Maupiha, Society Islands to Aitutake, Cook Islands 350 miles
Monday, 11. August 2008, 23:16:47
From late morning on our second day the weather brightens and we have a fair breeze from nearly behind. We sail along under spinnaker along with Desert Eagle, another cat from Namibia.
By sunset we are anchored in a manner off the reef at Aitutake (Eye two tar key). We have picked what we think is a shallow spot in between the coral. A snorkel around the anchor shows a mass of coral with deep chasms. Our anchor has landed in 30 – 40 foot on top of the coral obviously not dug into the rock and the chain has looped itself around some of the higher spots. We should hold. Glad to see that it didn’t drop down over 70 foot or more into one of the narrow chasms. The next yacht along had to get some divers out when they could not lift their anchor caught in the tight spots.
The other two cats arrive and anchor nearby. In the morning we all dinghy ashore for the check-in formalities and are met at the palm tree where we fasten our dinghies by the chief official. He tells us to sit on the rock under the tree. All 9 of us comply and we then hear that by sitting on the rock we are no longer foreigners.
We wander off around the island and make arrangements to hire scooters. One of the customs here causes some concern – many of the properties have someone buried under the patio or in the front garden. Maybe I have been watching too many recorded TV series. This is no Desperate Housewives or murder mystery just the way things are here. Keep the dearly departed close by. Some quite ornate marble topped structures neatly tended and cared for.
Aside from anchoring on the reef there is only a tiny harbour area at the town but it is through a long winding cut. There is no space there to swing a cat but after a night of rough sea the other two cats move in and anchor then set a stern anchor out over the reef to stop any movement of their boats. They want us to move in too. We are happy out with space around us but another even rougher night and the prospect of not being able to leave the boat safely while we explore the island changes our mind.
We are having our morning cuppa before moving when I look down and see weevils walking all over the floor. Squash as many as I can see, then investigate the food source that has the “extra added protein”. The food lockers are all clear but there are loads of weevils in the bilge. Don’t know where they have come from but they will have to go. As soon as we are moved and settled it looks like big clean up day.
Once in the tiny harbour there is no room to anchor. We tie up to a palm tree in front and to one of the cats behind us. While busy the Islands Quarantine Inspector calls out from the shore that he wants to come aboard. The weevils still have the run of the place but there is nothing we can do. By the time we have all the ropes secure the Inspector has given up waiting and we get down to weevil control. James is despatched to the lower floorboard and bilge while I take the top and food lockers. The food was all clear and we never found out where they came from or why they were mostly in the bilge where there is no food but anyway everything had a good clean out. James keeps calling them weasels but thankfully we don’t have any of them aboard.
The Inspector came back later on but by then a monohull that had also come in was in the way for when the expected supply ship needed to unload and this monohull (a Seadog) needed to be moved to the other side of us. All lines had to be undone and retied after they had moved through and so for the second time he gave up visiting us.
This tiny anchorage now had 3 cats and a dog and a lot of dead weevils. After the cleanup we didn’t see any weevils or the inspector again.
It was bonus time at the scooter hire with 11 of us ready to tour the island on 2 wheels. Another day we went out to Honeymoon Island by dinghy for a BBQ on the white sand beach and a lazy time under the cool palms. We tried having the coconut husk fire in a pit then loading coral on top to hopefully cook over the heated up coral but that didn’t work out so well. Our timing must have been out or the fire was not hot enough or maybe there was not enough coral. Went back to the tried and tested method of a big fire allowed to burn down to hot coals.
We went to a cultural show with once again the hip shaking girls and the thigh jiggling guys. We also went to a locals “Garden of Eden” where we all got eaten alive by the mozzies that had been allowed in. We swam around the reef and got up at 2am to watch South Africa play New Zealand at rugby and lose horribly making the effort of getting up at that hour a waste of time.
Aitutake was a delight. A calm, beautiful and peaceful Island and after one of our outings we came back to the dinghy to find someone has brought us a whole branch of bananas. We hung them up and to stop them all ripening on the same day, covered part of the branch up. Should it be the upper or lower half that gets covered? They mature from the top. We will watch and see along the way. It is time to move on and we never found out who gave us the bananas.
