http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmerston_Island
What a fun read after visiting Palmerston!! Very accurate information from what I learned from the locals there.
"The Island's Council consists of six members, the three heads of each family and three other members appointed by each family.[5] The Mayor is Bob Marsters.[5]"
We had ice cream with Bob Marsters - what a fun loving and generous man! He was looking to replace a remote from a 10 year old TV. Too bad our universal remotes don't cover brands that old or we'd have given him ours and picked up another one.
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Island Exploring - Niue
After "The Show" this afternoon we sent the kids back to the boat for "quiet time" naps and school and things and Courage and I headed out on the motorcycle. This is a gorgeous and awesome cliff/rock island!! We hiked to two caves, the first one you walk through coming out on the ocean where you can walk on the rock (not coral) reef and tide pools then drop into a large pool where you can snorkel into part of the cave. Then we went to a second cave that has massive stalactites and stalagmites, beautiful colorful mineral deposits, fossils of coral in the rocks and is open to the ocean on the far side (but not a swimming pool). Then we went to the Limu Pools where it's semi-shallow and calm, crystal clear water from all the limestone around. This is what they make resort pools to mimic with rocks all around, clear blue water, gentle waves, beach entry, etc. Then we went to the chasm, a large crack between two rocks that's filled with water. It's like a pool with huge rock walls on either side. From shore, you couldn't see to the ocean, but I think if you swim to the end of the pool, eventually you see it. We skipped walking to the arches, feeling like we ought to be getting home. We stopped at a gas station mini-mart type thing and she was selling watermelons from her home garden, small to medium size, but only $3 - $5!!! So we got a few and headed home!! What a wonderful tour!
The teens brought the kids to shore to play when they picked us up at the wharf, the teens went out exploring, the kids swam by the wharf for about an hour and played bubbles when on land, and Courage went home to "put on dinner" (aka quiet time).
We had a quick preview, definitely going back. They were out of rental cars on the island, probably due to NZ Army and Navy being here for the 40 years of Independence celebration. We think they are all leaving Monday, so hope to rent a car for a day or two and take the whole family spelunking and snorkeling early next week. They will LOVE it! Looks like geology will be on the homeschool agenda this week.
The teens brought the kids to shore to play when they picked us up at the wharf, the teens went out exploring, the kids swam by the wharf for about an hour and played bubbles when on land, and Courage went home to "put on dinner" (aka quiet time).
We had a quick preview, definitely going back. They were out of rental cars on the island, probably due to NZ Army and Navy being here for the 40 years of Independence celebration. We think they are all leaving Monday, so hope to rent a car for a day or two and take the whole family spelunking and snorkeling early next week. They will LOVE it! Looks like geology will be on the homeschool agenda this week.
Independence Day Show
This morning we went to "The Show" at the high school. It's very easy to hitch a ride with a local around here, which was great for moving the whole family across town.
The Show is put on monthly, but was special today in celebration of their 40 years of independence. There is New Zealand Army and Navy here in support of their "freedom" also. They had speeches and presentations, etc. There were booths with local foods, local arts and crafts, and a huge display of fresh fruit!!! I was able to get a whole stalk of bananas for $25. I have paid $3. for these in the past, but for the prices here, I was tickled!! But they were being judged, so you couldn't remove it from the stand until after the judges had passed through. They also had coconut crabs and pigs for sale. Everything was nicely displayed in woven palm leaf baskets, very nicely done! Then there was a presentation by the local children doing traditional dances in native attire which was very cute. One dancer was the boys' friend from the wharf raft race the day before, so they enjoyed that. We had to leave, but apparently we missed a javeline throw and a climbing event. They had 2 wooden poles greased up, one for girls and one for boys. Each one had an envelope with $100 in it on top for the first one to make it to the top. That would have been fun to see too.
