August 23, 2010

Suvarov Arrival

After a long 14 hours of being hove to, we entered the pass to the atoll of Suvarov at 7:30 am this morning anchoring behind the western side islet. Overall it was a reasonable passage with about the right amount of wind and ok seas. We made a tactical mistake not motoring on Friday night when winds were light and thus messed up the timing of our arrival. Being hove to was not ideal for Nikita and a fair amount of work so we are tired.

Suvarov is part of the Cook islands of which there 15 small islands totaling 93 square miles of land spread over 750,000 square miles in the South Pacific. Basically, you pick one or max two of the Cook islands in the northern or southern group and have to miss the others, just to much sea in between and bad wind angles.

Suvarov is a deserted atoll with two park rangers on sight during the winter months to meet cruising boats and collect a park fee. The island was made famous by Tom Neale a New Zealander who lived on the atoll for a number of years as a hermit, ultimately penning the book, An Island to Oneself.

We have a shark circling our boat right now, seems very interested in Isabelle.

The Crew of Niktia

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