Leaving Palmerston

Mojo 2
Andrew Partington
Sat 17 Sep 2011 07:34
It is now 8pm Mojo 2 time and we are sailing again after spending a terrific day on Palmerston Island.
 As we sailed towards the island late yesterday we were greeted in a dinghy by Bob Marsters and his son Andrew. They guided us to one of the moorings close to the reef, welcomed us and told us to settle in for the night and that they would bring customs and immigration back to the boat in the morning. The mooring was fairly close to the main island so we could see people out fishing with nets in front of the village towards sunset.
We had a quiet night and great catch up sleep. At around 9am Bob called us on the radio to let us know they would be back out to the boat at 11am. Spot on 11 he arrived with Bill and Goodly who took us through the forms for clearance. They were both very pleasant and Bill had spent years living in Sydney so obviously knew heaps about Australia. We found out later that the three men who came to Mojo 2 were the three family heads for the island.
All of us jumped aboard Bob's dinghy and headed into the main island together. Bob took us through "Small Pass" to the inside of the fringing reef. The pass is clearly named for its width and not the volume of water which passes out of it. It looked a little like the horizontal waterfalls in the north of WA but was only about three metres wide at best and wound its way through the reef. Not sure what speed the water was pouring out the pass but it looked very dangerous if you did not know what you were doing.
We had a cold drink with Bob and his family before he took us for a walk around the village. He showed us the original house built by William Marsters and I have to say that for a simple structure it was impressive. It was built totally out of timbers from wrecked sailing ships and some of the beams were massive. It must have taken a huge effort to even get them to the site, let alone position them. Given that he arrived at Palmerston in the 1860's some of these timbers must around 200 years old and look as though they will be good for another 200!! 
We met up with Bill and discussed all things fishing for 45 minutes or so and then went back to Bob's place for some lunch. Bob was heading out to catch some parrotfish in the afternoon so Rob and I went for a walk around the island and had a swim.
The island is just as you would imagine a small Pacific island to be. Palm trees, white sand beach and stunning lagoons. A fringing reef is several miles around and encircles a huge lagoon that is several metres deep in the middle.
Bob came back at about 5pm to clean the catch. The supply boat was due at the end of the month and he only need another 20 kilos to fill his quota. They islanders export the parrotfish to Rarotonga where they are served in the local restaurants.
Both Bill and Bob gave us kilos worth of parrotfish to take with us to freeze on the boat. We bid everyone farewell and jumped in the dinghy for Bob to take us back out to Mojo 2. At the boat we loaded Bob and his son Andrew up with the oranges I had bought in Tahiti, pasta, rice, tomatoes and some tinned food, and I gave Andrew my Cook Islands flag.
All up a fabulous stay in an extremely remote paradise. We were made to feel welcome from the minute we arrived and I can now see why Palmerston is such a popular stop for cruising sailors.
Next stop Niue which is about 380NM from Palmerston.
Andrew.