We easily caught a ride back home. Courage took the stalk of bananas home on the motorcycle, I hitched a ride with the kids. As we carried the bananas out to the parking lot, a gecko climbed out of it. There were ants and earwigs on it too (which we DO NOT want on the boat). So we decided to keep the gecko too. He climbed onto my shoulder and we left him there. As I sat down in the van, he jumped off my shoulder and ran across the seat. Not wanting to alarm the elder couple that picked us up, I said nothing. Not wanting utter chaos in the car, I did not alert the children. So I casually looked around to see where he'd gone while continuing my conversation with the hosts. Then Integrity in the back seat said "Mom, there's the gecko." Intrepid and Innocence jump out of their seats and flip over to see the back row. I sit them right back down and tell Integrity to quietly and subtly get the lizard. Fortunately, the couple seemed oblivious to our excitement and we left the vehicle with as many living beings as we entered it with (we think).
The Show is put on monthly, but was special today in celebration of their 40 years of independence. There is New Zealand Army and Navy here in support of their "freedom" also. They had speeches and presentations, etc. There were booths with local foods, local arts and crafts, and a huge display of fresh fruit!!! I was able to get a whole stalk of bananas for $25. I have paid $3. for these in the past, but for the prices here, I was tickled!! But they were being judged, so you couldn't remove it from the stand until after the judges had passed through. They also had coconut crabs and pigs for sale. Everything was nicely displayed in woven palm leaf baskets, very nicely done! Then there was a presentation by the local children doing traditional dances in native attire which was very cute. One dancer was the boys' friend from the wharf raft race the day before, so they enjoyed that. We had to leave, but apparently we missed a javeline throw and a climbing event. They had 2 wooden poles greased up, one for girls and one for boys. Each one had an envelope with $100 in it on top for the first one to make it to the top. That would have been fun to see too.
We easily caught a ride back home. Courage took the stalk of bananas home on the motorcycle, I hitched a ride with the kids. As we carried the bananas out to the parking lot, a gecko climbed out of it. There were ants and earwigs on it too (which we DO NOT want on the boat). So we decided to keep the gecko too. He climbed onto my shoulder and we left him there. As I sat down in the van, he jumped off my shoulder and ran across the seat. Not wanting to alarm the elder couple that picked us up, I said nothing. Not wanting utter chaos in the car, I did not alert the children. So I casually looked around to see where he'd gone while continuing my conversation with the hosts. Then Integrity in the back seat said "Mom, there's the gecko." Intrepid and Innocence jump out of their seats and flip over to see the back row. I sit them right back down and tell Integrity to quietly and subtly get the lizard. Fortunately, the couple seemed oblivious to our excitement and we left the vehicle with as many living beings as we entered it with (we think).
Traditional Raft Racing
Yesterday morning we just went to shore to look for the razor I dropped while returning from my hot shower and to our surprise, there was a big gathering on the wharf. They were having a raft race with traditional rafts made of wood tied together with vines and some were "floated" by coconuts. Some nice work and designs, but most of them floated until you loaded 4 adults onto them, then many were about a foot under water. Was a fun and funny race to watch!!! The second heat was a "nontraditional rafts" race where the New Zealand women's team had plastic jugs floating them tied together with the wood and twine. They floated nicely even when loaded!! Then they served drinks and snacks. The kids thought it was great and it made for a full and fun morning.
Date Night on Niue
Date night yesterday in Niue was awesome!! Started with drinks watching a "circus act" by 6 hippies on the boat moored next door to us. Somehow they booked themselves at a nice hotel on the coast in exchange for a nice dinner and free drinks.
Then off to "The Ball" at the Golf Club. It was fun, live music, well attended, hors d'oevours (?), open bar, all for $20 per couple!! Full house. Courage and I won second place in the Waltz competition!! We won our $20 back!!! The first place went to an experienced couple with a flawless dance style for $100!! Wow for them!!!
Made for a fun night!!
Then off to "The Ball" at the Golf Club. It was fun, live music, well attended, hors d'oevours (?), open bar, all for $20 per couple!! Full house. Courage and I won second place in the Waltz competition!! We won our $20 back!!! The first place went to an experienced couple with a flawless dance style for $100!! Wow for them!!!
Made for a fun night!!
