Kia Orana,
I am writing from Aitutaki in the Cook Islands where I have spent just under two weeks. The Cook Islands consist of 15 small islands, a total land area of 93 square miles located within 750,000 square miles of ocean. The country is self governing in free association with New Zealand, which means even though their native language is Maori pretty much everybody speaks English with a thick New Zealand accent. Being able to have a conversation with the people of the country you are in adds a whole new aspect to travelling and I love it.
The annual fishing derby was taking place the weekend I arrived in Aitutaki. Lucky for me. Saturday night was awards night and a potluck dinner and dance. For the most part it was a bad year for fishing and about half the boats got skunked which was unfortunate for them because the prizes where amazing. Grand prize was $1000 for the largest wahoo wahoo over 40kg, nobody got one, other prizes where top of the line fishing rods and reels, a couple nights at one of the expensive resorts here, a few hundred dollars worth of petrol coupons, gift certificates for dinner and the list went on. It’s unfortunate I didn’t get here a few days sooner as then I could have maybe hitched a ride on one of the fishing boats, instead I just got to enjoy the party and Cook Islanders know how to party properly. As you lined up for dinner everbody was given lays, the whole place smelled of fresh flowers. The dinner was amazing, all different kinds of barbequed fish, two roast pigs and a whole bunch of stuff that I had no idea what it was, I did try some raw goat fish in coconut milk, apparently it’s a good hangover cure. After dinner the band played and eventually everybody who wasn’t watching the rugby match was dancing. It was a great time and everybody was super friendly.
In the early 1800’s Christianity was brought to the Cook Islands by John Williams of the London Missionary Society, his church survives today as the Cook Islands Christian Church, unfortunately for him he did not have as much luck on Vanuatu where he was stewed in a pot by the Big Nambas there. Church is a big part of the Cook Islanders life, the whole place shuts down on Sundays and there are signs everywhere protesting Sunday flights saying “if you can’t come Monday – Saturday then stay home,” so I decided to go to a service. I put on dress pants and a shirt, I even contemplated wearing shoes but decided that flip flops would have to do. Most of the service was in Maori but the singing was absolutely amazing and the ladies wearing their finest dresses and hats decorated with fresh flowers and sea shells was enjoyable. The minister stood in a raised platform wearing his bright yellow suit, bright yellow shirt and bright yellow tie and just below him his assistant in his black suit, serious mullet, very impressive mustache and knock off Gucci sunglasses. A fisherman’s anchor hung from the ceiling and it was reminiscent of a church I visited in on a trip to Montreal to visit a dear friend there where dozens of model ships where hung from the ceiling as sailors would go to church to pray before setting off to sea.
The cruising crowd is definitely thinning out, partly because it is a little more remote here and partly because most people are already a lot closer to New Zealand where they will spend the summer. The tropical cyclone season is generally considered to be December –April, (summer below the equator) and ideally if you are on a boat you are somewhere else, a little less ideally you are somewhere that has what is considered a hurricane hole, Tonga and Fiji have a few of these so I guess that is where I will be. When I arrived here there were only two other cruising boats here, a couple French geesers and Dave and Kathy from Seattle. Dave and Kathy are a little older than me and have been cruising for seven years, they are on their third boat and of all the people I have met they seem to have the cruising life figured out proper. They are not super wealthy but seem to sustain themselves partly at least by buying boats where a good deal can be found, Florida or the Caribbean, and selling them for a significant profit where they are worth more, Australia or New Zealand. The profit from the boat pays for their next trip and each time they get a little better boat, brilliant if you ask me. A couple other boats came in and I hung out a fair bit with Joe from and England and All and Bough from South Africa. They were on two different boats but had met in the Caribbean where they were living on their boats and working for a few years. It was interesting to hear about the differences between there and the pacific. They are on their way to Tonga where Joe’s girlfriend is working under a four year environmental contract, so I plan to hopefully meet up with them there.
Maritime law decrees that a mariner will assist another if they are in trouble, personally I do not need a law to tell me this. In my illustrious career as a law abiding mariner I have on more than one occasion done what I can. Many years back I towed a boat with an overheating engine halfway across the Georgia Straight, I had my children and my lovely girlfriend with me and this turned our already long trip home into a very long trip home. On another occasion on arriving back to the boat late in the evening I noticed an errant dinghy, I chased it down, secured it, and the next day reported it to the receiver general. Marine towing bills are not cheap and an inflatable dinghy is worth a couple grand easily. The people I helped were wealthy, probably extremely wealthy compared to me, and I can not say they did nothing, because they accidently ran into me at the bar and other people where around they bought me a $4 pint, god bless them. On Atuitaki I was watching a group of people loading a boat onto a trailer, a line was not secured properly and as the truck drove away the boat went back into the water. There was a child on the boat and it didn’t seem like anybody was going to go swimming, there was no danger and the whole thing was quiet comical. I jumped into my dinghy, picked up one of the men and we towed the boat back to the launch, they thanked me profusouly and we all had a good laugh. I will continue to help whoever I can whenever I can no matter the reaction, but I am not going to lie you it is in part because sometimes they show up the next day to give you a stalk of bananas, a few breadfruits, a half dozen papayas, a couple pumpkins and much sought after spikey fruit thing that I have no idea what it is called.
The plan is to stop at one more island in the Cook Islands and possibly Nuie on my way to The Kingdom of Tonga. I am keeping my ears open for possible ways to make some money so this may dictate where I go or what I do. I will wait to send pictures because I am paying for internet by the MB so I will stick to sending text until I am somewhere they charge by the hour again. Thanks for reading and I will write again soon.
Jonathan
Cook Island Children Vising My "Yacht"
Messalina, Lightspeed, Magic and Shackles
One Of Many Empty Beaches
An Uninhabitated Motu