concrete pathway.  Seems like you would be cut to pieces.

As we neared the drop-off down to the ocean, the path did a sharp double U-turn and changed into a sand pathway.   At the end of the sand path we found a very tall ladder leading down to a pretty pocket beach filled with palm trees.  Bill climbed down the ladder to check it out, but my legs were already quivering from the strenuous walk across the limestone and I opted not to climb down to the pretty little sandy spit surrounded by high stone.  I fell and hurt my knee when we were at Ahe in the Tuamotos 2/12 months ago and am still having lots of knee pain.  So this walk was stretching my physical limits.  Bill took a few photos and we reversed and hiked back out of there.  We had been complaining to each other that we needed to get off the boat more often and get more exercise.  Today we got all the exercise we could have wanted.

We checked the map and decided not to continue farther northward on the eastern road since we did not know if it became paved again or if it remained unpaved sand all the way up the eastern coast.  We located the only road that crosses the island and made our way back to the main town of Alofi and headed north up the western coast.  There are a half-dozen caves along this coast and we wanted to check out a few of them.  Until the arrival of Christian missionaries in the mid 1800’s, Niuean lived within the many caves found around the island, most along the shoreline.  

Palava Cave is a double-decker.  It is actually a 2-story cave, with the larger lower cave opening right out onto the sea.  If you had to live in a cave, this one would be perfect.  We wanted to visit the double arches and the cave near the arches, but it was too long a walk after having already hiked the Togo Chasm.  So we missed out on the arches but here is a link to some photos on the Nuie tourism website:

http://niueisland.com/sightseeing/

We also visited the New Zealand High Council to apply for 6-month multi-entry visas.  Our guide books state that this visa should be obtained before arriving in New Zealand.  As US citizens we can arrive in New Zealand without this visa and then deal with extensions, but it is supposed to simplify things and be less costly if you obtain this visa prior to arrival in New Zealand.  We are supposed to return and pick-up our passports (hopefully with the visas enclosed) this afternoon. 

Heavy weather is predicted to start arriving in the area on Saturday afternoon and winds to 30 knots are predicted through Tuesday; so we hope that our passports and visas are ready this afternoon so we can depart very early tomorrow morning.  The passage to Vava’U Group of Tonga is about 247 miles.  If we depart Niue by 0500 Friday morning then we should arrive in Vava’U around noon to 1400 on Saturday, which will actually be Sunday.  We cross the dateline when entering Tonga so we jump forward one day.

Internet access in Tonga is limited so don’t be alarmed if we don’t update often.

Behold! The coconut!

The name ‘Niue’ translates as ‘Behold! The coconut!’, a reference to the fact that this rocky island could sustain the coconut palm, thereby making it a land worth inhabiting. Polynesians benefit immensely from this plant and have ingeniously evolved innumerable uses of it.  As stated in our previous log, Niue is basically one large limestone and coral rock and it is commonly called The Rock.

Unlike its neighbors Nuie avoided adapting the traditional Polynesian power hierarchy of priests and chiefs; and instead, relied on family or clan based units united under a ‘democratically’ elected monarch. This made Niueans very independent, both of each other and from their neighbors, and they remain so today.  Remember, smallest independently governed country in the world – except they can only survive with about NZ$5,000,000 annual contribution from New Zealand. 

We rented a car one day and visited several points of interest around the island.  During this excursion we also noted the extremely high number of abandoned homes dotting the island.  We drove through one village where only 2 of the first 13 homes were occupied; the rest were abandoned.  You can’t blame these people for leaving their homeland and going to New Zealand in search of jobs.  There are almost no jobs available on Niue except employment in the government sector.  There are very, very few businesses or open restaurants on this island.
We think that the final blow to the inhabitants of Niue was when the island was struck by Typhoon or Tropical Cyclone Heta on January 6, 2004.  Heta was either a cat 4 or cat 5 when she struck Niue.  Because of the intensity of this storm there was a tremendous storm surge that caused very significant destruction on Niue.  One woman and her baby were killed when the storm surge suddenly rose more than 40 feet up the steep-walled western coast.  The sea actually came inward on the island for a distance of 275 feet.  If you could see how high up the coast is from the sea on a normal day, you would realize just how extreme this cyclone must have been.  Heta really wreaked havoc on this island and we think a lot of the residents looked at the destruction and decided, “why rebuild?” and moved away to New Zealand to start a new life.  The population today is estimated to be down to about 1350 inhabitants.  The population is shrinking rapidly.  It is sad to see the island dying off. 

First on our self-guided island tour was Togo Chasm.  This is pronounced “ton-goh” with the emphasis on the first syllable.  I do not know what causes some Polynesian words to include the “N” sound when the word contains no “N.”  The town of Pago Pago in Samoa is one of these words.  It is pronounced Pan-goh Pan-goh for some reason.  Wish I knew more about Polynesian phonetics.  Our Polynesian phrasebook does not elaborate on phonetics.

Let us continue on with the description of our tour.  The paved road ended and became a rutted sand road several miles before reaching the walking path to Togo Chasm.  First there is a long walk through the forest.  The forest floor is covered with very thin soil and sharp jagged limestone sticks up everywhere.  It felt sharp even through our hiking shoes.  The odd thing was that there were thousands and thousands of bromeliads growing straight out of the limestone, with no soil at all.  I know that bromeliads obtain nutrients from the air, but it still looked strange to see huge healthy plants growing straight out of rough stone.

The trail exited the forest and we beheld a large field of tall limestone peaks in all directions, some 20-feet high, all the way to the drop-off down to the ocean.  Someone had used concrete to make a very narrow path through and over the jagged sharp limestone peaks.  They had also installed poles and hand ropes in the most dangerous areas.  It was quite a hike across and down the limestone and I cannot imagine how anyone possibly got through this area without that concrete pathway.  Seems like you would be cut to pieces.

As we neared the drop-off down to the ocean, the path did a sharp double U-turn and changed into a sand pathway.   At the end of the sand path we found a very tall ladder leading down to a pretty pocket beach filled with palm trees.  Bill climbed down the ladder to check it out, but my legs were already quivering from the strenuous walk across the limestone and I opted not to climb down to the pretty little sandy spit surrounded by high stone.  I fell and hurt my knee when we were at Ahe in the Tuamotos 2/12 months ago and am still having lots of knee pain.  So this walk was stretching my physical limits.  Bill took a few photos and we reversed and hiked back out of there.  We had been complaining to each other that we needed to get off the boat more often and get more exercise.  Today we got all the exercise we could have wanted.

We checked the map and decided not to continue farther northward on the eastern road since we did not know if it became paved again or if it remained unpaved sand all the way up the eastern coast.  We located the only road that crosses the island and made our way back to the main town of Alofi and headed north up the western coast.  There are a half-dozen caves along this coast and we wanted to check out a few of them.  Until the arrival of Christian missionaries in the mid 1800’s, Niuean lived within the many caves found around the island, most along the shoreline.  