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Thursday, October 16, 2014
From Niue -
I was disappointed today, they have fresh, but it's so expensive! Still really happy about the shopping and provisions we did in Panama, but we don't have fresh and we're getting close to the end of our monthly rations. I hear Tonga is cheaper, but less able to find anything much in stores there. $4 for lettuce was our best, so we had salad tonight. $8.80/kg for apples, $7/kg for carrots, $3.90 for a 12 oz. can of spaghetti sauce, $5.60 for a 1 kg bag of sugar, $13.00 for a 12 ounce can of lamb tongues (wonder how well these things sell), 5kg frozen french fries discounted from $20 to $16 and a few other unaffordable items. We'll break down again tomorrow and get some fresh stuff, but it's going to add up. And it's 3% more to use a credit card. We don't have New Zealand money. And there's no ATM here to get local money, and the banks don't change money, only the rental car agency will change money for 8% or a total of $30 for as much as you want. So, the rental car agency is our best bet to change money.
Tomorrow we'll rent a car, go explore some caves, launch the motorcycle, drop off our 4 bags of garbage that we've been collecting for the past month without a place to burn or drop it off. We have a key for the "yacht club" warm showers, I think that'll happen tomorrow too!! It's a beautiful place, the people are very friendly, it's great to check it out!!
We are on a mooring, lots of deep coral for anchoring. It's really rolling here in the anchorage! I feel bad for the mono-hulls, I've been watching them, they are really bouncing around! Then you take the dinghy to the concrete stairs, try to offload with it bouncing up and down the wall as you try to offload kids onto wet stairs. Then they have a lift and you hook up your dinghy and haul it out into the parking lot. It's an interesting process. I think the anchorage is made worse by the current winds, maybe in a day or two things'll calm down a bit. If not, going to keep us on our toes every time we try to offload!!
Goodnight!!
Shannon
Tomorrow we'll rent a car, go explore some caves, launch the motorcycle, drop off our 4 bags of garbage that we've been collecting for the past month without a place to burn or drop it off. We have a key for the "yacht club" warm showers, I think that'll happen tomorrow too!! It's a beautiful place, the people are very friendly, it's great to check it out!!
We are on a mooring, lots of deep coral for anchoring. It's really rolling here in the anchorage! I feel bad for the mono-hulls, I've been watching them, they are really bouncing around! Then you take the dinghy to the concrete stairs, try to offload with it bouncing up and down the wall as you try to offload kids onto wet stairs. Then they have a lift and you hook up your dinghy and haul it out into the parking lot. It's an interesting process. I think the anchorage is made worse by the current winds, maybe in a day or two things'll calm down a bit. If not, going to keep us on our toes every time we try to offload!!
Goodnight!!
Shannon
Passage to Niue -
Monday morning we dove on the shipwrecks at Beveridge reef. There is an old wreck with very few remnants left, although there is a lot of thick chain left on the ocean floor from the attempted recovery of it. The other wreck is sitting up on the reef. It's a fishing boat named Liberty and has a substantial net wrapped on it's propeller. Not sure if that was the cause of it washing up, but then again, it never helps to have your prop wrapped. The kids LOVED exploring on it, climbing and checking it all out. It was slippery with moss and rusty, but other than that, excellent playground. We left the boys there with a radio to call if any emergent issues and went for a quick snorkel. We checked back to pick them up and they requested a picnic lunch on the wreck. When we did not return with lunch soon enough, they chose the emergency channel to alert us that they were nearly starving!
This passage was only about 140 miles, so shouldn't be ridiculously long. We left Beveridge reef Monday afternoon when the slightest amount of wind was starting. We knew it would be slow going, but it was actually smoother outside of the reef in the glassy ocean than anchored inside where waves breaking over all sides made sort of a soup bowl, especially at high tide. It was great and interesting, but we were ready to go. So we headed out and drifted at sea. Our batteries were running low, so we motored for a little while at a very low idle to charge them and make a little ground. Then we shut it all down and drifted for awhile. The rain and wind picked up during the night, so we began to move some. By this morning we put in a second reef in the sail with winds as high as 31.5 knots. Shortly thereafter, the winds have been dying and seem like they are coming from every direction. Every time we adjust our sails and course, it's different wind, new speeds, different direction. So, we're heading nowhere fast, but it's good.
