20 October
I don’t even want to talk about how far behind the “chronicles” are. We have had some wonderfully interesting experiences since I last wrote. Honestly, I’ve been too busy to write, do boat work, or much else but play and sleep.
We just spent two weeks in the tiny, isolated Swarrow (Suvarov) lagoon in the central Cook Islands. Our time was spent learning from the remarkable 72-year-old caretaker of this park. We hunted coconut crabs, had potluck dinners with 30 lobsters, made fishing lures from black pearl oyster shells and coconut husks, went out fishing for 30 minutes, and came back with a 60-pound yellowfin tuna (tons and tons of sushi that night), and generally exhausted ourselves. Mornings started early and we never got back to the boat before 10 PM.
We finally had to leave to get some rest. We are three days into the six or so required to get to southern Tonga (17*42S / 169 59W). We blow through Tonga on our way to NZ since we’re planning to spend next year cruising in that area.
As we leave the Marquesas, here are a few family photographs…