Palava Cave is a double-decker.  It is actually a 2-story cave, with the larger lower cave opening right out onto the sea.  If you had to live in a cave, this one would be perfect.  We wanted to visit the double arches and the cave near the arches, but it was too long a walk after having already hiked the Togo Chasm.  So we missed out on the arches but here is a link to some photos on the Nuie tourism website:

http://niueisland.com/sightseeing/

We also visited the New Zealand High Council to apply for 6-month multi-entry visas.  Our guide books state that this visa should be obtained before arriving in New Zealand.  As US citizens we can arrive in New Zealand without this visa and then deal with extensions, but it is supposed to simplify things and be less costly if you obtain this visa prior to arrival in New Zealand.  We are supposed to return and pick-up our passports (hopefully with the visas enclosed) this afternoon. 

Heavy weather is predicted to start arriving in the area on Saturday afternoon and winds to 30 knots are predicted through Tuesday; so we hope that our passports and visas are ready this afternoon so we can depart very early tomorrow morning.  The passage to Vava’U Group of Tonga is about 247 miles.  If we depart Niue by 0500 Friday morning then we should arrive in Vava’U around noon to 1400 on Saturday, which will actually be Sunday.  We cross the dateline when entering Tonga so we jump forward one day.

Internet access in Tonga is limited so do not be alarmed if we do not update often.

The Coconut Festival

First, the name of this country is pronounced New-AY, with the emphasis on the second syllable and a hard 'a.'  It is not pronounced New-ie.  The “iu” vowel combination is pronounced like “ewgh” and the final “e” is pronounced like a long “a” just as it is in all the Polynesian languages.  Cannot tell you how many cruisers pronounce the name of this island incorrectly.

Niue might be the smallest country on earth.  It consists of only one small island and is a self-governing country in free association with New Zealand.  The entire island is less than 100 square miles.  Think about it; that is less than 10 miles long and 10 miles wide.  Niue was first sighted by Captain Cook in 1774; but after 2 unsuccessful attempts to land he named it the Savage Island, noting the ferocity of the inhabitants; and never returned.  One must assume that Capt. Cook mistook the inhabitants’ greetings as being negative but that they were in fact trying to warn the sailors where and how to land and to discourage Cook’s small boats from landing in dangerous areas because getting ashore on Niue is very difficult and can be downright treacherous.  The inhabitants are by far the friendliest people imaginable.  Many of the Pacific islanders are friendly, but none more so than Niueans and they resent Capt. Cook’s inappropriate name for their island.

Niue was not formed by volcanic eruption as were most of the Pacific islands.  The island is an elevated coral outcropping perched on top of a seamount rising from very deep water.  Niue may be the smallest self-governing country but it is also the largest raised coral island in the world.  The entire island looks like an inverted saucer with a slightly elevated ridge around the top like the “base” of that saucer.  This elevated ridge is the central plateau at a height of 220 feet.  The encircling saucer is about 90 feet above the water.  There are no sloping shores down to the water level and there are no beaches.  The sea is deep steep-to all around the island.  Niue is dotted with many caves and chasms, both above ground and also under the sea.  That is one of the reasons that it is so dangerous to attempt to anchor here.  It is too deep to anchor safely and there is a strong likelihood that your anchor would be caught in one of the underwater chasms and become irretrievable. 

Niue was probably settled more than a thousand years ago by migrations from Samoa and Tonga.  The London Missionary Society attempted to land teachers on the island in 1830 but they were repulsed by the inhabitants.  In 1849 Samoan teachers were landed and with local Niueans established the first Christian mission.  The first European missionary did not arrive here until 1861.  Niue started as early as 1887 to try to become a member of the British Empire; but it did not happen until 1900, when Niue was declared a British protectorate.   The following year it was annexed to New Zealand.  On October 19, 1974, Niue became self-governing in free association with New Zealand.  Under the Constitution Act of 1974 it is agreed that New Zealand will continue to be responsible for the external affairs and defense of Niue and for providing necessary economic and administrative assistance.  Niueans are British subjects and New Zealand citizens.  (Now, are you as confused by all that as I am?  Strange arrangement.  Best of all possibilities for the Niueans.)  The current population of Niue is down to about 1750 inhabitants, but there are about 15,000 Niueans residing in New Zealand, where they have moved to seek jobs.  There is almost no opportunity for employment on Niue, where the only substantial employer is the government in one form or another:  education, health, police, fire, etc.

There are 14 villages connected by tar-sealed roads; more about these villages later.  There is fertile soil but it is not plentiful.   This lack of soil combined with the rocky and broken nature of the country makes cultivation difficult; but we saw some lovely locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables at a festival today.  The vegetables would be unrecognizable to US citizens.  Bill and I have tried a few at various islands and do not care for any of them.  The principal agricultural export is taro.  The forests in the interior plateau are filled with mahogany, rosewood and sandalwood.  Although there is much timber on the island, it is not exported but is used for local building.

Niue is known as The Rock because of its unusual coral and limestone structure.  This same structure filters rainwater and there is no soil run-off, so the surrounding sea is amazingly clear.  We are moored in 110 feet depth and can clearly see the bottom when the sun is bright.  That is unbelievable to be able to see that depth.  This is one of the reasons that Niue is a premier diving site ---the water clarity as well as the underwater caves and chasms are spectacular.  There are millions of tiny sea-snakes.  These snakes are very poisonous but their mouths are too small to bite a human.  So you can dive without worrying about the snakes.  In fact, the snakes are very curious and will swarm around the divers.  That would totally freak me out!

Getting ashore is quite the challenge here in Niue.  Since there are no beaches and the sea is steep-to all around the island, landing a dinghy is impossible.  There is a large, very high concrete wharf with a crane.  You bring your dinghy alongside and disembark your passenger so he/she can climb up the concrete steps (and if it is high tide there will be surging waves up to your knees to cause you to lose balance and it is quite dangerous).  Your passenger disembarks and operates the crane.  Swing the crane out and lower the large hook.  Connect an interior bridle in your dinghy and connect to the hook, while the dinghy is riding up and around on the sea surge the entire time.  Then the dinghy driver climbs out on those same swell-crashing concrete steps.  Your passenger operates the crane to lift the dinghy up onto the wharf.  There is a hand-operated rolling dinghy dollie to move your dinghy away from the crane loading area and park it elsewhere on the wharf.  The same procedure is reversed when you leave.  If you don’t have a passenger to assist in connecting and hoisting the dinghy, it is possible to do this procedure single-handedly as long as the previous user has left the crane hook lowered down to the water.  But if the crane hook is raised when you arrive in your dinghy, there would be no way to manage this alone.  Thanks goodness there is a knotted Tarzan-style rope to grab onto when climbing in or out of the dinghy at the concrete steps.  The dinghy is bouncing up and down with a range of about 6 feet while the sea surges up over the bottom step.  Do not think anyone could get in or out of their dinghy without that Tarzan rope to hold onto. 