This section is called the dangerous middle. The first passage to French Polynesia is the coconut milk run. From French Polynesia to Tonga (I think) is called the dangerous middle because you start getting more weather, bigger seas, more obstacles, etc. Our friend on Malua had his biminy and sails torn during this passage here in 21 foot seas. Carpe Diem had to do sail repairs in Palmerston, I don't know if it was the seas or the gear that failed them. Rhapsody lost their mainsail 200 miles out from Tonga in big seas and winds. These are just the boats we know. So, light and variable winds with minimal waves are a welcome crossing, we anticipate arriving tomorrow morning, and if not, we will probably start the motors.
We had a dorado on the line as we left the pass of Beveridge, but somehow it slipped the line. Not sharks this time and our lure was intact, so no gain and no loss.
We have heard rumors of hot showers in Niue. Not holding my breath, but quite interested in the proposition. Haven't had a hot shower in, well, forever. Since February. I'm tickled when I have collected rainwater and get to rinse off in fresh water, but warmed up?? Also heard from another boat that they do a lot of hydroponic gardening there and there's a great variety of fruits/vegetables. She said they don't confinscate our fresh stuff (many islands do). Fortunately, that's not an issue, I have a few onions and garlic, but that's it!! We ran out of fresh stuff days ago. Really looking forward to a salad and some fresh fruits and a warm shower and exploring some caves!!
As an aside, Innocence took it upon herself to "take care of her little brother" Valiant. He now has his toe nails polished and is sporting a new haircut. It wasn't a terrible job, but his little straight blond hair shows the irregular cuts. Vitality definitely did more of a number on her hair on our long passage and still hasn't recovered, but I re-iterated to them that they just can't be cutting their own, or in this case, each other's hair. Valiant seems pleased with his new doo.
Shannon
This passage was only about 140 miles, so shouldn't be ridiculously long. We left Beveridge reef Monday afternoon when the slightest amount of wind was starting. We knew it would be slow going, but it was actually smoother outside of the reef in the glassy ocean than anchored inside where waves breaking over all sides made sort of a soup bowl, especially at high tide. It was great and interesting, but we were ready to go. So we headed out and drifted at sea. Our batteries were running low, so we motored for a little while at a very low idle to charge them and make a little ground. Then we shut it all down and drifted for awhile. The rain and wind picked up during the night, so we began to move some. By this morning we put in a second reef in the sail with winds as high as 31.5 knots. Shortly thereafter, the winds have been dying and seem like they are coming from every direction. Every time we adjust our sails and course, it's different wind, new speeds, different direction. So, we're heading nowhere fast, but it's good.
This section is called the dangerous middle. The first passage to French Polynesia is the coconut milk run. From French Polynesia to Tonga (I think) is called the dangerous middle because you start getting more weather, bigger seas, more obstacles, etc. Our friend on Malua had his biminy and sails torn during this passage here in 21 foot seas. Carpe Diem had to do sail repairs in Palmerston, I don't know if it was the seas or the gear that failed them. Rhapsody lost their mainsail 200 miles out from Tonga in big seas and winds. These are just the boats we know. So, light and variable winds with minimal waves are a welcome crossing, we anticipate arriving tomorrow morning, and if not, we will probably start the motors.
We had a dorado on the line as we left the pass of Beveridge, but somehow it slipped the line. Not sharks this time and our lure was intact, so no gain and no loss.
We have heard rumors of hot showers in Niue. Not holding my breath, but quite interested in the proposition. Haven't had a hot shower in, well, forever. Since February. I'm tickled when I have collected rainwater and get to rinse off in fresh water, but warmed up?? Also heard from another boat that they do a lot of hydroponic gardening there and there's a great variety of fruits/vegetables. She said they don't confinscate our fresh stuff (many islands do). Fortunately, that's not an issue, I have a few onions and garlic, but that's it!! We ran out of fresh stuff days ago. Really looking forward to a salad and some fresh fruits and a warm shower and exploring some caves!!
As an aside, Innocence took it upon herself to "take care of her little brother" Valiant. He now has his toe nails polished and is sporting a new haircut. It wasn't a terrible job, but his little straight blond hair shows the irregular cuts. Vitality definitely did more of a number on her hair on our long passage and still hasn't recovered, but I re-iterated to them that they just can't be cutting their own, or in this case, each other's hair. Valiant seems pleased with his new doo.
Shannon
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