Suwarrow Atoll....a tropical paradise indeed...

Wikipedia describes "PARADISE" as "a religious or metaphysical term for a place in which existence is positive, harmonious and eternal.....Paradise is a place of contentment, but it is not necessarily a land of luxury and idleness."

We recently completed our 2 week visit to Suwarrow Atoll, a series of motus ringing a lagoon in the middle of nowhere (actually a part of the northern Cook Islands, but several hundred miles away from the nearest other island). 

Harry (on guitar) and Charlie teach Bella Vita's Stacey a Cook Island dance

Suwarrow is a national park, the only one in the Cook Islands.  It's caretakers are two terrific rangers, Harry and Charlie, who are stationed on the largest island for 7 months each year.  They receive minimal support from their government, and rely to a large extent on their interactions with cruising yachties for gas, staples, and fishing tackle.  Native Cook Islanders, both of them proved to be terrific hosts, as they proudly welcomed us to their remote Pacific outpost.  Charlie, in fact, spent his childhood growing up on Suwarrow, and this is his first year back, after spending the past 29 years in New Zealand and Australia. 

Charlie enjoyed giving us the "true history" of Suwarrow, not missing any opportunity to mention Tom Neale and his account in his book, "An Island to Oneself".  In a nutshell, the book according to Charlie was total "Boo-Shit".  "An Island to Oneself???????"......Boo-Shit!!!"    Charlie and his father, along with another family, lived on the island the entire time that Neale was there.  "Tom Neale say he built the concrete wharf by himself????  Boo-shit!!!"  And when Tom Neale's brother, as well as 6 other fisherman wrecked their commercial fish boat on the reef, it was Charlie and his dad who went out to rescue the men.  They only found one, Neale's brother, or what was left of him (remember those sharks???  And a fish boat with hundreds of bloody tuna washing up on the reef?????  Not pretty.....)  They buried what was left there on the island. 

The atoll is a popular spot for yachts to visit on their way to western cyclone havens in Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia.  Anchoring can be a bit of a challenge, with the entire lagoon strewn with coral bommies to snag anchor chains, but in the prevailing SE tradewinds the reef keeps the swell down, and we slept like babies in the calm waters.

A main attraction of Suwarrow is it's very remoteness.  No supply ships, tour boats, or cruise ships make their way here, and of course, there is no access by air.  The coral in most places is pristine, with spectacular hard coral structures of many types.  The lagoon is also famous for it's sharks, and it lived up to it's reputation, as reef sharks were our constant companions the entire time we were there.

The snorkeling was good, especially on the outside of the reef where the fish were most plentiful, and at a manta ray cleaning station just a few hundred yards from our anchorage.  

The mantas gather every morning, and we loved jumping into the dinghy for a snorkel session with these plankton eating giants (these rays measured 10-12 feet across).

One day 6 of us from 3 boats ('Mystic Moon', 'Bella Vita', and 'Bravo') went out with Charlie for an all day tour of the atoll.  His sense of pride as he showed us his home was tremendous as we visited several of the motus surrounding the lagoon.

First stop was an island rookery for several species of sea birds, including frigate birds, sooty terns, boobies, and others.  We were able to walk amongst the parents incubating eggs, as well as the babies, some just a few hours old.  Truly amazing!

After an hour or so Charlie herded us up to head over to another motu in the 7 islands group.  Like all of them, the island was pristine, with little debris or trash washed up, and covered with coconut trees.  Charlie opened up lots of nuts to drink, before picking out a couple of coconut crabs for us to take home for dinner (the island was literally crawling with the tasty crustaceans!!!)

We wrapped up the day with a scuba dive.  Though we had eagerly anticipated diving in the gin clear water, the dive was actually the only disappointment of the day.  Not sure where the fish went, but the spot that we dove was virtually lifeless, and the coral not nearly as vibrant as our earlier snorkels in the lagoon.  Ah well, all in all, a truly spectacular day for all of us!

photo courtesy 'Mystic Moon'

