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27th August – 17th September, 2005
Departing Bora Bora on the 27th August into an oncoming weather system, we shot out of the
lagoon pass straight into two hard days of sailing through big rough seas and strong winds
gusting up to 30 knots; rolly, but we were making good downwind speed! However, when we
went to run the engine to charge our batteries on day 2, we found that it wouldn't start... not a
gradual decline this time, but rather it just stopped working! We spent the better part of the next 4
days trying to troubleshoot it with our head in the engine-compartment in a large rolling sea:
changing all the fuel filters, bleeding the fuel system, checking the air filter and exhaust, hot-wiring
the starter motor etc, but to no avail. So it was back to good old fashioned sail power, with no
engine back up. If Joshua Slocum could sail around the world alone in 1895 at the age of 55,
two 34-year-olds can definitely do it! It wouldn't have been too bad if the wind had kept up, but of
course it soon died and we were becalmed for a couple of days! A few times we even dropped
our sails and both went to sleep because there was no wind at all… a very strange feeling to be
bobbing about in the middle of the ocean just drifting gently with the current! The tougher part
though was rationing our electricity. No engine = no electrical generator. Fortunately our solar
panels and wind generator provided enough power for us to run essential basics like our GPS
and instruments, but luxuries such as the fridge, lights, laptops, and even our navigation lights all
had to be kept switched off.
We finally made landfall after 6.5 days on passage at a tiny speck of a coral atoll know as
Suvarov in the Northern Cook Islands. So insignificant is this uninhabited island to the world at
large that our navigational charts contained no further detail than a name and a thousand-meter
depth contour to mark its’ location! Not only did we have no engine, but we had no charted
information either! So as we spied the palm trees on our watery horizon we radioed a couple of
boats that we knew to be ahead of us there, and as a result had a great welcoming committee: 4
dinghies came out and met us in the tricky lagoon pass and helped guide us in under sail
through all the coral reefs. Amazingly we did a pretty good job short-tacking up to the protected
anchorage, and that night got comments from a few people that they were pleased and
impressed to see someone anchoring "the old fashioned way" without an engine! As if to prove
that this was no mean feat, we later discovered that there are numerous wrecks littered upon
these coral reefs; a testament to less fortunate navigators who had found a watery grave.
First task on arrival was to try and fix our engine. By word of mouth we soon met an engineering
genius: an English cruiser called John aboard the yacht ‘Folly’ that he had built from scratch in
his back garden in only four years of weekends! Very generously he offered his assistance, so
for 3 days we were covered in oil and grease as he helped us take the whole engine apart on
board in order to get at the main cylinders, replace the head gasket, re-grind the valve seats,
clean the turbo-charger etc etc… talk about a crash course in diesel mechanics! After much
effort we got it cranking over; it sounded a lot better, but still wasn’t starting, and we eventually
drained the starter battery with all our efforts. Reluctantly we had to admit defeat, and accept that
we would have to proceed on by sail-power until we could locate a good mechanical boatyard
somewhere down the line – the options are very limited in this part of the Pacific, and it would be
many more hundreds of miles before we would find the necessary resources. Having finally
given up playing mister-fix-it, it was time to focus on relaxing and playing for real!
Desert Island Paradise
So it was that we found ourselves “stuck” on a true 'desert island', protected as a National Park
with nothing ashore except palm trees, coconut crabs, and one hut for the seasonal caretakers –
and truly the photos will never do it justice. This place ranks VERY high on our list of top spots
so far, and to a certain degree our whole trip into the Pacific has been to reach such a place.
The next closest tiny island is over 250 miles away, and the Cook Islands government prohibits
anyone from living here, except for a couple of wardens whom they send out to look after the atoll
for the 5 months of the year when yachts pass through. The current wardens are a very friendly
young local couple (John and Veronica) who return to their family on the main island of
Raratonga, 500 miles away, for the rest of the year. The caretakers simple wooden hut is set
amongst coconut palms on the largest motu (about 80 acres in size) surrounding the lagoon,
which is some 6 miles across. Makeshift lights are made on shore using hollowed-out coconut
shells lined with aluminium foil and powered by car batteries. A volleyball net has been strung-
up on the beach made out of an old fishing net that drifted ashore, and other nets have been used
to fashion hammocks slung between the palms. An old clock without hands hangs on the wall of
the hut, with the words “Suvarov Official Time” scrawled across it… the truest indicator of the
pace of life on this island. Sailors check-in to the Cook Islands here, sign a fascinating and well-
illustrated visitors’ logbook, and leave tattered flags from their home ports hanging beneath a
tongue-in-cheek sign that welcomes them to the “Suvarov Yacht Club”.