BTW, the guides books are wrong (again!!).  Upon arrival the Customs and Immigrations officials no longer come out to your boat.  When arriving in Niue you should hail Niue Yacht Club on VHF Ch 16 before arriving in the mooring field.  They will direct you to an area where you can find an unoccupied mooring ball.  Once you are moored and have your dinghy in the water then you hail Niue Radio on VHF Ch 16.  They will not answer to any other name like Niue Port Control or Harbormaster or whatever.  They only answer to Niue Radio.  Niue Radio will either direct you to the Customs office or will call the Customs officials and they will meet you at the wharf.  So you get an immediate familiarity with that infamous dinghy crane upon your arrival in Niue.  We went through this drill yesterday.

By the time we finished with Customs and Immigration yesterday it was too late to get connected with WiFi.  So our mission today was to go to the bank to exchange US dollars for local currency of NZ dollars, get internet connected and buy eggs and bread.  Well, those plans changed as soon as we had the dinghy lifted onto the wharf.  A local woman named Lelane took us under her wing.  She was at the wharf to collect sea water for her mother to use in cooking.  (Didn’t get an explanation about this; don’t know what she was cooking that required sea water.) 

Lelane is a Niuean who married a Cook Islander and they now live in Auckland, NZ.  There is a big forum going on in Niue this week.  It is like the G8 conference that the US participates in, but this forum is for all the Pacific nations.  It is called the Niue-Fakaalofa Lahiatu 39^th Pacific Forum.  The Prime Minister of Australia and the Prime Minister of New Zealand are both in Niue, along with the ministers or officials of Samoa and all the other major Pacific governmental entities.  The only country that did not attend was Fiji.  Anyway, Lelane is visiting her home island of Niue as part of this forum and she had a rental car.  She told us about a big annual festival that was taking place at the high school in honor of this forum.  Lelane took us to the bank so we would have some local currency to spend at the festival and then drove us up the hill to the festival.  Later in the day she returned to the festival to give us a ride back to the wharf area.  What an incredibly nice lady.

The festival was very entertaining and gave us a wonderful insight to the Niuean culture.  These people are not just hospitable; they are genuinely friendly and have a basic happy outlook on life.  We thoroughly enjoyed the day and the people.  There were various stalls or booths like at any festival and we visited all of them.  I ate a very strange grilled sausage wrapped in a slice of bread and topped with chopped grilled onions and a tomato sauce and Bill had a piece of barbequed chicken.  There were some tiny balls called pancakes that looked interesting but neither of us was very hungry so we did not sample the pancakes.  There were families from each village selling their home-grown produce.  Before we arrived there had been what we would call an art car parade and judging.   The vehicles decorated with palms and coconuts and other island items were a sight to behold.  After the forum officials made a few speeches then it was time for the games and contests.

These people can do anything with a coconut tree.  They utilize every piece of the coconut palm.   First there was a contest for women to see who could weave a coconut palm frond into a basket the fastest.  These were not supposed to be tightly woven baskets to last a long time.  These were to be what is called a day basket --- one that is loosely woven for a one-time use only.  As soon as each woman completed her basket then she had to stand up and put the basket over her head and walk to the podium.  Some of the women danced up to the podium to collect their prizes.  They were all laughing and having a great time with these baskets turned upside down over their heads.  The top 3 winners were from the same village.  Found out later that the women from that particular village always take awards for their weaving skills in any competition.  It was obvious that the villages like to compete with one another over just about anything.

Next was a slippery pig chase for the kids.  Same as we call a greased pig contest, except they coated the pig with liquid dishwashing detergent.  Should have seen the little girls scatter when the announcer said that it was time for some girls to participate.  Apparently only little boys chase pigs on this island.

Next contest was the tropical island version of skiing.  Cannot remember what they called it.  This requires 2 people to hold either end of a long horizontal pole.  The actual contestant stands on 2 pieces of discarded palm frond bases.  Also do not know what those are called; but they are very hard and slightly curved and are about 2-feet long.  The contestant places each foot on one of these hard curved palm pieces and squats down with bent knees while the 2 people run holding onto each end of the pole (also made from a coconut tree).  This apparently is harder than it looked because some people had difficulty and didn’t make it very far down the field.  After the kids raced then the local policemen and the military competed against one another.  Competition was a little more evident with the police and military.  The military groups were brought in from New Zealand for the forum security detail.  I think the local police beat the NZ military guys.

The ladies then participated in a coconut throwing/rolling contest.  Object was to see who could make a coconut go farthest down the field.  This also was obviously a contest that the locals do often between the villages. 

The older boys and then the men participated in a tikai contest.  Tikai is pronounced “see-cah”  with the emphasis on the first syllable.  A tikai is a piece of wood (again coconut tree) that is about 4 feet long and the diameter of your thumb.  It is shaped sort of like a spear except that there is no point on the end.  Instead, on the far end is very hefty oblong shaped piece of carved wood that is darkened and polished.  You hold the bare end of the tikai between your thumb and second finger with your index finger on the very tip end.  Rare back and throw it.  It lands half-way down the field and then continues to run along the ground surface for a great distance.  Object is to see who can throw the farthest.  If you hold the tikai any other way (like in the middle) when you throw it, then it will land heavy point down and just stick into the ground or break.  To get it to skim the ground you must throw it from your index finger on the rear tip of the “spear” pole.  The NZ military guys also tried this but were nowhere near as accurate as the local Niuean men.

The final contest was a real hoot.   We have no idea what they called this activity.  It was pretty involved and the official had to explain it several times before the contest started.  It involved teams of 8 people each.  Each team formed a queue at one end of a field.  About 200 feet from each team were the items needed for this competition: a section of cut tree trunk standing about 2-feet tall, 6 coconuts still in their outer covering, a 3-inch diameter pole about 5-feet long, a machete, a palm-frond basket and a small plastic drinking glass.

The first person in each team ran down the field to the tree trunk.  They placed the end of the pole on top of the tree trunk and used the machete to sharpen the both ends of the pole and stuck it into the ground at an angle.  He then husked 2 coconuts by slamming them against the sharp point of the pole.  (This is really not easy to do; it requires a lot of strength and accuracy.)  Then he ran back down the field and got in the back of the queue.

Then the second person ran down the field and also husked 2 coconuts.  He cut the 4 husked coconuts in half and ran back to the queue.

Then the third person also ran down the field and also husked 2 more coconuts and cut them in half with the machete.  He then ran back to the queue.  Note that they now have 6 husked coconuts all cut in half.

