We ran out of wind 9 miles away from the pass and had to motor into Suwarrow. Our anchor was down at 1500 hours, and we saw a bunch of other boats we knew. Tomorrow being Sunday, we can't check in with the caretakers, so our official check into the Cook Islands will be Monday, Aug 8. All's well, we'll catch up on some rest, and relax here nearby an island that has no internet, no stores, no airstrip...not much of anything, and you can only get here by private yacht! Lovely!
Here's what I wrote earlier about Suwarrow...
Have you ever thought about living on a deserted island by yourself? We're traveling to Suwarrow to pay homage to a New Zealander who did exactly that, as a hermit, more than 50 years ago. His name was Tom Neale, and he reputedly treated visiting yachties well during his stay there from 1952 thru 1978. There's a book written of his life at Suwarrow entitled "An Island to Oneself" and it describes his solitary existence on this 11 mile atoll in the Pacific. These days the atoll is a Cook Island's national park, and two caretakers live there and are rotated on a regular basis every six months. There are bird sanctuaries as well as several wrecks, which attest to the place as being unsafe to anchor in any weather except routine tradewind conditions. A visit here also breaks up the passage from Bora Bora to American Samoa or Tonga into two parts rather than one long leg.
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