Palmerston is one of those places with its own, very peculiar history. On it live about 60 people, all related, all stemming from the patriarch William Marsters who some time ago came to the atoll with his 3 wives. He set up strict inter-marriage rules and all the families share one motu. Upon arrival we are taken in to Bob Marsters' Family. Each arriving boat becomes a member of one Marsters family. That's one of the many Palmerstonian traditions. Bob ferries us to and from land. The lagoon is inaccessible to yachts, which is probably why there is no ciguatera. We meet the family and quickly get absorbed into their way of life. Cleaning, cooking, fishing, chores and all. We ask Taia, one of Bob's daughers if we are the coolest yachties ever. She says we hold 3rd place. This month. Wow, what a sizzling shock. We play with the kids, help more than most yachties, husk more coconuts than any, ever, and make donations of tropical fruit drink...and we get 3rd place? We finish off our stay with na acrobatics show on the sand and off of the boat. Upon leaving we hold 1st place.
We leave Palmerston in a dead calm. One day later we very much seem like a painted ship upon a painted ocean. We head for Niue, dubbed the rock of Polynesia. And it really is like a rock in the sea with caverns and ragged edges, just like in Batman movies. On Niue we spend most of our time with Henry, a Polish expat, residing on this tiny island for the last 12 years. An architect, Henry built many houses including his own and has a garden that inspires envy even in garden-dumb people like myself.
One rainy night we find ourselves in NYC (Niue Yacht Club) sitting beside the crew from Infinity. I first was awed by Infinity (and all her 150 tons of ferro-cement) in Papeete when I was looking for a welder for our tattered tanks. Sheridan offered his expertise, but in the end we opted for a chewing-gum solution and Infinity left Papeete soon after. After the party faded with the rain into the warm night, we find ourselves back on our boat with two guests: Tobias and Domitille. Tobias raises the option of him joining us to Tonga as he'd like to get to Australia and Infinity is going to infinity and beyond, but not to Australia.
In the end we don't leave Niue when we plan and are delayed and all of a sudden we are four. On his 'leaving party' aboard Infinity I got an all too brief chance to meet some fascinating personalities. I briefly mentioned Sheridan, who is now Captain and appears to me like a vast ocean of calm, and I also met the Aussie Pete. Pete, filthy with character, while enjoying a brew during a civilized drinking game, calls me a dirty cunt and yells 'swallow bitch', then admits he greatly enjoys fucking up Polish captains. But behind those small beady eyes I saw a sweet, harmonica blowing, Angel. Tobias confirms it.
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment