One of the gems that came from my parent’s home was a book, a rollicking yarn of a yachting adventure from Denmark to the Caribbean in 1948. The title is “After You Columbus” so the above isn’t entirely original but we hope the journey will be at least as memorable. Out of the same necessity of our Danish friends (you can only leave from wherever you happen to be) we will leave from Auckland for Rarotonga in the Cook Islands.
Cook wasn’t so bold as to name the group after himself, it simply isn’t done eh. He called them the Hervey Islands after some lord whom he may have owed a favour or wanted one from. Some 50 years later they were renamed in his honour by a Russian! There is evidence of 2000 years of Polynesian occupation and the Spanish “discovered” one of the Islands in 1595. Today 15 islands, and two reefs, make up the Cooks. We hope to visit 5 of them.
The plan so far is to leave Auckland on 14 May (or as soon after as the weather suits). Rarotonga, our first port-o-call, is about 1600nm (9 – 10 days) to the ENE. A day’s* sail to the north is Aitutaki. Next is Penrhyn, four days further northward and only 9° south of the equator. A day’s sailing to the WSW will take us to Manihiki. Another day on is Suwarrow. Our next port will probably be Pago Pago, American Samoa, three days further west. Followed by Wallis Island and then Savusavu, Fiji. Plan B is to go from Suwarrow (to Beveridge Reef), to Niue then Vavau, Wallis and Savusavu. We will finish out the season in Fiji returning to Auckland in November.
* A day is 24 hrs.
Of the Cooks only Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Penrhyn and Suwarrow offer safe harbour. Apparently there are moorings off Manihiki. The trades tend not to blow strongly close to the equator so the other northern cooks, Pukupuka, Rakahanga, etc which don’t have reef passes, are possibilities.
As usual we are looking for crew to accompany us on the passage to Raro etc. The loop through the Cooks is a tad problematic for fly-in fly-outs but you are as welcome as ever. There are airfields at all of the above but Suwarrow, which is uninhabited, and Rakahanga. Only Rarotonga has international connections. From Rarotonga there are daily services to Aitutaki and fortnightly services to Manihiki. Penrhyn is charter only. The fare to Manihiki is eye watering (see Rarotonga Air). Further on everywhere is reasonably accessible. However fares to Wallis are also expensive.
Timing is a WIP. Something like approximately two weeks for each island including the short passages plus the passage to Raro. This would see us back on the grid sometime in August and in Fiji in September.
If you are tempted to join us please get in touch. Or if you just want to share a story about Uncle Fred who spent time there back in the day please do. It’s nice to have a personal connection, no matter how tenuous, when visiting these out of the way places.
Dinah & Bruce
