Moku pe'a Report

0600 position 7-27S 160-05W. Day's run 167 miles

At 0800 a huge line squall stretching from horizon to horizon marched in
from the East. The wind increased to 25 knots, and Moku pe'a got a much
needed fresh water rinse. Unfortunately, that squall brought the end to
the good times. Since it passed the seas have become confused with swells
from the North, South, and East. The South swell is making the boat ride
like a bronco as she charges into them. We've seen more squalls with the
wind increasing in them as they pass. The wind also swings forward and
aft about 15 degrees, but is generally just aft of the beam, a good
direction for speed. We had one reef in the main, but all day long I'd
been considering the second reef. We were right on the edge of needing
it, but you don't want to rush into anything. As a result we had plenty
of power and plenty of speed all day and most of the night and covered a
lot of miles. However, at 0300 a big black squall nailed us and made the
reefing decision easy, and we've had two reefs in ever since.

Our destination on this leg of the trip, Suwarrow, is a magical place. It
is an atoll seven miles across with about a dozen motus on the fringing
reef. The largest motu, Anchorage Island, was the home of hermit Tom
Neale, who lived alone on the island for a number of years in the 1950s
and 60s and wrote the book "An Island to Oneself" about his adventures
there. Suwarrow is also written about extensively in the book "Isle of
Desire" written by Robert Dean Frisbee, a famous South Seas author. Rocky
is reading, and I am re-reading both of these books before we arrive.

Anchorage Island is about the same size as Coconut Island in Kaneohe Bay,
½ mile long by 300 yards wide. The island lies adjacent to the pass
through the reef on the Eastern side of the atoll. Yachts find protection
from the trade winds anchored in its lee and there is a beautiful white
sand beach with overhanging coconut trees on that side of the island.

The only visitors for many years after Tom Neale departed were yachts, all
of which had read his book. Tom's house was treated as a shrine, and
yachtsmen maintained the structure and kept the yard and path to the beach
cleared. There was even a life sized concrete bust of Tom installed along
the path to his house with the words "Tom Neale lived his dream on this
island" inscribed. This is how Alison and I found Anchorage Island when
we arrived there twenty eight years ago on our Ranger 33 Eleu. There was
no other human within 200 miles, and we had the island to ourselves for
two weeks. Magical.

Tom's bedroom had been maintained the way it was the day he left, with the
bed neatly made and his machete with "Neale" carved in the handle hanging
on the wall. Chicken skin stuff. Another room had been converted into a
library/book exchange for the visiting yachts. In those days before
laptop computers, DVDs, and Kindles, hard copy books were one of the few
sources of entertainment and cruisers were always anxious to swap for new
ones.

Alas, nothing lasts forever. The Cook Islands government decided that
they needed an official presence on Suwarrow since so many yachts were
visiting, and in recent years I have read that they have a couple of
officials stationed on the island during the cruising season. I don't
know what we will find when Rocky and I arrive, but I still expect magic.