Rarotonga from top to bottom

Monday August 14th currently en route to Palmerston Island of the Cook Islands
coordinates 19 57.847S,161 03.858W

We just finished up a fantastic two weeks in Rarotonga.
coordinates 21 12.270S,159 47.084W
A surprising little place we never intended to stay that long. When looking at the anchorage in Avatiu Harbour, one wouldn't say that it is particularly pleasant looking due to the fairly murky waters and the large container ships/fishing vessels that you share the space with. One wouldn't say that the location is terribly convenient due to the unique med mooring style of tying up to the docks there. (a whole story in itself) Hands down though, it was one of the friendliest, happiest places we have come across yet. The people are genuine and fun, the town is close and convenient, the island has enough to do to keep you busy and well entertained and the price was right as we were now back into the land of New Zealand/Cook Island money.

Let's begin with tying up to the dock. Med mooring involves dropping an anchor and then backing your boat into the space you want and tying to the concrete wharf. In Rarotonga Harbor, there isn't that much space so the boats are parked in there 3-4 deep. So picture 12-15 boats have dropped anchors, backed in, are alternately spaced nicely and now are all tied to each other and the wharf spider web style with no less than 4 to 6 lines. This assures that we won't all bump into each other. It works well when the weather is calm but our first night we had very high winds and big swells that kept us all moving. One of our lines came untied from a neighboring boat in the middle of the night so we launched a stealth recovery mission at midnight to tie us back up. Since we are so closely packed in there, taking the dinghy to shore involves simply pulling yourself around but one of many lines strung between someone and the wharf. Climb a few steps up a ladder and you're there. The down side is when one boat wants to move out, you all move. Especially when that boat is sitting in the back row. We spent 7 hours jockeying and resettling everyone our first day there.

We were lucky enough to have visited Rarotonga during the week long "Te Maeva Nui", celebration of their Constitution. Dance troops from all the neighboring islands come for a great competition where we were able to witness their stunning costumes, amazingly choreographed routines, and joyous sounds and rhythms. Quite a treat. We found some great restaurants with a favorite having to be Ravitz Indian Cuisine. Each Saturday a farmers market, Punanga Nui, takes place right there next to the wharf where you can find your fill of locally grown vegetables and all sorts of gifts and trinkets. The Cook islands were also having a trade show of sorts where they were trying to promote small businesses from each of the islands, smoked fish from Palmerston, hand made quilts from Mangaia, etc.

Our favorite fleet was present here; Sarabi, White Swan, Moorea, Capaz and ourselves. So together 5 boats worth, 14 people, we rented 7 scooters one day and took over the island. Exactly half way around the island is a little restaurant called the Saltwater cafe run by Carey and his wife. A delightful couple who had just what this rag tag group of riders was looking for. Friendly atmosphere and fun food. Friday night we took in movie at the local theater. We hadn't seen one of those since last year in Mexico. Sunday Moorea, Sarabi and ourselves took on the cross island hike. Named the Ta Rua Manga, aka "the Needle", it climbs to 413 meters and then if you are so inclined there is a technical rock climb at the top. Amazingly fun and tiring we scrambled up to the peak often with just tree roots as our hand and footholds, enjoyed scaping views of the islands north and south shores. The trek down the south side takes you through some of the largest ferns we've ever seen and then the always fun multitude of Papua river crossings. The boys favorite parts. At the end of the hike you are rewarded with one more delight, the Wigmore's Waterfall. As always we enjoyed a night of pot luck, cruising style. This time the boats gathered on Sarabi for wine tasting while everyone brought snacks. Kelly girl and I tried out our sushi making abilities on everyone with great success.

A highlight of the stay had to be Tristan and my opportunity to become certified Scuba Divers! Along with the crews of Capaz and Moorea we all took classes at Dive Rarotonga. Aside from the obvious fact that we are now certified, better yet was that we had absolutely the best time ever with Ed, Simon, Mushy, Rob and Karen, the great crew there. There were amazingly fun and full of fantastic personalities and resoundingly professional. Our 4 open water dives opened up an even deeper view and appreciation of just what there is to see down there, turtles, ghost coral that turns white when you touch it, "Tommy" the large blue trigger fish that follows you around like an adoring puppy, the largest moray eel we've ever seen to name a few. From the dive boat we were able to watch the mirgrating Humback whales sounding near shore. It was a spectacular time and we are so thankful to have had the opportunity to share it with them.

A quick bit of provisioning and we were on our way. Matthew gave us a quick scare as he ran his head into the corner of a telephone booth. What might take a stitch or two in the states works fine with a band-aide here. Not so much as a head ache out of it too. Yeah for hard heads. Always with one last hurrah, as we tried to untie the lines from everyone and pull anchor, we found an old rusty enormous anchor from an old supply ship riding along with ours. It takes a fleet to raise an anchor and with 4 fellow cruisers helping out from below in dinghies and some fancy rope work we were on our way.

Currently off to Palmerston. Famous for being populated by only 60 people, though 2000+ live between Rarotonga and NZ, they are all descendants from an original Englishman named William Marsters who moved there in 1863 with his 3 Maori wives, divided the island up between the three families and set rules for resources, land and inter family marriage. Fairly isolated we are bringing supplies from Rarotonga and their families to them. More on this next journal entry as we should be there in a couple of days.

until next time,
Lisa and the boys