The beautiful beach of our anchorage island provided a fantastic venue for evening happy hours and potluck dinners, happily joined by the cruisers along with Harry and Charlie.  One of the traditions of the island is for the rangers to provide the fish for a bbq, and the cruisers provide the other dishes (and DRINKS!!!)  In speaking with Charlie the night before the bbq, Adam asked Charlie if he'd allow anyone to join him in catching the fish for the feast....."No worries", said Charlie with a big smile, if we'd supply the gas.  So the next morning at 5:30 Charlie picked up Adam and friend John off 'Mystic Moon' to head out trolling along the reef.  We fished for about 3 or 4 hours trolling Charlie's 2 handlines, before heading back in with 2 beautiful tuna and 2 barracuda.  Now, remember the bit about Suwarrow's shark population???  It's no joke.  As soon as a fish was hooked Charlie would "encourage" us with "fast....fast.....faster.....faster....." as the line was brought in hand over hand as quickly as possible, to beat the sharks to the catch.  Although it would take less than a minute to boat the fish, one tuna came aboard quite dead, with the top of it's head crunched off!!!  Amazing.

The evening get togethers were a blast.  Harry plays a very sweet guitar, and has a tremendous singing voice.  Charlie also sings, and is an accomplished Polynesian dancer as well.  We'd watch the gorgeous sunsets, and the parties would go late into the evening.  

When it finally came time to weigh anchor and head out in a good weather window, the mood around the fire the night before was less upbeat than on previous nights.  Charlie was subdued, and for a long time Harry was no where to be seen.  We realized that our visit with these gentle, sharing hosts had touched us  deeply, and seemed to have touched Harry and Charlie as well.  Charlie was weeping as he announced again, "I love you people".  The feeling was mutual, as we got back in the dinghies misty eyed, aware that our special visit to this remote atoll would soon be ending.  When we sailed past the island the next morning, on our way to the island nation of Niue, Charlie was standing on shore, waving his arms over his head, wishing us a safe passage.  And that's No Boo-shit.....




Paradise indeed.....

Bahia del Sol....'Bravo' goes to summer camp!!!

The last week has been eventful.  We cleared out of Mexico in Chiapas.  The "paperwork cha cha" was quite a process.  It included trips to the port captain and customs offices, and the airport for the immigration officer.  Fees were due, requiring trips to bank machines (or bank), and back again.  We were clearing out with two other boats, so we all went together, driven and greatly assisted by Guillermo from the Marina.  All told it took nearly 4 hours, and we were told that this was very quick!!!  I can see why people often use an agent to help out.  The next morning, the navy and port captain came by to inspect the boats, with along with drug dog "Gamma", a friendly german shephard.  Fresh brewed Chiapas coffee all around, Bravo passed inspection, and was free to leave Mexico, in fact HAD to leave within 48 hours.

Leaving Mexico was emotional for us.  This country has been so welcoming, and the people so warm to us everywhere we traveled.  It was also our intro to this cruising lifestyle, and a great intro it was..."Cruising Light" as we call it...everything you need is available, perhaps with a bit more effort than in the states, but with a bit of perseverence, it's all doable.  Not always the case as we venture further afield.

Breakwater leaving Puerto Chiapas

But we headed out, and immediately had the best sailing conditions that either of us could remember on this entire journey.  With winds between 15 and 22 knots over the starboard quarter, 'Bravo' flew along on the flat seas at a 7.5 knot average, quick for us.  And it lasted all day, and all of the first night of the two night passage past Guatemala to El Salvador.  But this created a real dilemma for us.  One that we've never faced before.....there is a bar crossing to get into the estuary in Bahia del Sol, El Salvador.  We can only get in at high tide, and a pilot boat is required on a jet ski to guide us across the bar through the breaking surf.  Getting there early would just mean bobbing around outside the surf waiting for the high tide at 11 am.  So the entire second day and night we had to continually work to slow the boat down...double reefed main strapped in way too tight, and no headsail, had us crawling along at 4 knots in the glorious sailing breeze.....ARGHHHHH, how frustrating!!!

Panga working his long line off the Guatemala coast.

Even 20 miles out, we passed many long lines floating between two unmarked buoys on our trip down the coast.  Actually they're not entirely unmarked.....oftentimes there is a scrap of black plastic bag tied to a stick in a floating plastic bottle!!!  A bit tough to see in the dark.  Happily we avoided snagging any, though there were several quick evasive maneuvers!!!

3 foot barracuda had a mouth full of razors!!!

Fishing was good on this short passage.  Report:  2 skipjack tuna, 1 baby dorado, 1 barracuda, 1 20 lb. jack crevalle, and finally, 1 nice dorado.  Quite the assortment!  All except the last were thrown back, but the dorado that we kept was a tasty treat!

