1) Rarotonga, Cook Islands

July 2008: South Pacific

Avatiu Harbour, Rarotonga, Cook Islands

S 21.12 W 159.14

I have yet again taken advantage of an opportunity that presented itself in early 2007.  Bob Briggs contacted me through the Latitude 38 crew list inquiring if I was interested cruising the South Pacific on his 2001 Hallberg-Rassy 46.  I of course caved in and moved forward.   The interview process included phone conversations, e/m exchanges, meetings and an offshore round-trip from Emeryville to Monterey in October 2007.  Everything went well and I was offered a crew position with a March 2008 departure.  

There are many legs of the proposed route from San Francisco Bay to Australia and several interested available crew.  The most difficult leg, meaning sometimes cold and miserable was from San Francisco Bay to San Diego.  I’ve done it enough and passed on it.  The run from San Diego to The Marquesas is potentially an 18-21 day trip and I have done enough long passages and decided to pass on that, too.  I knew the boat was going to be in the So Pac in early summer and that is where I planned to get on.  According to the planned schedule the boat would arrive in Rarotonga, Cook Islands in July and let off (2) of the (4) on-board.  My journey on S/V Present Moment begins in Rarotonga with Bob and Dave Smith.

Cupertino, CA

The weeks and days leading up to my flight out were filled with planning/packing, house issues and work issues.  I worked the morning of the day before I left and ended up taking my fatigue with me.

   Los Gatos, CA

               On July 20^th I flew out of SFO at 6pm headed to an LAX layover and an 11pm direct flight to Rarotonga.  Dinner, (2) movies that I slept thru and then breakfast had us landing in Rarotonga about 10 hours after leaving LAX.  Unfortunately, it was still dark and I was unable to get pictures of the airport.  But, there was a guy in the lobby playing his Ukulele and singing away….  A very short taxi ride to the harbor and…                                                                                                                                                                                             

 

I was a bit startled when I arrived in that I thought I had researched this location but somehow overlooked that it was winter in the southern hemisphere.  I generally tried to stay near the beach.  As you can see in the picture above, it was slightly warmer near the water.  But, when I saw the boat in the slip I knew there would be a lot of pre-departure work to get it ready.

OK, seriously, this is Present Moment in the harbor at Rarotonga.  

Since it was before sunrise no one was up and about at the marina.  I stood by the edge and talked to the taxi driver for several minutes.  Bob must’ve heard us and popped up.  I managed to get the luggage and boat parts here and now I had to navigate the little issue of getting them on the boat.  In this marina the boats are Med-tied as there are no slips or docks.  A dinghy is used to get back and forth to land.  If you look beyond the bow of the boat you can see a ship broken in half on the rocks at the entrance of the harbor.  They are in the process of cutting it up and removing it after it came upon the reef during a failed attempt to leave and ride out a storm at sea.  

Rarotonga is a fairly unknown jewel in the Pacific and it shows.  It is lightly populated, safe and clean.  New Zealanders come here for vacation since it is a NZ territory and close.  It appears the main mode of transportation for tourists as well as locals is the scooter.  But, you must go to the police station and get a driver’s license in order to rent one.  Dave Smith, the other crewmember (we’ve made it easy for the skipper), already had a scooter and had been around the island and offered to loan me his or go together.  I chose to sit on the back and in a couple hours got dozens of pictures going around the entire island.  If you look at Google maps it looks like the trip can be done in less than an hour.  It really is that small.

                          

           

                The interior of this island is so rugged that there are only hiking trails and no roads through it.  So, most of the action happens along the shore.  There is not much of a downtown or main strip, but rather many simple buildings, an airport, a golf course, grocery stores, etc.  And oh yes, the elixir of life, the new snake oil, the next best tonic of life…. The internet café!

                    

Cook Islands Police

    Bob, exhibiting patience.

Internet cafe'

                                                            

                               

        In the short time on this island I was able to see the entire perimeter and lots of stuff within walking distance of the marina.  There really isn’t a defined downtown and houses and businesses seem to run together.  And what to expect in the South Pacific, lots of churches. Everyone seems to obey the speed limit including the lone Harley.  Littering seems to be minimal to non-existent. I had hoped to take a hike up one of the trails but time ran out.  If we were to get offshore we needed to take on fuel and get some groceries.  We got the staples from the store, (i.e.: cookies, bread, candy, beer) and the fresh stuff from the roadside markets.  The quality of the fresh fruit and vegetables is outstanding.

  I kept an eye on the label of ingredients just in case.

         Taking on fuel became an issue all its own wherein the phone helped immensely.  In the So Pac you can buy a cell phone that works in every country except the U.S.  You simply purchase a simm (sp?) card in each country to activate it. There is no fuel dock to pull up to and only two ways to take on fuel.  One, go to the gas station and fill 5-gallon jugs, put them in the dinghy, load on the boat, etc.  Or, two, call the local truck service.  “…the truck is on its way…” was spread over two days.  Bob kept calling and they finally asked when we were leaving so as to accommodate us.  Really, it’s an island.  A really small island.  We were at the mercy of the truck as it had a long hose to reach out to mid-ships for the fuel inlet.  My job was to get in the dinghy and carry the hose across the water to the boat.  Bob filled and I went below and watched it fill the tank.  There is no fuel counter on the truck so we had no way to measure other than fill a tank with a known volume. 

    

        The first few days of settling in are quite an adjustment.  Stepping out of my daily routine into something completely different is expected, though.  Bob and Dave are very easy going and laid back;  Mostly because that is their respective personalities and also as they have been at this since the departure from Emeryville.  Dave signed on from the start all the way to Australia.  It appears Bob will ship the boat home instead of sailing it since that is either going around the long way, slowly back-tracking or clockwise around the Pacific going into the cold northern latitudes.

With food, water and fuel on board we are ready to head offshore for the 5-day passage to Pago Pago (pah-ngo pah-ngo), American Samoa.