Lat: 18:02.8 S: Long: 163:11.5 W

24^th May 2013 – Four days’ sailing brought us to the tiny atoll of Palmerston, which is part of the 15 island groups which make up the Cook Islands. No sooner had we dropped anchor just outside the reef than a little fishing skiff came into sight and we were being given a warm welcome by Bob Marsters, who invited all four of us for lunch the following day.

We had already read in the pilot books about how an English sea captain, William Marsters, had arrived here in the late 1800s with his three Polynesian wives and made the previously uninhabited islands their home. Each island within the atoll was divided into three (one for each wife and her family), with the boundaries clearly marked by lines of coconuts.

Captain Marsters, a deeply religious and patriotic man, gave strict instructions on inter-marrying (although I don’t see how they could have avoided marrying first-cousins within the early days) and a number of his descendants have married people from other islands, thereby expanding the gene pool so from our all-too-brief two-day stay it seemed to be a very harmonious community.  And although our host might not have been “Bob’s your uncle” to the whole community he was certainly related to them one way or another!

By sheer chance we arrived on the 25^th, the day before Gospel Day, held to celebrate the arrival of the gospel on the island, and were invited to take part. We arrived to find a Union Jack flying in our honour and the main street, as Bob laughingly described the wide swathe of sand stretching from one side of the island to the other, spread with five or six trestle tables laden with an amazing spread of food – from delicious ceviche to ‘Kentucky’ Fried Chicken. Each family provided its own table-full but everyone was encouraged to take their plate from table to table and help themselves, chatting with several generations of Marsters.

Knowing that the only foodstuffs available on the island are fish and coconuts, with the rest coming on cargo ships several times a year, made their hospitality seem even more overwhelming.

Visiting the school, a beautiful open-sided building on stilts, was quite a revelation. It was stocked with a good range of books and learning materials, as well as a half a dozen computers!

But the biggest shock was meeting Rose, one of the teachers. She is a gentle 30-something English “rose,” who learned of the island from her father, who had been sailing solo around the Pacific in the 1970s when he was shipwrecked on the reef.

The villagers rescued him then battled for hours to get his yacht, “Solace”, ashore. They then spent another two years getting the boat sea-worthy again. By this time he had fallen in love with the island and its people, so before he died a few years ago, he expressed a wish that his ashes be scattered in Palmerston lagoon.

Rose dutifully delivered his ashes only to be told that her father was so loved and respected that the islanders wanted his remains to be buried with full honours in one of their three cemeteries, complete with a marble headstone.

Rose returned to the UK, bought the inscribed headstone and took it back to Palmerston; by which time she realised that she too had fallen in love with the people and wanted to stay a while. Serendipitously, Rose, a qualified special-needs teacher, heard there was one little girl on the island with special needs, and the Cook Islands government gave the go-ahead for her to be employed. When she isn’t busy teaching or just chilling out with the young people, she keeps busy by running (covering the whole island in about 15 minutes), reading, sending and receiving email, and joining in enthusiastic games of volleyball and football.

Anyone looking for a change of career might be interested to know that Palmerston is soon to have its own police officer – again courtesy of the Cook Islands governments – even though Bob was proud to report there is no crime on the island.  “What will the police officer do all day, then?” we asked, to which Bob replied “He’ll ride his bicycle around the island a couple of times, then do some fishing and lie in the sun.”

Form an orderly queue please!