We finally arrived at the pilot meeting place a bit early, and bobbed about with s/v Panache and s/v Belle Star, both also waiting to cross into the estuary.  The crossing has a serious reputation, but we were confident in both our jet ski pilot team and in 'Bravo' to hang ten and surf in safely. 

Note the pilot coming out through the surf in the center!

The waves looked pretty daunting from outside the line of breakers.  'Bravo' was the first boat called, and as the waves built behind us, the pilot would send instructions over the radio......"big push coming.....hit full throttle NOW.....a bit to the right.....looking good.....another push....." and so on, for a couple of minutes, and we were in!  Easy peasy!!!  As pilot Bill from s/v Mita Kuulu said later, this really was an ideal day to cross the bar.  The photos weren't as impressive as those taken of a few other boats earlier in the year in bigger seas, but we were certainly not complaining as we whooped and hollered and settled into the calm water inside the surf line.

Yeeeee hah.....we're surfing now!!!

We were directed to an open slip at the marina, where we were met by officers from the customs, immigration, and port captain offices.  They escorted us up to the AIR CONDITIONED office resort hotel at the head of the dock, we quickly handled the paperwork, and bingo, we've arrived in El Salvador, and hoisted the new flag.  I mean, how much easier could entering a new country be?????

So, what's the deal here, you ask.....the 'Bravo' crew in a resort?????  Are our heroes hanging up their adventurer's shoes and settling into a new cushy lifestyle???  Well.....a bit of yes, and a bit of no.....This is the destination of something called the "Cruiser's Rally to El Salvador".  Not really a rally in the traditional sense, it is rather a gathering place at this hotel/marina where cruisers are made to feel incredibly welcome, with activities, inland travel opportunities, and exploration of the local villages along the estuary all possible.  It's spearheaded by Bill and Jeanne, a couple of cruisers on s/v Mita Kuulu who visited here a few years ago and fell in love with the country, it's people, and opportunities for unspoiled tourism. 

Based on our first 2 days here, we get it!!!  Here we are at a beautiful resort with 2 pools, for $23/day at a dock (free at anchor).  Beers are $1, we get 30% off everything else at the restaurant and bar (already pretty cheap).  We took a 4 mile dinghy ride up into the estuary yesterday, to the tiny fishing town of Herradura.  Walking up the main street, we were greeted with smiles and waves everywhere.  Other than a few other cruisers, no gringos visit here.  Tourism is not part of their program, and we enjoyed the authentic ambiance of the town.  Picked up a few needed fruits and veggies, and dinghies back to the boat.  Spent the afternoon swimming a mile or so away in the estuary, at a palapa built on stilts, out in the middle of the bay.  People can just drive their boats out there and tie up to enjoy an afternoon in the shaded hammocks, enjoying the swimming and cold cervezas.  Very popular with the locals, it was a great way to spend an afternoon.

Practice makes perfect.....time to quit while ahead!

Adam took casting net lessons from bar pilot Rogelio and his friend Daniel.  They make it look really easy.  Always wanted to learn to throw one of these rascals...takes a while to get the hang of it.












We're now busy with boat projects, and planning some inland travel possibilities in El Salvador.  Volcanoes, Mayan villages, and jungles await!!!  Stay tuned.....

Successful T-peck Crossing.....(almost!)

We left the Huatulco anchorage per plan, leaving at around 7am.  Seven other boats left that morning as well, having waited for the winds to ease in the Tehuantepec.  Winds were light, and we motor sailed most of the morning.  But the fishing was good for a change, likely due to the water temperature which has been rising as we've headed south, now at a balmy 84 degrees.

Ahi on the hoof!

So, the fishing report was excellent, for the first time in a few months.  Total for the passage:  1 30" dorado, one small skipjack tuna (thrown back), and one fiesty 20+ lb. yellowfin tuna.  All on the same lure!  Dorado sushi for lunch, and ahi poke for dinner was hard to beat.  A couple of the other boats had good luck as well.  Tonight we'll have a bbq with our neighbors on the dock, w/ seared ahi featured on the menu for the gang !!! 