The fourth person ran down the field (this was usually a woman) and sat down on the tree trunk and used the edge of the machete to remove the meat from inside the coconut.  I think this is called copra.  Amazing how fast they could do that.  Then she ran back to the queue.

The fifth person ran down the field and picked up the discarded coconut husk and scraped out the fibrous stuff inside.  He/she then wrapped this fibrous stuff around the scraped-out coconut meat and squeezed it over the plastic drinking glass.  The glass had to be filled half-way with the resulting liquid coconut cream.  Then he/she set the glass on the tree trunk and ran back down the filed to the queue.

The sixth person ran down the field and placed his forehead on the end of the pole, which was still standing in the ground but not very sharp anymore.  He had to circle around the pole 8 times very quickly with his head touching it and then run back down the field to the queue.  They were falling all over the place after turning 8 fast circles.  No one could actually run and no one could even propel themselves in the correct direction with any accuracy.   It was hysterical.

The seventh person ran down the field and selected 2 of the coconut halves.  He picked up the vine-like stuff that grows at the top of each coconut and straightened it so that it looked like twine.  He used the tip of the machete to open the holes of the eyes of the coconut halves and ran the “twine” through the holes and knotted it off about 2 to 2 ½ feet long.  Then he stood on the top of the 2 coconut halves and held onto the twine and had to run back down the field to the queue.  Sort of like coconut sandals.  This was hilarious.

The eighth person ran down the field and collected all the materials used (except the tree trunk).  He was the clean-up guy.  He put all the items into the basket and ran back down the field to the queue.

The first team to complete all these steps was the winning team.  The prize was $100 to be distributed however the team wanted.   A great time was had by all.

Aside from the fun stuff the most interesting aspect of our day at the festival was talking to a man who said he was the island elder.  He verbally traces his ancestry back to the original inhabitants of Niue.  He had a display of all kinds of carved mahogany items.  The most special of these was his personal outrigger.  He was very proud of this outrigger and explained it at length to us.  He said it was his second wife and it was important to treat the craft just like a wife.  His words about why his outrigger is his second wife:  he rides her like a wife and she takes care of him like a wife as long as he is attentive to her needs.  Just like a woman, sometimes she needs new things to make her more attractive and to do her work better.  As long as he takes care of her, she will take care of him.

His craft was carved from mahogany and very pretty.  It looked like it had never been in seawater but he said he uses it all the time and that it is far safer on the ocean than a motorized boat.  The hull is 3/8-inch thick.  It has one seat; one sits up on top of the seat in a traditional outrigger, not down inside the hull like in the new fiberglass outriggers.  There is a spare seat that is normally used to block the forward area of the hull where gear is stowed such as fishing line and bait or drinking water, etc.  If by some unfortunate accident you should lose a paddle, then the spare seat becomes your emergency paddle.  You simple remove the outside top bar on the outrigger balancing ama and attach it to the spare seat and you have a paddle.  The outrigger will float even if totally submersed in water.  He could not stress too strongly all the reasons why he felt that the outrigger is safer than any other water craft. 

He also explained that when islanders of yesteryear would go on “travels” that they went in very large outriggers and with a minimum of 6 in a group.  They did not travel alone between the islands.  At first an outrigger held 26 or more people.  Later as they began to make shorter voyages these craft were made smaller and smaller.  They never made a 2-person traditional outrigger.  They went from a 3-person craft down to 1-person craft, which is the one seen most often today.  We very much enjoyed talking to this man.

We took way too many photos and lots of short videos at the festival and at the dinghy crane; but the internet connection has something blocked to prevent me from uploading right now.  Will try to add photos and videos later.

Passage from Bora Bora to Nuie, August 2008

This log covers 2008-08-12 to 8/19 Tuesday to Tuesday
We departed Bora Bora at 0830 Tuesday morning, August 12; still undecided whether we would stop at Niue or go straight to Tonga. We set course for Niue because it would be easy enough to change slightly to make landfall in Tonga at Vava’U if that appealed to us later in the trip. Winds were from the ESE at 20-plus knots and seas were 3 to 4 meters and very confused. The barometer was 1016.2 and air temperature 78F. Conditions were quite lively to say the least.


The image at right is of Palmerston atoll, part of the Cook Islands.  The red line shows our route as we passed just north of Palmerston.  One of the Marsters clan hailed us on the VHF radio and invited us to stop and visit, but the sailing conditions were so perfect that we opted to continue on to Niue.  In hindsight, we probably should have stopped at Palmerston as it is a very unique place with a very unique history.  William Marsters arrived at Palmerston in 1863 and settled with his Cook Islander wife.  Later he added her 2 cousins from a northern Cook Island as additional wives.  They eventually settled on 3 different small islands comprising this atoll.  Marsters laid down strong rules prohibiting intermarriage between his 3 families.   By the time his youngest daughter Titana Tangi died in 1973, there were over a thousand Marsters descendants living in Raratonga and New Zealand.  Though only some fifty family members remain on Palmerston, all Marsters descendants consider the island their ancestral home.  In 1954 the family was granted full ownership of the island.  Three branches of the family remain on Palmerston, each branch being descended from one of Williams 'three wives'.  Marriage within a family group is still prohibited. Palmerston is now administered by the Cook Islands government in association with New Zealand.


The Palmerston Marsters invite cruising yachts to visit.  When a boat arrives, that boat is assigned to a family host and made to feel very welcome.  Visiting Palmerston Atoll on a cruising yacht is a special experience and others tell us it was the highlight of their South Pacific experience.  Sorry that we skipped on this, but we wanted to get on to Niue.

Location at 0830 Wednesday 8/13
Latitude 17° 03.8679 S
Longitude 154° 50.8126 W
Distance Made Good during prior 24 hours: 181 NM
Barometer 1016.4
Air Temp 78.6F
Wind ESE 16 knots
Seas 3-4 meter
Conditions all day yesterday and all night were indeed quite lively. Winds remained higher than 20 knots and gusting to 33 knots until slightly after daybreak this morning, when the wind began to moderate. By 8:30 a.m. the winds were down to only 16 knots and gusting 20. GRIB files indicate that seas will moderate through today. We set sails wing-on-wing for today. As soon as seas are calm enough we will change to dual headsails.

Location at 0830 Thursday 8/14
Latitude 17° 26.0687 S
Longitude 157° 33.2651 W
Distance Made Good during prior 24 hours: 158 NM
Total Distance Made Good for passage: 339 NM
Barometer 1014.8
Air Temp 83.7F
Wind due East at 8-10 knots
Seas 2-3 meter
Conditions continued to moderate all day yesterday. We were rolling quite a bit in the large seas and it was not comfortable. Nothing to do except curl ourselves up in a corner of the cockpit and not try to move around the boat. I had baked chicken before we left and it was great to be able to just grab a piece and eat it in the cockpit with a chunk of baguette and then toss the bones overboard. Cannot imagine having to cook in all the motion of rolling back and forth. This morning we changed sails to dual headsails poled out on each side. Seas are much calmer and the motion of the boat is now comfortable. A couple of other boats who left Bora Bora on same day we did have changed course to Raratonga. Neither of those boats had twin headsails and dual poles and could not sail directly downwind like we can.


