Palmerston Atoll: Day 1 - Arrival

Monday, June 17, 2013

We arrived at Palmerston Atoll early this morning. We actually overshot the island and had to backtrack  20 miles fighting against the wind, waves, and current. Even at full speed we could barely hit 3 knots and so it took us quite a few hours to do that short distance.

Palmerston Island is beautiful and a complete change from what we have seen so far in Polynesia. All islands up to now have been sharp volcanic protrusions out of the water with little/few sand/beaches. Palmerston is more of what you'd expected when you close your eyes and think of a remote, uninhabited Caribbean island.

It was originally settled by William Marster (an Englishman) back in the 1700's, who took three Fijian wives to the island and started 3 families. Every person on the island is a direct descendent of his and they are now in their 8th generation of children. The island is home to 80 inhabitants and is known for its warm, welcoming hospitality. The three families on the island each have their own segregated piece of the island and suffer some political tension between them.

When we first arrived, we were shocked to see the Pitcairn Castle tied up to a mooring already. This is a very famous Canadian square-rigged tall ship out of Nova Scotia. 

I knew I would run into this ship at some point in my sailing career, but not in the middle of nowhere here.

Here is Palmerston Island from the water on arrival. 

It is one of the many little islands that make up Palmerston Atoll and is the only one inhabited.

Upon arrival, and after clearing customs ($125 plus $10 a night in NZ$), you are greeted by your hosting family. Each visiting boat is assigned a 'host' family who takes you to and from shore when you want, feeds you, and offers you a place to stay in their home. They also offered to do our laundry if we needed it. This is all at no charge and people tend to give them gifts in return (rum, tobacco, used clothing, diesel fuel, etc.)  in return as they don't really use currency on the island. A good idea next time I do this is stock up on $6 rum in Panama to be used as a trading good for the rest of the trip across the Pacific. Everyone loves rum, and it is very expensive on all of the Pacific islands it seems.

The gave us time to get settled in and then escorted us to shore through the complicated coral system in one of their aluminum boats.

The whole family came out to greet us in their boat.

The beach was beautiful.

Here is Bob, he is the head of the family and our host (and suposedly Mayor of the island).

There were shells and coral all over this beach, a real shell collector's dream.

A little relaxing hut right off the beach.

Here was some sort of tree swing hanging from a Palm.

We first sat, chatted a bit and were served some of their ice-cold limeade.

Then Bob ordered his son Andrew to tour us around the island.

This is the 'main street'. It has their church and their rainwater storage facilities.

We met a really friendly guy named Bill who offered to do our laundry and showed us some of his flag collection. This used to be the official flag of the Cook Islands. A star for each island.

Andrew showed us William Marsters' gravesite.

And William Marsters' house. It was made from pieces of wood from many different shipwrecks on the reef. It has survived dozens of cyclones that have hit the island.

This is what the road system looks like on the island.

When the island was first discovered, there were no trees, humans, or animals on the island. It was just one big all-sand beach. William Marsters imported everything.

Even some black pigs.

And some world-class mahogany.

Here is the school.

Some people offer to help with certain jobs around the island in return for their wonderful hospitality. I hope on a return trip to offer my services as a math teacher here.

Jan made me take a picture of this flower because her camera ran out of batteries.

Here are some ancient grave sites.

I always forget that coconuts are seeds. Here are some infant palm trees in their early stages of life.

They don't even need to be planted.

Here is the island's volleyball court. Also, in the background is their island phone (they have just one phone on the whole island in a booth). You can supposedly get wifi here too. Amazing...

Here I am harassing the chickens in their coop.

Jan and I went for a walk along the beach after and I found a few pieces of coral and shells for Ava (my niece).

Time to head back to the boat!

We were invited for lunch tomorrow afternoon. They are picking us up at 9:30am and spending the day on the island. Hopefully we can get some snorkelling in before we leave. 

Or maybe just hang out at the beach.