There are literally NO other visitors of any description to this remote atoll, but word of how
magically un-spoilt it is has spread in the cruising community (in large part due to Tom Neal’s
book “An Island to Oneself” in which he describes living alone on Suvarov for long periods
during the years 1952 – 1977), and now an increasing number of yachts stop here on their
Pacific cruising route: last year a record 45 yachts came through, and when we arrived we were
the 75th yacht this season! At any one time during our stay there were between 7 and 21 yachts
in the anchorage, yet one of the best aspects of our experience on Suvarov was the great
camaraderie amongst all the yachties, who were seduced by the wonderful atmosphere into
being more open here than anywhere else we’ve encountered.
Much of this was due to the warm hospitality offered by John and Veronica, who essentially
operated an ‘open house’ policy to all newcomers, and hosted 'pot luck' dinners on the beach
every other night (to which everyone brings a dish to be shared all around, with the highlight
being Veronica’s delicious coconut pancakes!). Central to these events was the ‘Catch of the
Day’, which included huge coconut crabs the size of dinner plates that John would bravely pull
out of their holes beneath the palm roots, or fresh fish plucked straight from the lagoon.
Shark Encounters and Fishy Tales
The coral reefs on the atoll are absolutely pristine, and the waters are teeming with undisturbed
marine life, so the fishing proved fabulous!!! It wasn’t long before Q and Mark were titled
'Champion Fishermen' having supplied enough fish to feed all on 3 consecutive occasions; in
fact we caught 13 large fish within the lagoon in our first 3 days of fishing alone, using a
combination of free-diving with a spear-gun, jigging for bottom-dwellers using our little spinning
rod, and trolling a hand-line from the dinghy. Our haul in two weeks included 7 Grouper, 5 Blue
Trevally, 4 Parrot-Fish, 2 Long-Nosed Emperors, and a Tuna! None of these fish were under
3lbs, and John was excited to confirm that one of the Trevally that Q caught on a hand-line was
the biggest this year - it was about 10lbs and 85cms long, a real beauty – so on departure we
gave them our champion red flashy octopus-lure as a leaving present, to their great delight!
We proved so successful at hooking dinner that we had to invite all the yachties to join us for
impromptu BBQ’s on the beach, and were kept busy gutting, cleaning, filleting and thinking up
new ways of preparing all this delicious fish we were catching! On one occasion Mark hauled in
a lovely 12lb tuna and promptly decided to play sushi-chef: that evening we hosted 18 people on
the beach for a roll-your-own sushi competition (with more than enough tuna sushi and sashimi
to go around!), which was followed late into the night by a sing-along to John’s exceptional guitar,
accompanied by fine single-malt Scotch whisky and Cuban cigars – ah, what a life!
We also made friends with the tons of sharks everywhere. Whenever we got into the water they
would circle around curiously, but rarely posed a dangerous threat; for instance there were often
4 or 5 circling us while we were washing off the back of the boat, and a few bigger ones would
come and say hello whenever we went drift-snorkeling in the lagoon pass, or off the outer reef. It
became so natural to be in the water with them just a few feet away, that it was easy to forget how
fearsome their reputation is: Steven Spielberg’s ‘Jaws’ has much to answer for! The only real
danger is when we're spearfishing - you've got to be pretty quick to get the fish out of the water
and into the dinghy if you get them with a speargun, because the sharks can sense the struggling
fish a mile away and come charging at you... exciting stuff! A Frenchman had a fish taken off his
spear by a shark the other day as he was returning to the surface with it - and he looked a little
shaken by the experience!
Our closest shark encounter came when Mark set off to free-dive the outer reef in search of
white Parrot Fish, reputedly the best flesh for making the French Polynesian dish of ‘Poisson
Cru’… Armed with his speargun and a couple of reluctant assistants, he shunned many easier
targets (including the equally delicious blue Parrot Fish!) and spent FOUR hours in the water
determined to stalk his elusive quarry. It didn’t take long to attract the attention of a couple of
larger and rather agitated grey reef sharks, so to be fair a large portion of that time was spent
fending them off until finally two fine specimens were landed without misadventure! The Poisson
Cru by the way was excellent: the raw fish is marinated for a couple of hours in lime juice and
freshly made coconut cream (personally ground and wrung from coconuts), then lightly mixed
with a few crispy vegetables for a delicious dish…mmmh!