Location at 0830 Friday 8/15
Latitude 17° 46.2679 S
Longitude 160° 07.5050 W
Distance Made Good during prior 24 hours: 150 NM
Total Distance Made Good for passage: 489 NM
Barometer 1017.7
Air Temp 85.57F
Wind due East at 5-9 knots
Seas 1-2 meter
We have not touched a sail or sheet since setting the dual headsails yesterday morning. Motion is a tiny bit rolly but not at all uncomfortable. We can walk around the boat without having to hold on now. Motion is so comfortable that I am back to reading for hours on end; my favorite passage entertainment. Others watch DVDs while underway but we haven’t gotten into that routine yet. We read a lot.

We heard a rescue story on the SSB this morning. The story was told by the owner of a boat named TRAVELER (not Traveler from Texas or Traveler from Maryland, both of whom we met in the Caribbean; this Traveler is from US West Coast somewhere). Seems that TRAVELER was sailing towards Niue from the southeast when they caught a glimmer of something on the water well off to the west. Even with binoculars they could not be certain that something was really there, but they decided to check it out anyway. As they got closer they realized that it was a small fishing boat with several men inside. The men had been drifting a day and had given up hope of being rescued. Their little boat would have drifted a very long distance before reaching any land and they would not have survived that long without water and food. The fishermen had ripped up the covering of the inside bottom of their boat and attached it to an oar which they soaked in gasoline and set afire and waved in the air. That fire is what attracted TRAVELER’s attention. The fishermen had given up hope of being rescued and had already performed their Acts of Contrition and said their goodbyes and left notes for their loved ones. So you can imagine the emotion and celebration when TRAVELER came to their rescue. TRAVELER brought them back to their home island of Niue and celebrated with their families. Quite the story.


Location at 0830 Saturday 8/16
Latitude 17° 52.6510 S
Longitude 162° 43.7628 W
Distance Made Good during prior 24 hours: 147 NM
Total Distance Made Good for passage: 636 NM
Barometer 1016.7
Air Temp 83.8F
Wind due East at 8-18 knots
Seas 1-2 meter
Still sailing dead-downwind with the dual headsails poled out and have not yet needed to adjust sail or sheets. This is great sailing. We passed Palmerston today but did not stop. Probably will regret not stopping there but the sailing was still so perfect that we wanted to continue onward before the winds and seas changed. There was a brilliant green flash at sunset yesterday. It was the brightest green that I have ever seen. As we passed Palmerston one of the Marsters men hailed us on the VHF and invited us to stop. He would have been our host family during our stay at Palmerston if we had chosen to visit. This is a very unusual place and you can Google for more information and history. Note that there are moorings there now, but the moorings are still there on the outside of the reef on the open sea. (NOTE ADDED: Friends did stop there a few days later and then were caught in Palmerston for more than a week in very high winds and 5 meter seas. A couple boats broke off their moorings and went onto the reef. If you stop at Palmerston be prepared to head out to sea at a moments notice if conditions turn bad. Better to be at sea in rough weather than be on an unsecure mooring right there on the reef.)


Location at 0830 Sunday 8/17
Latitude 18° 20.5851 S
Longitude 165° 20.7861 W
Distance Made Good during prior 24 hours: 150 NM
Total Distance Made Good for passage: 786 NM
Barometer 1014.4
Air Temp 79.9F
Wind due East at 5-7 knots
Seas 1-2 meter
Still sailing perfectly dead-downwind and still have not touched sails. This will not last because conditions are predicted to change later today.


Location at 0830 Monday 8/18
Latitude 18° 37.4243 S
Longitude 167° 31.5840 W
Distance Made Good during prior 24 hours: 120 NM
Total Distance Made Good for passage: 906 NM
Barometer 1016.5
Air Temp 83F
Wind due West at 0-3 knots
Seas glassy flat
Mid-morning yesterday the wind began to clock northward, so we took down the dual headsails and changed to poled genoa to port. This worked fine until late afternoon when the wind clocked farther around to the west --- right on our nose. So we took in the genoa and motor sailed all night. By daylight this morning we had also taken in the mainsail and were going under motor alone.

Around 2 o’clock this morning we passed another sailboat.  I noticed what appeared to be a strange star ahead of us; it was not changing position like all the other stars.  When Bill came up around 02:00 I pointed it out to him.  We watched it for awhile and finally realized that it was not a star but was a white light on top of a mast. This is the first boat we have seen since leaving Bora Bora. Really funny that we sailed 900 miles without seeing another boat and then come up on one from astern.  Had we not diverted course 10 degrees we would have run straight up his stern!  This boat had no sails up and no engine running, but they did have their anchor light on (lights on the top of the mast). Bill hailed them to notify them that we would pass close on their starboard side. After the second hail the boat answered. It was obvious from the guy’s voice that he had been asleep. He said they were just waiting for a breeze. How do you like that! Just stopped out in the middle of a flat ocean; turned on his anchor light and went to bed. He might be rolling around out there for a few days as the GRIB files do not show any wind returning today or tomorrow. We, on the other hand, just start our engine and motor onward. That guy will probably spend $5 in diesel getting from Bora Bora to Tonga and we will spend more like $350 for diesel. Neither Bill nor I want to stop and roll around while waiting for wind to pick up. That is why these boats are built with engines.

We also heard this morning on the SSB from friends in Niue. All the moorings in Niue are filled as of yesterday. Since we are already so close we will continue on towards Niue and will try to raise Niue Port Control tomorrow morning to confirm the situation on moorings. Hopefully someone will leave today or early tomorrow. Anchoring at Niue is dangerous and not something we want to attempt.


Location at 0700 Tuesday 8/19 (time zone change to GMT minus 11)
Latitude 18.53.208 S
Longitude 169.31.675 W
Distance Made Good during prior 24 hours: 125.7 NM
Total Distance Made Good for passage: 1031.7 NM
Barometer 1018.0
Air Temp 81.8
Wind S to SE at 5 to 12 knots
Seas 1-2 meters, swell from south
We motored until sunset and the wind picked up to barely enough to sail. But we were not in a hurry because wanted to arrive around mid-day in hopes that a mooring would be free by then. Winds were very light all night and clocked farther to the east. During this passage we have seen the wind go from SE to E for days and then to NE. Then winds clocked to W and were directly on our nose; then S and finally overnight the winds moved back to SE where it was a week ago when we departed Bora Bora. The Pacific requires quite a bit of adjustment for those of us who are accustomed to the consistent trade winds of the Atlantic and Caribbean. The trades in the Pacific are not consistent and not as strong as the Atlantic and Caribbean trades. Wind in the Pacific clocks all the way around the compass fairly frequently. This makes long passage planning problematic. One cannot forecast the weather far enough in advance so towards the end of a long passage the weather can be quite different than what had been forecasted when you departed.

