New Potatoes?

Our current position is:

16º 48'930 S
169º54'335 W

Foul weather made us stay much longer in Palmerston than originally planned or anticipated. Gale force winds, along with very rough seas, led us to beg for a couple more extensions to our stay and we've now had to forgo our plan to stop at Niue.

Niue is an island right along a direct line to Tonga but it is apparently a spot one does not want to hang about during bad swells which is exactly what we are getting now. We really wanted to get there as we'd heard about the fabulous snorkelling and diving but this wouldn't be possible in these conditions anyway so, sadly, we have to pass on by.

Briefly, just to get back to that very interesting island of Palmerston, unlike all the other Cook Islands whose first language is Cook Island Maori (different to regular Maori), Palmerston maintains its first language as English that stems from the original settler, William Marsters. They even claim an allegiance to England because of him despite the fact that New Zealand supports them and they hold dual citizenship, Cook Islands and New Zealand.

They are currently digging trenches to lay telephone cables for each home. The entire population and some of the cruisers were pitching in to assist. Until now, they have had only one phone on the island to call outside and have been using VHF radios to contact each other. I will definitely be scouring the bookshops and internet to read more about these intriguing people.

We were blessed with some terrific whale sightings while there and hope to see more when we arrive in Tonga before they all are southbound.

As compensation for not being able stop at Niue, we have decided to head up to the northern group of islands in Tonga called Niuatoputapu or, because this is so difficult to pronounce unless you are born and brought up in Tonga, the cruisers affectionately refer to it as New Potatoes.

The trip is just over 600 miles straight down wind and, so far, we have had fairly lumpy seas but the winds have not been much over 15 knots which means we can fly our gennaker during daylight hours. We're not sure what to expect when we arrive as we've very little information on Niuatoputapu but have heard from others before us who have loved it. Let's wait and see.

So far, the fishing has been good and the freezer is fully stocked again. The excess was made into ceviche (raw fish in lime juice, yum) so we're certainly getting our fair share of brain food.

More news when we arrive in Tonga.