We have now left the Suwarrow atoll and are heading to Apia, Samoa. At 13:20hrs UTC, 23 July we have about 405nm to go, aiming to arrive on Friday morning.  

Our stay in Sawarrow was a story of 2 halves – the first half being wonderful -  enjoying the hospitality of the local rangers, the beautiful scenery, the amazing manta rays & sharks and the good fishing. The second half was 4 miserable days in a storm, with lots of wind and rain, confining us to the boat... cabin fever set in!

 

Last weekend the Suwarrow rangers organised a fish BBQ on the beach for all the cruisers, which was good fun. Not only did they supply all the fish (Tuna and Wahoo) but they also performed a few songs and did the Haka. The next day Mike was highly motivated to catch some fish, so headed out the pass with Peter from Lolo and managed to catch 3 Mahi-Mahi (Dorado) and a small Tuna. That night we enjoyed some delicious sashimi with Peter, Rozanna, Teddy and Poppy and caught up on all their adventures since meeting them in the Sea of Cortez last year.

We have also been hanging out with Sandie and Brian from Persephone, who treated us to a delicious pot roast on one of the rainy nights.

One night in the storm, the wind was gusting over 30 knots and there was quite a chop in the anchorage – BANG!  in the middle of the night and our snubber broke, it had chaffed right through. (a snubber is a line from the anchor chain to the boat that relieves the pressure on the windlass)

 

The highlight of Suwarrow, was swimming with the manta rays. One of the rays was a giant pitch black ray, which Mike dubbed “Garth Vader” – we managed to take some great video footage of him/her.

 

The day before we left we “struck gold” – a boat arrived called Skimpy (registered in Bikini of course!) and on board, Simon the chiropractor. Mike went over to chat to him and he agreed to come over and take a look at Mikes sore back (leg and hip) After a thorough examination, massage and some energetic manipulation he had Mike feeling much, much better.

Considering longitude, we are now over half-way around the world from Cape Town – and it has only taken us 5+ years!