Suwarrow to Niue

When a harbour is as perfect as Suwarrow Atoll, it’s hard to move on. 

But with another 2,800 nautical miles ahead before we reach the end of our South Pacific crossing, it was time to haul anchor and set sail for the tiny island nation of Niue – 560 nms to the southwest, directly on our route to Tonga.   

We’ve completed two days of what should be a 4-day passage, planning to arrive at Alofi Bay, Niue on Saturday morning.

But by now I’ve learned, as you have – what passes for planning on a sailing voyage is more akin to having a hunch.  Albeit, the best possible hunch you can have, cobbled together from looking at all the different wind prediction services – and there are several of those, and each one a little different, or maybe a lot different, than the next.  Stay flexible.  Be prepared to change your itinerary – including when or where you go, maybe both.  Eventually you settle on a plan and you set out – still flexible, prepared to manage whatever wind you actually get. 

Fortunately, Turtlebones is a nimble vessel, built for crossing oceans – and Captain Bill is pretty nimble himself.  Add an open mind and you have all the ingredients you need for a good passage.  The planning process, though unreliable in the details, is valuable for guiding us about what not to do.  It keeps us well away from any serious trouble.

All to say, our 4-day passage to Niue is already looking like 5.  Can’t complain, it’s a super-comfortable ride in the calmest seas you can imagine.  But we’re poking along here in just 6 kts of wind – making 4 to 5 kts, which itself is pretty darn efficient, but still slower than planned. We’d definitely trade a little more bounce for a little more speed.

Speaking of which, as I write this, Bill has yanked out the Code 0 from the forward locker and rigged it up in a brand new way. He has fixed the tack (lower corner of the sail) onto the windward bow, instead of fixing it onto the bow sprit.  Et voila, what a difference!  We squeeze out another knot or more. Instead of dawdling along at boat speed that’s a knot or more slower than wind speed, we’re now going faster than the wind! Thank you, Bob on Icaros, for this suggestion – it’s brilliant!

Reflecting on Suwarrow.  Bill’s favourite stop on the journey so far. Me too, I think – although I’ve had so many favourites along the way, I hesitate to say.  But Suwarrow is unique.  The entire atoll is designated as a national park and bird sanctuary – so, it’s uninhabited, with lots of rules for visitors, and all the unspoiled beauty that goes with that. Not to mention the joy of having this playground all to ourselves – just the two rangers and the cruisers in the harbour.  Next nearest humans are many days away.

But that said, unlike an undesignated, truly uninhabited island, the rangers are here from June to October, taking care of the birds and the marine life, and providing a focal point for shore activities.  Two wooden swings and a hammock have been strung on some coconut trees on the shore.  There’s a make-shift volleyball court on the beach – although it’s a bit hazardous, I think, as there are several coconut trees near and even within the court!  Still, made Bill happy to hold court, so to speak, sharing his love of the game, mentoring and teaching the rules to all the young people on the “kid boats”. 

And shore parties – with the rangers’ permission, we had two potluck dinners in the short time we were there.  Plus one crazy evening on a plastic unicorn inflatable deflatable.  A super-social time, so much fun to meet and greet with our boat neighbours – from eight different countries – including a disproportionate number of Canadians, as we were just one of three Canada-flagged boats in the anchorage. 

More than permission, Rangers Harry and Taina were truly gracious hosts.  They spent hours in the afternoon clearing the grasses from the gathering area, to keep the bugs at bay.  Gathered wood and arranged the rocks and grates for the cook fire.  Harry played guitar and sang traditional Ma’ohi songs, while Taina accompanied him with a traditional dance.  And the centrepiece of the potluck, Harry and Taina contributed a basin full of huge coconut crabs that they’d caught and steamed that day.  What a feast. 

Taina and Harry were also generous with stories of their lives as Cook Islanders and as Rangers.  Not to mention their life as a new couple – having recently joined together in the last couple of years and now with nuptials planned for December in Rarotonga – with 9 children between them, plus many grandchildren and great grandchildren.  Bill and I enjoyed sharing with them how lucky we all are.

The bird watching on Suwarrow was exciting.  We didn’t see them all, but there are nine species of tropical birds who breed on this little atoll.  Park rules prohibited landing on the motus, but stealth kayaking up close to the shore gave us a good look at the breeding colonies. 

We were permitted to go ashore on just one of the motus, aptly named Anchorage Island – the largest of the motus and also the site of the ranger station, volleyball court and potluck soirees. 

At low tide, it’s possible to circumnavigate Anchorage Island on foot and catch good views of the nesting birds.  We got especially good glimpses of the red-footed booby and the black noddy.  Both quite ordinary looking, at least to my eye, when seen in flight from a distance – but get close enough to really see these birds at rest in the trees, and their beauty is startling.  When they turn their heads and stare you down, makes you stop right there, freeze in your tracks. 

The bird life was second only to the marine life.  Although the lagoon was not as crystal clear as we’d hoped, the variety of colourful reef fishes was endlessly entertaining, not to mention large green turtles and plentiful reef sharks. 

Spear fishing is prohibited in the lagoon, but one of our boat neighbours left the lagoon to try their hand at catching something to contribute to the potluck.  They came back with a 4-foot wahoo – a cousin to the mackerel perhaps, but less oily and less bony – fileted and grilled on the fire – it was delicious!

(We have our fishing line out now, fingers crossed for wahoo dinner tonight.)

The Suwarrow lagoon also offers manta ray viewings at the “manta cleaning station”, a certain small reef within the lagoon inhabited by cleaning wrasses and visited by mantas to have their bodies, gills and mouths cleaned by the little critters.  No activity at the manta cleaning station when we were there, but we often spotted little wrasses cleaning other fishes, including grouper and shark, and once we followed a large manta ray – about the size of our dinghy – while snorkeling at another reef.   

Sightings of humpback whales are also quite common at Suwarrow.  They come right into the lagoon.  A boat neighbour encountered a playful mom and calf just metres from his kayak – rolling together, flashing and splashing their flukes.  A bit breathtaking, I would say, in a tippy kayak.

It’s a good thing the marine life was so enticing down there on Suwarrow, because we needed to get in there often, just to cool down, and it gave us lots to look at. Moving northward from the 17th parallel in Tahiti to the 13th parallel in Suwarrow – doesn’t sound like much, but just 4° closer to the equator, and it was noticeably hotter there– unpleasantly so for some. From 8 to 8, you’re melting in the heat and falling off the boat for a break.  Now en route to Niue at 19°S latitude, at least one of us is looking forward to more comfortable temps.