Palmerston Atoll

---

Palmerston in the Cook Islands is a tiny isolated atoll 600nm West of Bora Bora and 500nm from Tonga. There is no airstrip and it is only accessible by sea. There are approx 70 people residing on Palmerston including 25 children. Most of them are descendants from the William Marsters and his three wives. There is a bit of inbreeding but when you are that isolated….anything looks good.

We knew that bad weather was on the way and made the decision to stop at Palmerston rather than risk being caught in strong winds and swell enroute to Tonga (4 day sail). We arrived at Palmerston on a Thursday to blue skies and light winds. We where greeted by Bob (mayor)& Topou Marsters. They later picked us up and took us through the pass to the main motu where we met our host family Bill and Mitze Marsters. The atoll is gorgeous….white sand and palm trees. We initially anchored in 15 meters of water and you could see the bottom. We had two great days exploring the island and doing some snorkeling off the main beach. Our host family invited us to lunch each day….what a treat. For an island that only has access to a supply ship once every four months, they sure know how to put on a feast. Most of the families rely on yachties to bring supplies from their families in Rarotonga. Fish and rice is their main stable but our family treated us to ice cream, chocolate cake, lamb chops and chicken…we where very spoilt.

On Saturday the weather started to turn. Si and I were the only boat to go to shore (there were 7 yachts in total) not like us to miss out on being fed. We contributed to each meal with either a salad or a fish dish. That day the other yachts called a meeting to organise an anchor/mooring watch. We scored to 1.30pm to 1am watch. Although all of us had been placed on moorings, there was some concern as to how secure they were. Si dived on ours the day prior and it looked to be pretty good. We attached two lines...one to the shackle and one to the chain. We thought that the others were over reacting but sure enough the wind picked up that night with rain squalls (35+ knots) resulting in Flame (Paul and Di from Fremantle) drifting away at 3am. If it was not for the anchor watch he would have been half way to Tonga. Thankfully he was woken up and able to cut the lines that he was dragging behind and safely anchor the following morning.

The weather continued to blow and we stayed on the boat for four days just in case something happened. Our host families would come through the pass with bread, fish and DVD’s for us to watch. Thankfully there were no more incidents apart from a yacht breaking one of their lines (everyone had two lines as a minimum). By Thursday, the wind had dropped to 20 knots and we decided to go to shore to visit our host family. Although the wind had dropped there was still talk that the swell was any where from 4m to 7m. As the weather was not getting any better the following week, we decided that we would make a run for it the following day. We had a lovely lunch and said a sad farewell to Bill and Mitze. We got back to anchor and found, with the exception of “Kind of Blue” that the others had gone. We had decided to have a good night sleep and make some passage good before heading off. As it was, the afternoon we returned to the boat, a number of big squalls went through so we were relieved that we did not follow. As for the passage, it was ok. We managed to miss all the squalls as they seemed to go straight around us. The swell was approx 4m to 5m with the waves coming from behind. If you didn’t look at the waves and ignore the constant rocking, you could just about forget you were at sea…well nearly!!

---

Photos

Palmerston Pass
On a calm day - difficult to get through via dingy

Original Homestead
The water colour was incredible

Palmerston Yacht Club
Sundowners with other cruisers

Flame - anchoring after being adrift
The pass was not passable