Otherwise the passage was calm, mostly TOO calm.  Our weather window was accurately forecast, and we found ourselves motor sailing much of the 40 hour passage, save for a couple of 6-8 hour stretches of fine spinnaker reaching.  But better this than the common option in the Gulf of Tehuantepec, where many boats have had difficult crossings in the frequent gales.

We arrived at the town of Puerto Madero (Chiapas) at around 11 last night.  The marina in this gritty working port is brand new, and our charts don't show it at all.  In fact, it's so new that it has not officially opened.  As they're still checking out their systems, there's no charge to stay here...the price is right for the 'Bravo' crew!  At any rate, we had detailed waypoint spot locations from a couple of other boats who have come into the marina, a circuitous 1/2 mile or so of dredged channels from the ocean breakwater, past the large fishing and shrimping fleets.  Oh, did I mention the word "dredged"???  Well, that proved to be an important word, as about 1/2 way down the channel, as we prepared for our first turn, we felt the unmistakable feeling as our keel augured into the ooze of the mud bottom below us.  The shifting sands had come up quickly, and we were stuck fast.  Quick efforts with the throttle would not free us.  It was now around 11:30 pm, and the tide was running out.  We called the Capitania del Puerto (Port Captain) on the radio and said in our rather tense Spanish, that we were "on the beach".  I communicated that "we needed more water".  Bad attempt.  He kept thinking we were on a beach somewhere, and dying of thirst.....  Finally found the Spanish word for "aground" in a Spanish boating dictionary (note to self, it's "encallado"), and he sounded like he might be able to help.  Radio went silent.

After a few moments a panga with 3 guys in military uniforms and their drug dog showed up.  Perfect.....They weren't at all helpful, and clearly had no plan to get us off the sand bar.  The whole event seemed like it was pretty funny, as they kept joking that we were going to be spending a lot of time here in Mexico before exiting their country.  They finally said they would go get a bigger boat, rather than trying with their (very big) fishing boat with (very big) outboard motor, and disappeared into the darkness.

We realized that we needed to act fast if we had any chance of freeing ourselves.  We launched the dinghy and attached the outboard.  Cindi lowered our 90 lb anchor off the bow into the dinghy, and Adam motored it out into the deeper part of the channel, after first sounding the depths with a hand held depth sounder (it earned its keep last night!!!).  By this time the swells had pushed us broadside to the channel, and we were luckily facing the deeper point.  So the anchor was dropped in that direction.

Adam got back aboard 'Bravo'.  With Cindi using the electric anchor windlass on the bow to pull the chain, and Adam applying full throttle with the engine, we broke free.  What a great feeling to see rising numbers on the speedo, not to mention the depth sounder!!!

At this point Rob from another sailboat 'China Doll' had heard us on the radio, and showed up in his dinghy to lead us the rest of the way through the rabbit warren into the new marina.  THANKS, Rob!!!  We happily tied up after midnight, tired, but happy to have this crossing behind us.

So now we're here in the new Chiapas Marina.  We were just boarded by the Mexican navy with their drug dog (naval boarding number eight in our 1-1/2 years in Mexico, for those of you keeping track).  After clearing in, we're free to explore the area, about 10 miles away from the border with Guatemala.  The region (state of Chiapas) is famous for it's Mayan culture, and we may spend a few days traveling inland to check out Palenque and other sites before heading to El Salvador.  More to come!

Civilization...not all it's made out to be!!!

Beautiful Sierra La Giganta range on the spine of the Baja

Wow, been well over a month since our last post...sorry about that, but internet access has been sporadic to non-existent, w/ the emphasis on the latter.  Several of you warped readers probably figured we'd gone feral, perhaps getting ready to regale you with tales of narco trafficking or gold mining adventures in the Sierra Giganta range on the Baja when next we surfaced.  Well, sorry to disappoint...we may at times seem feral, but life has been pretty hum drum aboard Bravo, for the most part.  But we have put on a bunch o' miles since we last checked in with you, so here are the highlights of the past month...

Military checkpoint...hey, times are tough down here too!!!