Bill spoke on the SSB radio early this morning to another boat moored at Niue and learned that 2 boats would be leaving sometime this morning. That was very good news as we were now assured of being able to moor and would not be forced to skip Niue and go on to Tonga today.

Arrived Alofi, Niue at noon local time on Tuesday 8/19
Latitude 19.03.31 S
Longitude 169.55.54 W
Distance Made Good since morning position: 25.4 NM
Total Distance Made Good for passage: 1057.1 NM
Arrived at noon and picked up a mooring from the Niue Yacht Club. Water depth is very deep all the way to the island shore; there are no beaches. We are moored in 110 feet depth. We have not yet officially cleared in because there is some kind of political meeting in Niue today and the local officials are busy with the visiting dignitaries. So maybe our clearance might have to wait until tomorrow. At least we are here and the passage is over. This passage went very smooth; however, we would not recommend the direct passage from Bora Bora to Niue unless a boat is rigged with dual head sails.

Palmerston now has moorings!!!!

Update:  Users beware!  We personally 3 boats that were run aground on the reef during high winds at Palmerston when moored on some of these new moorings.  

During our long passage from Bora Bora to Niue we passed close to the northern island of Palmerston Atoll.  A very friendly man named Simon Marsters hailed us on the VHF radio and inquired if we planned to stop and visit Palmerston.  Simon said that they now have moorings in place for visiting yachts.  This is very welcome news to the cruising community because until these moorings were set in place boats had to anchor amidst the coral heads on the western side of the atoll.  There are no normal boat passages into the lagoon at Palmerston, only several small boat passages for dinghies.  Plus, the lagoon is only 4-feet deep and that pretty much eliminates most yachts from entering.  The outside anchorage area is supposed to be for day anchoring only and someone should be on the yacht at all times to monitor safety in case wind direction or speed changes unexpectedly.  But some cruisers put aside the safety warnings and stay anchored off Palmerston for weeks.  We are not so fool-hardy, so we had already decided not to stop at Palmerston before Simon called us.  We were sorely tempted to stop after learning that there are now moorings available.  But there are only 380 miles to our turning waypoint to Niue and we did not want to break the rhythm of this passage since things onboard are so pleasant, so we sadly declined Simon’s kind invitation to visit Palmerston.  We told him that we would pass this invitation and the info about the new moorings to the boats following from Bora Bora in a few days.  These moorings are very new and are not mentioned in any of the guide books. 

According to the sailing guide “Charlie’s Charts of Polynesia” the islands’ inhabitants have a unique history.  Everyone is a descendant of William Marsters, who originally hailed from Lancashire, England.  William settled on one of the Palmerston Atoll islands in 1862 or 1863 with his Polynesian wife from the Northern Cook Island of Penryhn and one of her cousins.  He settled here to manage a coconut plantation.  Soon another of his wife’s cousins joined them, and William married all 3 women.  He fathered either 21 or 26 children with the 3 wives (the guide books disagree on the exact number of children, so let’s just say around 2 dozen).  He divided the islands and reefs surrounding the atoll into sections for each of the 3 “families.”  He established strict rules regarding intermarriage.   Each family was not allowed to marry anyone on their specific family island.  This obviously did not stop the practice of half-siblings marrying one another (after all, who else where they going to marry since there was no one else on the atoll but the Marsters 3 families) but William’s rules did at least prevent marriage between full-blooded siblings.  William died in 1899 at the ripe age of 78.  Thousands of his descendants are now scattered around the Cook Islands, throughout New Zealand and beyond.  The 3 Marsters branches on Palmerston are now down to about 50.  William Marsters was a true patriarch of this tiny atoll.  The current island patriarch is Reverend Bill Marsters, born in 1923.  Bill was less prolific than his ancestor and has a mere 12 children.

The atoll was uninhabited at the time of the arrival of Captain Cook in 1774, but Polynesians had once lived here and had long since abandoned the atoll.  The Polynesians called it Ava Rua, meaning “200 channels.”  The 3 Marsters families (the Tepou, Akakaingaro, and Mataiva) live on tiny Home Island, a/k/a Palmerston Island, on the west side of the atoll.  Here they grow taro and sugarcane in pits.  Many of the older residents suffer from asthma.  Like lonely Pitcairn Island where the inhabitants are also of mixed British descent, on Palmerston the first language is English.  Palmerston is the only island in the Cooks where this is so.

As in any small isolated community, there is some tension between the families.  In 1995 officials from Raratonga (the administrative center for Cook Islands) visited Palmerston.  By playing one group off against another they succeeded in undermining the authority of the island council and imposed centralized rule on independence-minded Palmerston.  The central government wanted to build a tiny airport in 2005 on Toms Island, which is 2 miles away from Home Island.  This has not yet happened.  Getting to Palmerston takes either a private yacht or a great deal of creativity. 

Each year about a dozen yachts call at Palmerston.  The Republic of Palmerston Yacht Club near the church provides cooking facilities, a washing machine, toilets, and hot rain water showers to yachties who pay NZ$20 for five-years’ membership.  Cold beer is sold daily except Sunday.  As in all Polynesia, Sundays are for religion only and any business is strongly discouraged if not outright forbidden.

There are 35 tiny islands scattered along the pear-shaped barrier coral reef surrounding the coral head-studded lagoon.  The original Marsters home was built using massive beams salvaged from shipwrecks washed ashore.  According to the guide book, the original home still stands today but bears the scars of many hurricanes.  The atoll is about 5 miles across at its widest point.  All the little islands are thickly covered by coconut palms.   Sandy beaches beneath tall palms make it very inviting.   The few inhabitants are most welcoming to visiting cruising yachts.  In years past, as soon as an approaching yacht was sighted the locals would paddle out and lead the yacht in through the coral heads and show a safe place to anchor on the surrounding reef.  This custom has now changed to VHF radio contact and the use of the new moorings.  I do not know the cost, if any, of a mooring.  They obviously are trying to encourage more visitors to this unique and very isolated place.

Here is a passage from another cruiser’s notes about Palmerston when they stopped here several years ago:  “As soon as a sailboat is sighted there is a competition among the islanders to see who can get out first in a small boat to meet the yacht.  That person’s family then becomes the hosts of the visitors on Palmerston.  The Marsters people told us that as long as we were on Palmerston we were regarded as Marsters too, and we certainly felt like part of the family.  Every day we shared meals with them, joined them on fishing trips, etc.  After crossing the Pacific, Palmerston became the highlight of our trip.”