Playing Volleyball on the Beach, and Downing Vikings with Skardu Cocktails!
With so much social interaction through the evening beach barbeques we soon found ourselves
at the center of an ever-widening and increasingly active social circle.
Here our paths crossed with old acquaintances, including the Danish couple Anne and Mogens
aboard the sleek 56-foot X-Yacht ‘Northern Star’, whom we had first met a year previously in
Northern Spain en route to the ARC, and then chased across the subsequent 12,000 miles!
Finally catching up with them here, we hosted a long-overdue dinner – of freshly caught fish!
New friendships were also in the making, with many interesting characters from all corners of the
globe. One exceptional moment stands out in the memory: late one evening as we were
gathered under the palm trees on the edge of the beach, Nilly – an Israeli lady from the yacht
''Yonita' (who had been a professional concert and solo violinist in New York) – honored us by
performing a little concert, playing a sequence of baroque solos upon her 300-year old violin:
made about the time that Captain Cook first ‘discovered’ these islands, and certainly the oldest
and most valuable item within many hundreds of miles! It was a moment of beautiful contrasts as
those exquisite classical notes reverberated in the candlelight, filling the untamed tropical
wilderness around us, and all who witnessed it were moved beyond words.
The makeshift volleyball net on the beachfront soon caught our attention, as a growing number of
‘younger’ (read 20- and 30-something!) cruisers arrived to join us, and we quickly cajoled a
group of about 12 players out for a regular sunset game before ritually lighting the barbeque!
It was refreshing to meet such a large group of like-minded people our age, who were also
taking time out from their respective careers to pursue this sailing dream, and all without
exception considered it the best decision they had ever made!
After one such bout of energetic volleyball, the heavens opened, snuffing out that evening’s
dinner plans, so we all retreated to Skardu’s cockpit for a few rum cocktails and tall tales.
Amongst those gathered in our cockpit were Rolf and Yolanda, a Swiss couple from the beautiful
Oyster 56 ‘Moana’, Warren and Stephanie from the American yacht ‘Mico Verde’, Elizabeth (&
Rachel) from ‘Ventana’, plus a trio of Norwegian yachts: Morten and Madileine from ‘Blaatur’;
Berit (& Eric) from ‘Fruen Fra Havet’; and Yngve (& Therese) from ‘La Familia’.
With such a collection of Scandinavians amongst us, it was inevitable that the request for a round
of Skardu cocktails soon came forth: apparently its’ reputation has spread before it! With suitable
health warnings we duly served up our potent mix and the challenge was on! The ensuing
results were spectacular, and in summation we cannot improve upon Morten’s immortal words:
“We act like Vikings after the Skardu: I thought I could fly... but instead I drowned!”
Nature's Beauty and a Painter’s Inspiration
As Park Warden, one of John’s responsibilities is to protect the delicate natural ecology on the
islands surrounding the lagoon, so to avoid uncontrolled roaming he organized guided
excursions to explore some of the remote islets dotted around the fringes of the lagoon, where
huge colonies of terns and boobies were gathered. We spent two excellent days on exploratory
trips with him to the farthest corners of the atoll, inspecting the nesting colonies, snorkeling in
crystal clear waters, and discovering wrecks along the reefs.
In such an inspirational environment Quintin was finally tempted to unwrap his oil-painting
equipment – for the first time in some years – and set up under a palm tree. Despite having to
dodge a few rain squalls that came through, he found sufficient solitude to complete a landscape
painting on the beachfront near the anchorage, and it felt great to loosen the rusty skills up a bit!
Meanwhile Mark took the opportunity to borrow some dive equipment from our new-found
friends, and join them on a series of scuba dives in and around the main lagoon pass,
experiencing excellent visibility, pristine corals, lots of sharks, and a myriad of marine life.
In conclusion we really loved our time in Suvarov – it was probably the highlight of the whole
sailing trip, and the place we have 'wound down' and relaxed the most. We were both very
reluctant to leave and kept extending our stay, from an initially planned 8 days to 15 days in the
end. John and Veronica were so friendly to us, providing boundless hospitality and creating a
wonderful atmosphere for us to enjoy, and they genuinely had teary eyes when we went to say
goodbye! It was a hard place to leave, but with our future itinerary up in the air due to our engine
problems, we had to take advantage of a good weather forecast, so we nailed our flag up to the
'Yacht Club' wall, and pressed on while the winds were favorable.
