Leaving Palmerston
Mojo 2
Andrew Partington
Sat 17 Sep 2011 07:34
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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.
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