By sunset we are anchored in a manner off the reef at Aitutake (Eye two tar key). We have picked what we think is a shallow spot in between the coral. A snorkel around the anchor shows a mass of coral with deep chasms. Our anchor has landed in 30 – 40 foot on top of the coral obviously not dug into the rock and the chain has looped itself around some of the higher spots. We should hold. Glad to see that it didn’t drop down over 70 foot or more into one of the narrow chasms. The next yacht along had to get some divers out when they could not lift their anchor caught in the tight spots.
The other two cats arrive and anchor nearby. In the morning we all dinghy ashore for the check-in formalities and are met at the palm tree where we fasten our dinghies by the chief official. He tells us to sit on the rock under the tree. All 9 of us comply and we then hear that by sitting on the rock we are no longer foreigners.
We wander off around the island and make arrangements to hire scooters. One of the customs here causes some concern – many of the properties have someone buried under the patio or in the front garden. Maybe I have been watching too many recorded TV series. This is no Desperate Housewives or murder mystery just the way things are here. Keep the dearly departed close by. Some quite ornate marble topped structures neatly tended and cared for.
Aside from anchoring on the reef there is only a tiny harbour area at the town but it is through a long winding cut. There is no space there to swing a cat but after a night of rough sea the other two cats move in and anchor then set a stern anchor out over the reef to stop any movement of their boats. They want us to move in too. We are happy out with space around us but another even rougher night and the prospect of not being able to leave the boat safely while we explore the island changes our mind.
We are having our morning cuppa before moving when I look down and see weevils walking all over the floor. Squash as many as I can see, then investigate the food source that has the “extra added protein”. The food lockers are all clear but there are loads of weevils in the bilge. Don’t know where they have come from but they will have to go. As soon as we are moved and settled it looks like big clean up day.
Once in the tiny harbour there is no room to anchor. We tie up to a palm tree in front and to one of the cats behind us. While busy the Islands Quarantine Inspector calls out from the shore that he wants to come aboard. The weevils still have the run of the place but there is nothing we can do. By the time we have all the ropes secure the Inspector has given up waiting and we get down to weevil control. James is despatched to the lower floorboard and bilge while I take the top and food lockers. The food was all clear and we never found out where they came from or why they were mostly in the bilge where there is no food but anyway everything had a good clean out. James keeps calling them weasels but thankfully we don’t have any of them aboard.
The Inspector came back later on but by then a monohull that had also come in was in the way for when the expected supply ship needed to unload and this monohull (a Seadog) needed to be moved to the other side of us. All lines had to be undone and retied after they had moved through and so for the second time he gave up visiting us.
This tiny anchorage now had 3 cats and a dog and a lot of dead weevils. After the cleanup we didn’t see any weevils or the inspector again.
It was bonus time at the scooter hire with 11 of us ready to tour the island on 2 wheels. Another day we went out to Honeymoon Island by dinghy for a BBQ on the white sand beach and a lazy time under the cool palms. We tried having the coconut husk fire in a pit then loading coral on top to hopefully cook over the heated up coral but that didn’t work out so well. Our timing must have been out or the fire was not hot enough or maybe there was not enough coral. Went back to the tried and tested method of a big fire allowed to burn down to hot coals.
We went to a cultural show with once again the hip shaking girls and the thigh jiggling guys. We also went to a locals “Garden of Eden” where we all got eaten alive by the mozzies that had been allowed in. We swam around the reef and got up at 2am to watch South Africa play New Zealand at rugby and lose horribly making the effort of getting up at that hour a waste of time.
Aitutake was a delight. A calm, beautiful and peaceful Island and after one of our outings we came back to the dinghy to find someone has brought us a whole branch of bananas. We hung them up and to stop them all ripening on the same day, covered part of the branch up. Should it be the upper or lower half that gets covered? They mature from the top. We will watch and see along the way. It is time to move on and we never found out who gave us the bananas.
WIDGETIZE
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