Bill and I will probably later regret not stopping at Palmerston.  But we are now on day 5 of this passage and did not want to stop with only 380 miles to reach our destination.  The first 3 days of any long passage are the hardest.  We are settled into our watch routines and are making such good time in very pleasant sailing conditions.  Stopping now for a couple of days would make the final 380 miles harder.  That probably doesn’t make any sense to others but it does to us.   Had we known about the moorings we would have been psyched for stopping here for several days.  But as it is we are psyched for reaching Niue ASAP.

(August 18, 2008 ----- We heard someone on the SSB this morning who said that last night the residents of Palmerston hosted a dinner for the 3 yachts who were moored there yesterday and that they were all invited to attend local church services this morning.  That would have been fun.  Guess we should have stopped.)

Bora Bora (found the pretty side)

First, a few random observations:

In the Society Islands they make a strange small boat.  Bill finds these boats intriguing; think he would like to try one out for fun.  These boats range from 16 to 28 ft in length and are powered by either a large outboard engine or an inboard engine.  There usually is a tiny “cockpit” in the very bow of the boat.  This cockpit provides a tiny seat barely large enough for a small person to sit; many are driven by a man standing just behind this seat area.  The seat area is equipped with a throttle for forward and reverse, but there is no helm, steering wheel or tiller.  Instead, there is a small stick.  You use this stick for left or right movement of the boat; sort of like a joystick used to play a computer game except this stick only moves right or left and not forward or backward or at a slant.  We did not see these odd boats in the Marquesas or Tumotus but they are found at every island in the Societies.  I know Bill would love to play with one.

One afternoon while anchored in the deep water of Baie de Povai I saw the strangest sight.  A school of hundreds of very small fish scooted across the surface of the water, obviously being chased by larger fish.  Suddenly a large strange looking fish flew a couple of feet out of the water, formed a small arc and fell back into the sea.  This fish was about a foot long and ¾ foot from bottom to top, very square.  Took me a moment to realize that it was just the head of a decent sized fish, chopped off behind the gills.  Guess he was trying to jump out of the water to escape a predator and the momentum made the head complete the jump after the larger predator bit him in half just behind the gills.  Oddest thing I have seen in some time.

More about Bora Bora history:

The island of Bora Bora is 7 million years old.   As stated in previous log, there is no letter “B” in the Tahitian language; and the real name is Pora Pora.  Pora Pora means “first born” and the island thought to be so named because it was the first island formed island after Raiatea, which is the oldest island in French Polynesia.  Bora Bora was first inhabited about the year 900 A.D.  The traditional name of Vava’u suggests that Tongan voyagers reached here because I know Tonga was inhabited prior to 900 A.D.  The ancient inhabitants of Pora Pora were indomitable warriors who often raided the islands of Maupiti, Taha’a and Raiatea.

The Americans set up a refueling and regrouping base here in February 1942 during WWII, code named Operation Bobcat.  This was to serve shipping between the US west coast or Panama Canal and Australia/New Zealand.  The 4400 American army troops left behind 130 half-caste babies when the base was abruptly closed in June 1946.  Forty percent of these abandoned infants died of starvation when they were forced to switch from their accustomed American baby formulas to island food.  One guide book states that the naval guns installed as protection around the island (and never used) were 16-inch.  Another guide book states that these were 7-inch guns.  Yet another guide book states that these were MK II naval guns.  So we have no idea which book is correct.  However, all the guide books do agree that only one gun is now located on what is not restricted private land.

And, finally, our time in Bora Bora:

Last week the wind was high for 6 days and we were stuck on the boat and anchored in deep water, deeper than we liked.  The wind finally abated and we motored up the west side channel and over the north side of the main island of Bora Bora.  Bill wanted to see the airport located on a motu on the north side not more than a mile off the main island.  Friends recently needed to pick up arriving guests at the airport on a windy day.  They knew everyone would get wet in a bouncing dinghy, so they inquired about the services of a water taxi.  The price of a water taxi one-way from the airport to the main island was $150.  That is positively absurd for such a short water taxi ride.  So our friends brought plastic trash bags for everyone to cover themselves and their duffle bags and suffered through a dinghy ride instead.

Getting to the eastern side of the lagoon at Bora Bora is easy enough as long as you pay close attention to the navigation markers.  The trickiest place in the well-marked channel of the lagoon is where you must leave a cardinal marker on the port side and immediately make a 90 degree turn to port and leave the next red marker on the starboard side (the main land side).   After passing that red buoy you immediately turn right again.   The lagoon channel is 80 to 90 feet deep all up the west side and north side of Bora Bora until you reach that cardinal marker, where the depth drops suddenly.  When moving in the channel between the cardinal buoy and the red buoy, the water depth under our keel was only 2 feet 6 inches.  We draw 7 feet and really get nervous when it gets that shallow.  But friends who were here recently had warned us about this shallow spot in the channel and that the bottom was all sand with no coral in that area, so we motored on through.  Had we not be forewarned then we would have stopped and turned around when we reached that very shallow spot in the channel.

The eastern side of Bora Bora is very pretty.  The various depths of the lagoon with the backdrop of the dramatic mountain shapes are what make it so pretty.  Of course, as any sailor realizes, the pretty colored water means dangerous sailing due to varied depths and coral or rocks.  Much of the lagoon is very shallow which causes the clear water to appear a very pale green.  The water color varies from pale green, aquamarine and turquoise in the shallow areas and in the deep areas there are blues that range from light baby blue to royal navy to midnight blue/black.   This is what we expected Bora Bora to look like from the picture postcards sold in all the French Polynesia shops.  Unfortunately, all the coral is permanently bleached from the effects of El Nino in 2001.  Apparently Bora Bora experienced what we know as a red tide during that El Nino and the coral damage is irreversible. Bora Bora suffered more damage than most other islands because there is only one pass into the lagoon.  Islands with multiple passes have better water flow and were not as severely affected by the hotter water during the worst El Nino year.  Bet this place was really beautiful when the coral was still alive and brilliantly colored.  Now it just looks like gray or beige rocks.  There is a deep-water channel on the eastern side that allows boats to navigate down to the southeastern end of the island.  You cannot navigate across the southern side of Bora Bora because of the shallow water and coral heads.  We watched several boats go through the deep-water channel and most of them went the wrong direction at least once.  One boat headed in the wrong direction a total of 6 times while navigating that deep-water channel.   Don’t know what his problem was unless he simply did not know how to read channel markers and cardinal buoys.  Looked pretty straightforward to us.

There is a splendid view of the eastern side of Mt. Otemanu on Bora Bora.  Near the top there is a completely circle-shaped cave.  The helicopter tour takes passengers right in front of this cave.  The cave is so dramatic that I can’t help but think that this cave had some significance to the ancient inhabitants of this island.  But our guide books don’t even mention this cave, so that will remain a mystery to us.

