Palmerston Island

BARONESS
Jim & Christine Lister
Fri 4 Nov 2011 00:43
We arrived at Palmerston Island on 19 Sept, where they had mooring bouys our position was 18.05.10S, 163.11.03W. It hadn't been too bad a journey, first day or so was calm and we were fishing. Glen has been catching only tuna and Pat was fed up with it and longed for white fish. We were sailing together and were not far apart which was lucky as Jim caught a Mahi Mahi and we managed to get half the fish to them by tying a plastic bag with the fish in, to a fender which Pat picked up. It had got rougher by this time so it was quite hairy seeing Northern Rose bearing down on us. Still all worked well and Pat was really pleased.
 
The anchorage was very rolly and the weather wasn't great. Pat and Glen were there a few hours before us and the "Officials" were going out to their boat about 11.00am. We were greated on the radio by Palmerston Island and met by Simon who helped us on to a bouy. The problem with the mooring bouys here is that we had had some pretty bad reports about the reliablity of them but it was too deep to anchor. Discovery had broken free of his mooring and found himself someway from the Island. His mooring had failed. Ri Ri, whom we met in Bonaire and again on Ahe, their line to the bouy broke during the night and they were washed up on the reef, boat a total wreck and now on shore on Palmerston Island where Simon has ideas for turning the hull into a shed. So we were a little nervous.
 
The history of Palmerston is that William Masters left Lancashire and went to Palmerston Island. He took 3 wives from another of the Cook Islands called Penryn. Palmerston is made up of several smaller islands within a reef and he established one wife on 3 of the islands, visited them and produced 28 children! The population of Palmerston is now around 70, 35 are children but everyone has the surname of Masters. No one from outside can live there and they marry within the family. They do have strict rules for marriage and I didn't see any sign of interbreeding. All the people now live on just one island but they sometimes go to the other islands for BBQ's and a camp out.
 
Just like the song "she lives on just coconuts and fish from the sea" this is largely true. They have a visit from a cargo ship about every 3 months if they are lucky and export fish to Tonga and New Zeland. Their supplies are often increased by us visiting cruisers and building projects on the island have often been accomplished with our help.
 
On arrival you are allocated a host family and they look after you for your stay. Getting to the island from the anchorage is difficult and can be very rough, not to be attempted in a dingy, so they come and fetch you and feed you whilst ashore. We wandered round the island, which isn't that big but it took a couple of trips to see most of it because you walk so far and then meet someone and next thing is you are sitting around with the family and "visiting" and time goes and you've not seen very much or gone very far. They were all so friendly and welcoming. We had a nice time at the school where other cruisers have also given lessons which has been very welcome from the children and the teachers.
 
Our host family was Simon and his brother Eddie, Eddie is also the island Police. All the offical jobs have been shared out amongst the families as the jobs are a source of income. Eddie and Simon have children but their wives have left. I can imagine that living on the island may not be everyones cup of tea. The nurse visits the homes and checks up on everyone but she was seen as a bit of an outsider even though she is also a Masters, as is the school Head Teacher.
 
Although the achorage was so rolly and uncomfortable and being nervous of the mooring, this was made up by the warm welcome from the people of Palmerston and being able to sit on your boat and watch hump back whales go bye so close that you can see their eye looking at you! Also saw turtles. We saw three whales although Paul the fisherman on the island said he thought there were 5. We do have some pics but needless to say we missed opportunities as, who wants to go get the camera when you are watching these magnificant beasts?
 
Glen, who was very nervous of the moorings left a few days before us. By this time we knew that we had a very dodgy autohelm. We had no steering ability whilst the ram was attached to the quadrant but could manage to make it work on auto. New ram was deffinatly needed so Northern Rose left for Tonga and we had to head for US Samoa so that we could get a new ram sent from the US.  Before leaving we contacted our trusty friend Jeff in the States, who ordered us the new ram so hopefully it will be there when we arrive.
 
So we set off 26 Sept, just as Mambo and Changing Spots arrived. We got out a few miles, went to put the main up and as I looked up so I noticed that the rigging on the small shroud, port side was fraying right where the wire had been attached to the t-bar!! So we about turned and picked up the mooring bouy again to scratch out heads and wonder what to do. After much discussion and thoughts Heinz from Mambo decided that we should be ok if we put our spare kicking strap from the mast off a halyard to the toerail, not put too much pressure into the mainsail and hope we didn't have foul weather, we should be alright to get to Samoa.
 
So next day we left for Samoa. Auto helm packed in altogether dispite Jim taking it apart again and "Dr Glen" offering technical advice via the SSB radio. We had a reef in the main and chugged along at 4k Jim doing most of the helming during the day and at night we heaved to and went to bed! The weather was very kind to us with slight winds sometimes no wind so a lot of motoring, seas could be a bit uncomftable as we were being pushed from the side.
 
It took us 7 days to get to Samoa and arrived on 4 October.