First, we made a whirlwind trip back to the US in mid October.  Hurricane season had pretty much come to a close, and with nothing looming in the "tropical kitchen", we deemed it safe to head north for a quick week's road trip.   Leaving Bravo on a mooring in Puerto Escondido, we rented a car, and headed north on the Baja Highway, also known as Hwy 1.  The last time Adam drove the highway was in the mid 1970's, the year after the road was paved.  The vehicle was different (then it was an old Ford Econoline former telephone company van, sporting a canoe on the roof, with 3 long haired reprobates on their Fear and Loathing "trip of self discovery", now it was a rented Nissan sedan with 2 shorter haired aging adventurers looking to inject some hard earned cash into both the Mexican and US economies!!!) but the sights were much as remembered from the past.  Our primary mission:  take advantage of this last opportunity to buy things, both toys and necessities, in the US before we head into more remote parts of the world.  Cindi, too, wanted to make a two day trip to Chicago to visit friends while Adam shopped for goodies in southern Cal, and enjoyed a visit with Cindi's brother and family.  Final tally included a new scuba dive compressor to fill our dive tanks, a couple of additional tanks, 4 new 100 pound batteries, and on and on.  That bad boy of a little car was a real low rider as we made our way back across the border.  You know the old saying, "nothing handles like a rental"????  Well, we put it to the test, as we made our way back south.  The multiple military checkpoints were a breeze, but it was the miles of construction which it took it's toll on both car and drivers!!!  How far can you really expect a little Nissan to handle 4" deep dust, sharing the road with whacko semi drivers and cows and burros???  Well, we made it ok, with only a few dings due to off road excursions to show for our troubles!!!  Next time, it might be better to take a few more days. 


Wow, was it ever a great feeling to be back aboard Bravo, back to our more relaxed pace of travel at say 7 miles per hour than trying to pass semi's in a hail of gravel at 70.  We got all of the new gear stowed and headed south, backtracking much of our route of earlier in the year.  We did have some new anchorages to explore, and the really great thing was that the temps have now dropped to allow happy hiking.  And the hiking opportunities on the Baja and the islands are fantastic.

The other bonus was that as we worked south, the water clarity improved dramatically, which made for terrific snorkeling and scuba opportunities.

But every silver lining has a cloud, or some other cliche oughta fit here...  As we got closer to La Paz, the anchorages were no longer our own.  We were now sharing them with not just other cruisers, as had been the case in the northern Sea this summer, but also with a multitude of mega power yachts based in La Paz.  And with them come their toys.....spelled J-E-T S-K-I-I-S....Man we hate those suckers, as they seem to love to use Bravo as their turning mark of their course.  Ahhhh....civilization.....

Except for our reentry issues, though, these past few weeks have really been fun and active.   Since we've been unable to post any photos without internet, we'll include a few here of some recent exploits.  Unfortunately our MacBook has died an ugly graphics card death, so we don't have access to most of our photos until our return to the US later this month.

Hiking:  As noted, the hikes have been great.  One good thing about the desert, is that in many places, trails are just not that important...you can just pick a distant destination or peak and scramble up there.  Not at all like our Pacific NW haunts, here the undergrowth is non existent, and if you're willing to risk the occasional backtrack at a cliff or boulder impasse, it seems to work well.

 

 

Cindi with friends Sushi the desert pug and Pat from The Rose

 

Cortez angelfish guards his buddy, a moray eel.  He was actually pretty aggressive about it!

 Diving:  The water has really been getting clearer, and we've enjoyed using our underwater cameras.  Still work in progress, but it's fun to get some of the underwater life on "film".  Unfortunately our shots of our swim with the whale sharks are on the Mac, so will need to wait to upload those.

King angelfish make willing subjects

Sea star going to work on a tasty oyster

Fishing report:  The fishing has continued to be outstanding.  Mainly dorado these days.  This 50" beauty kept us feasting for several days!!!

 

Dorado tacos for lunch...hard to beat!!

Duct tape holding a favorite pair of shorts together for just a couple of more weeks!!!

  Both crew and boat are badly in need of refurbishment after 4 months up in the northern sea!!!

Here's our Mexican "courtesy flag" as we reenter La Paz...already have a crisp new one flying!!  I wonder if our flag was the reason Bravo was boarded 6 times this summer by the Mexican navy????  Do ya think?????

That's all for now.  Hopefully will have more photos after we get our Mac repaired... (fingers crossed!!!)

We'll be heading back to the US tomorrow, flying out of La Paz, and will be back in early December.  More boat projects ahead, as we will haul out of the water for bottom painting, and a rather lengthy list of other boat jobs.  Will likely be in La Paz until after New Years, when it will be time to set sail for Central and South America.