We anchored in 20-feet clear water off a motu on the eastern side.  Bill decided to take advantage of the millpond smoothness and got in the water to clean the scum line.  He immediately climbed right back out and dug out his full-body Lycra skin.  That water is too cold for us to enjoy!  It might feel great to all these Europeans, USA West Coast people, Yankees and Canadians who are all used to colder waters; but to those of us who grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast, this water is too cold.  Wearing even a thin Lycra body-suit over your swim suit makes all the difference in the world.  That thin fabric helps retain enough body heat to maintain comfort, although neither Bill nor I would want to stay in that cold water for hours even with the Lycra body-suit.  We prefer 85F degree swimming water temperature.  Don’t know the current temperature of the local water, but it is certainly is lower than our comfort range.  But it sure is pretty.

Bill set up a new Excel spreadsheet last week when we were so bored and stuck on the boat in the high winds.   He likes to do that sort of thing when he is bored.  You would be amazed at his interactive spreadsheet used to track engine hours, generator hours, fuel consumption, passage planning, times of arrival based on various boat speeds, etc., etc., etc.  It is really fancy.

This new spreadsheet is used to track our water production and usage, among other things.  Since arriving in the cooler Pacific waters, the TDS readings of our production water has risen from 120-130 to 210-230.  That is still an acceptable reading, but we do not know what accounts for the increase.  Don’t know if the salinity level of the Pacific is different from the Atlantic and Caribbean or if the cooler water temperature is the cause.  At any rate, Bill decided to start tracking everything connected with the watermaker.  He is tracking the TDS readings or output at beginning of watermaker operation and also just before we turn it off, TDS of total storage tank, the liters produced per hour, pump temperature, pump motor temperature at intervals while operating, and our weekly water consumption.  There are probably a few other things he is tracking but I am not getting involved in those spreadsheets. 

On Saturday we motored back and picked up a mooring in front of Bloody Mary’s.  We ate dinner there again with friends.  BTW, the drinks were not nearly as expensive as we thought.  On our first visit we were charged 1200 CPF twice on our bar tab.  We only had one Bloody Mary each, so we assumed that these drinks cost 1200 CPF each, or about $16 USD each.  Turns out that the drinks are 600 CFP each, or about $8 USD each.  That price is far more reasonable; probably about the same as in the US now.   We found the food and drinks to be excellent and prices were no more than a nice restaurant in the States these days.

Many years ago a man named Leo Wooten sailed down to Bora Bora from Hawaii in a boat named Alcoholic’s IV.  His first 3 boats were also named Alcoholic and each one sank as he attempted to reach Bora Bora.  After his 4^th attempt and successful arrival, he stayed here until his death.  He was the first fisherman for the Bloody Mary’s restaurant and he later taught several local men how to do deep-water fishing.  He became a permanent fixture at Bloody Mary’s – they even had a barstool set aside for him with a plaque identifying it as his.  No one dared to sit on Leo’s barstool.  Leo died several years ago.  The owners felt that Leo was such a fixture of Bloody Mary’s that they buried him in a small corner of the restaurant.  He has a very nice stone-covered grave with a bronze plaque and 3 headstones.  So you can have drinks or dinner seated next to Leo even today.

Bloody Mary’s is the nicest sand-floor island restaurant we have ever visited.  They sift and rake the fine white sand daily.  The fresh catches-of-the-day are filleted and placed on a large container of crushed ice.  The manager calls several groups of customers to stand around the ice table and he describes each fish and the recommended method of preparation and states the price.  There are no menus.  And they really know how to grill the fish perfectly to order.  They also offer boneless chicken breast, various steaks of prime New Zealand beef and baby-back ribs for those who prefer not to eat seafood.  Both times we ate there I had Moon Fish, grilled rare; and it was wonderful.  Moon Fish is only found locally and is caught from 700 to 900 feet deep; it is not exported.  Figured I should try something that I will never have the opportunity to eat again elsewhere.  The tables and stools are all made from coconut palms.  This place has been here for many years and is famous among the filthy rich and famous folks.  There are 2 large coconut palm “walls” at the entrance near the road where names of famous visitors are engraved.  The names range from old actors like June Allyson to present-day actors like Pierce Brosnan , Cameron Diaz and Jack Nicholson, just to name a few.  The 2 names that surprised us were Buzz Aldrin and Warren Moon.  Another set were Bill & Melissa Gates, along with Warren Buffet and Paul & Jody Allen.  Bloody Mary’s is a “not-to-be-missed” place when visiting Bora Bora.

Weather forecast is good for departure today or tomorrow.  We subscribed to the weather guru for the South Pacific, Bob McDavit, for passage planning to Tonga with a brief stop in Nuie.  We have cleared out with the Gendarmerie and filled up with diesel.  Plan is to leave here tomorrow morning.  Hoping to reach Nuie before an expected weather trough develops there on August 20.  Really hope that some of the people in Nuie now will have moved on before we arrive.  There are only a few moorings in Nuie and anchoring is extremely difficult in deep water and can be dangerous because of the underwater chasms.  We have been listening each morning to the conversations on SSB radio of people in Raratonga (southern Cook Islands) and Nuie and Tonga.  Supposedly the small harbor in Rarantonga is totally fully and the officials have been turning newly arriving boats away.  Those who have been denied anchorage in Raratonga are all heading to Nuie or Beveridge Reef.  So we hope all those people have moved on to Tonga by the time we reach Nuie.  The primary reason for stopping in Nuie is to obtain a multi-entry visit for New Zealand; but if all the moorings are filled when we reach Nuie, then we will not stop.  We will continue on to Vava’U, Tonga for a month to 6 weeks.  Then down to Tongatapu, Tonga before heading off on the dreaded passage to New Zealand.  Supposedly we can also obtain a multi-entry visa for New Zealand in Tongatapu.  You can arrive in New Zealand without a visa and then apply for one to allow you to stay 6 months total, but it is supposed to be easier and less expensive if you obtain this visa prior to arrival in New Zealand; so that is what we hope to do.

So, next stop will either be Nuie or Tonga.

P.S. We are motoring around a WiFi hotspot to upload this last log from Bora Bora with our final 10 minutes of air time.  We learned something yesterday that Bill’s brothers and sister will find interesting.  Their dad fought with Patton’s army and he was stationed in France for a long time.  Their dad even was awarded the highest French medal for something done in battle (can you tell I don’t know anything about military medals and stuff like that?).  Anyway, the French believe that the US did not rescue them from German occupation in WWII.  The French say they did it all by themselves.  This belief is pervasive throughout France except in the Normandy area.  They feel no gratitude whatsoever to the US for saving their butts in WWII.  And history is re-written yet again.