We are back from our NZ holiday, returning with Daryl's brother Selby in tow. Katie managed famously in Rarotonga without us and was well supported by cruisers and locals. She had so many meal and food donations that anyone would think we had left her there to starve.
We found Rarotonga to be extremely friendly and welcoming to cruisers. The common mode of transport was motorbikes, which everyone, young and old, local and tourist, used. Daryl, as you can imagine, was in his element and I was back out of my comfort zone. You can imagine the two of us, with the groceries, making our way back to the boat!!
We went to a few local dinners with concerts, which were great. The weather was variable but didn't stop us.
We had a varied sail to Nuie (from nil to good winds), with a great stop at Beveridge Reef on the way. We will always remember Beveridge Reef for its sharks. As we were leaving we put a line out hoping for a fish dinner. Selby was so excited as he wrestled with a large (ish) fish on the end of the line. When the fish finally gave up the struggle, Selby proudly wound him to the surface. What he had on the line was a big yellow fin tuna with two huge shark bites out of him. The shark circled the back of the boat, clearly visible in the water. We decided on a compromise – we cut 2 fillets of the remaining flesh and fed the rest straight back to the waiting shark!! We made a fish pie for dinner that night.
We have now been at Nuie for 4 days and have loved it. Nuie has a population of 1200 people and accommodation for 120 tourists at any one time. The locals have been great. We had a full day with a hire car seeing the island, caves and coast.
The water clarity has been amazing and the diving spectacular. Daryl's new experience is holding a sea snake.
Katie and Daryl were lucky enough to swim with a humpback whale with a calf (on two occasions). Katie got some great photos. Others of us had to be satisfied with having the whales at close contact in the bay where we have been anchored. Did you know a baby humpback put on 45kgs a day and drinks 200 litres of milk a day?
We did, however, get into trouble here in Nuie. We forgot that Sundays are a quiet day on the island. When we saw the whales at 7am in the morning we jumped in the dinghy to follow -bad move – no boating allowed on a Sunday. Then, we farewelled 'Archangel' by the traditional, reciprocal blowing of our horns- bad move - regarded as disturbing the peace on a Sunday!!! We cleverly blamed it all on the departed boats so we have stayed welcome on the island.
We have joined the Nuie Yacht Club so we hope we will always remain welcome on the island.
The water temperature is a chilly 26 degrees, so we aren't popping in and out of the water as readily as we were.
We have met other cruisers while here and have had quite a social time. Sadly we have said goodbye to 'Archangel' as they are making their way to Fiji now, while we are heading to Southern Tonga.
Daryl & Laurel
No comments:
Post a Comment