last days on Palmerston and the beginning of Palmerton to Niue passage
Nickanddenisesailing
Fri 15 Sep 2017 02:53
COG 260, wind 10-12 knts, speed 5.4knts wind just aft of beam, both sails up. Frech Polynesia time 4pm. Going along very nicely indeed.
So we are on our way again, should be about 3 days to Niue. Its very nice to have some wind back. We are enoying our sail today after an early morning depature from Palmerston. It was a nice easy get away as we didnt use our dinghy at all so that was all on deck secured, and we were on a mooring so no anchor to worry about. Being moored outside the atoll also meant that we didnt have to worry about passes and getting the tides etc right. Once we were on our way we even caught a nice sized Wahoo - on Nicks homemade lure (he is very proud of himslef!)!! So all in all its been a nice easy day so far.
We really enjoyed our time on Palmerston. What a crazy unique place. I am sure we will never find another place quite like it.
After our whale excitement a few days ago, we saw them a few more times - but not as close to the boat again. Tuesday morning saw us being picked up from the boat and ferried ashore to cups of fresh tea and ginger nuts (Bills favorite). We were then given a scooter to head off and explore around the island. So its not a big place and the roads are basically just sand paths through the palm trees. Nick drove and I 'navigated' our way around the settlement. As we passed various buildings and people we were greeted with waves and shouts of hellos. We then went past the school and distracted the kids from their football game as they waved and cajouled Nick into going faster. It was so funny - we had only been there a day and already we felt like we knew everyone.
When we finished scootering we got back to Bill and Metuas house to learn all about making coconut milk - which was then hasinly added to lamb chops. NZ lamb chops are a favorite on the island and we were due to be treated to yet another feast for lunch. As a few of the other boats had left it was just Nick and I who were being hosted by Bill and Metua but that did not stop them from laying on a spread. We decided to go for a bit of a wander while the last of lunch was getting organised. It was pretty amazing to walk around some of the old buildings which had been made from shipwreks hundreds of years old. We also found old oil lamps, ships bells, mirrors, clocks and barometers from various wrecks over the years. We spent some time looking over an old 'long boat' which must have been built about a hundred years ago. Complete with copper nails and copper fittings.
After lunch and the obligiatory ice cream for dessert we got our sleves organised for a fishing trip. Bill and his son Ned were going to take us out to the reef to catch parrot fish. After sizing me up Bill decided that I wasnt big enough for fishing (too small to touch the bottom apparently) so I was to stay on shore. I followed the guys out to the beach and helped load the net and watched them head off to the reef.
Nicks take on the fishing:
' I was punted out to the reef by Bill, sitting on the front of a plastic boat. Ned followed behind, up to his neck truding on the reef. We then walked along the fringing reef parallel to the coast of the island, about 50m from the edge. We all got out of the boat and walked along the reef, the water was about waist deep most of the way and I was slipping all over the place. So while half walking, half treading water trying to keep up, the guys would spot some fish. The net was then dropped and one of the guys would circle the net around the school. The other would stay by the boat gradually meeting together whist slapping sticks. This then drove the stampeed of fish directly at me as I was standing in the middle. My job was to stand on the bottom of the net while the fish rocketed into it. Then the other guys would grab the ends of the net to enclose the school - at which point the guys would grab the fish and snap their necks and then pass them to me to add to the stringer.
Watching out for the few inquistive sharks. After getting about 30 odd fish about 1.5-2kg size we headed back to the beach.'
I meanwhile went for a nice walk, followed by some sarong making with Metua and her daughter. We would take a cut up white sheet, dunk it in various dyes and then add some patterns of whales, turtles etc to them before drying them in the sun. Metua was selling them to the yachties, but let me keep one which was really nice.
After the long day we were happy to head back to the boat for some relaxing.
So our last day on the island was yesterday (wednesday). We got up late - as the sleeping had been uncomfortable with all the rolling. We decided to head in for a swim/snorkel and after a few dives down at the drop off Nick noticed a grouper with some line hanging out of its mouth.
So this takes us to the evening before....... Nick was fishing off the boat and he caught a small reef fish which he was just bringing up to the surface. We then saw this large shaddow chasing the fish and egging him on I said 'let him get it, let him get it!!' - it was very exciting haha. So in his foolishness Nick let it happen and it was all exciting until the line snapped and Nick lost his last lure. All blame was cast on me for the evening and I wasnt easily going to live it down. Still sore about it - Nick was talking about it right until we went for the swim in the morning and found the offending grouper........
So Nick then jumped back onto the boat and grabbed the spear gun. Now, we had been warned again here about spearfishing and sharks...... so I watched Nick dive down to the grouper about 5m deep. Grouper at Palmerston are known to have ciguaterra so there are heaps of them, some pretty large - and these guys are not afraid of spear guns at all. So old dopey grouper comes over to Nick to have a look. Nick shoots him (better to die a quick death then a slow painful one with a lure in its belly), and the 25kg fish reacts violently and tries to swim down as fast as possible. Nick meanwhile is trying to drag him up to the surface with him - whilst running out of air. I'm on shark watch and also watching Nick + giant fish trying to work out if they are going to make it to the surface. Finally the grouper lets up and Nick shoots to the surface all the while trying to hand the gun to me. We get the fish onto the back of the boat and Nick dispatches it. To get his lure back he then cut
open
the gut of the grouper - where we found it still hooked into the partly digested smaller fish.
So after all the excitement of the morning we headed ashore complete with a full bag of various gifts for Bill and his family. They had been so generous to us - loading us up with food every evening and treating us so well. They even ended up paying for our mooring - when embarrassingly we ran out of cash. Luckily the presents seem to go down really well and we felt more balanced again.
Bill had also arranged for us to talk to some of the important people on the island about our aquaponics projects. We spent many hours yesterday hatching some exciting plans. They seem super interested in the idea and Bill and Metua showed us 'our room' where we can stay if/when we come back. So we will see......
So after our busy days on the island we were once again loaded up with food and even some mahongany (another story) and we said good bye to everyone. Then after a night of packing up the boat we were ready for our early start this morning.
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