Why knot?: "An Island to Oneself" - Suwarrow, Cook Islands

We were sad to leave French Polynesia after having spent 2 months there but it was time to move on. We set sail from Bora Bora and headed to the atoll - Suwarrow, which belongs to the Cook Islands and it is their only national park. It was made famous by New Zealander named Tom Neale who lived on the isolated island for many years of his life. He even wrote a book about it called An Island to Oneself.

We left during the peak of the winds and had 30knots from behind pulling us along with 4-5 meter swell – not pleasant. It was the first time both of us really felt seasick and it lasted for most of our 700nm trip. Arriving in Suwarrow 5 days later was a great relief.

Suwarrow can only be accessed by private boat so Megan wasn’t about to give up this opportunity. The two caretakers who are currently managing the park are Harry and Charlie. They live on the island in modest accommodation between the months of May and November. They are given one palette of provisions including the diesel and gasoline they need for the 6 month period, so rationing is important. They rely on the kindness of yachties to replenish their fresh food supplies but essentially they live off the land with fishing as a staple activity.

The Suwarrow 'Yacht Club'

Some of the colourful flags visiting boats have left over the years.

Suwarrow has become far more regulated in recent years as the Cook Island government is taking steps to protect the bird nesting areas and marine life. As such we were only allowed to anchor in one designated area and had to use the park rangers for all activities. The main island itself is pretty small – we easily walked around it in 30 minutes!

Stretching the legs after 5 days at sea!

Wanting to see as much of this isolated paradise as possible, we got a group together and for $10 each, Charlie took us out exploring. First stop was ‘Bird Island’.

This island is an important nesting ground for sea birds like frigates, boobies and terns. There were thousands of birds and many young ones that ranged from a few days to weeks to months old.

Our tour continued to beautiful ‘Seven Island’ where there is an abundance of coconut crabs. This island was stunning with a pink sand beach and nothing on it other than palm tress, coconuts and local wildlife.

Lucky for us we found two good sized coconut crabs to BBQ at the onshore pot luck dinner that night!

And what’s a beach BBQ without hermit crab races?! This was my lucky guy –bringing it home!

Nothing beats fresh coconut water and rum for sundowners!

Charlie also supplemented the meal with freshly caught wahoo and tuna. These shore BBQs are a great way to meet other cruisers and sample some interesting recipes – especially desert as Megan does not bake!

These puppies were delish!

Similar to the Tuamotos, there were a lot of sharks in the lagoon. At any one time we had between 8-12 sharks hanging out behind the boat. They also cruised the shallows near shore – great to watch!

We went spear fishing a few times in the pass and it was intense given the amount of sharks in the area…. As soon as Mike shot anything he would have to bolt to the surface with the spear held high out of the water to keep the circling sharks at bay. Megan was snorkeling and watching all of this from afar. If he wasn’t quick enough, the sharks would rip the fish right off of his spear. Amazing to watch!

Of course we also had a fantastic manta ray experience. Check out the size of these bad boys!!!

We had a few very still days in the anchorage and took the opportunity to get some nice shots of Lazy Bones for our For Sale Ad - Lazy Bones is officially on the market! Check out more details on our For Sale Page.