About a year before our arrival this island had been hit hard by a hurricane. The highest point of land on the atoll is about eight feet, not counting palm trees. When the hurricane hit the storm surge was over 12 feet.
You got it. The highest point of land was four feet under water. Prior to that there were about fifteen families living there. They had dogs and cats, chickens and pigs, and an occasional goat.
When the storm hit the people climbed the palm trees and tied themselves to the trees.
Unfortunately about half the trees didn’t make it. Half the population of the island was wiped out. Now there were just four families left on the island, and no dogs, cats, chickens and pigs.
Our new friend Igor and his family that we were visiting had found some batteries and solar panels which were left in what remained of the French weather station that used to be there. Of course they didn’t know how to use them. That afternoon I went out to the boat and made some little lights from some extra bulbs we had on board. I just soldered short pieces of wire on the bulb contacts. Then we brought in some extra wire, and after cleaning up the panels and hooking up the batteries we managed to get lights into one of the huts.
That night we felt a real glow as we sat aboard having dinner, watching the glow of the light in their hut. Talk about your warm fuzzies!
But all good things must end, and when the weather let up we figured it was time to head on our way to our next stop, Suvarov Island.
After talking with another boat that was leaving Bora Bora that day, and asking them to bring some supplies for our friends, we hoisted anchor at high noon so we could see our way around the coral heads as we tried to dodge our way out of the pass. We didn’t realize it at the time, but when we’d come in against the current we were actually working under a great advantage. As we did eight knots through the water, we were only doing a couple of knots over the ground, so it was easy to see and dodge the coral heads. All of a sudden it hit me. On the way out the current would be with us. We would be pushed through on a current running about six knots. Since we had to do a minimum of four knots to maintain steerage, we’d be doing 10 knots over the bottom. Unfortunately we’d be steering in slow motion, at the speed of a boat doing four knots.
As we broke out of the pass we were hit head on with some breaking six-foot swells. Made Luke hang on pretty tight as we broke into the surf, as he was standing on the bow pulpit watching for coral heads. Joel was pretty safe, up on the first spreader.
Just as we were clear we saw Igor and his friends coming out in a small boat. They wanted to say goodbye. They came aboard and presented each of us with a shell necklace. They’d stayed up most of the night making them, and were still asleep as we were hoisting our anchor. Saying goodbye was a very difficult thing to do, knowing we would probably never see them again.
The next four days we sailed to Suvarov (Suwarrow) Island. During the passage, Luke attained the highest point score possible on watch. He managed to get a rogue wave to break against the side of the boat, causing 70 to 100 gallons of cold saltwater to come straight down the aft hatch at two a.m. on top of where Jody and I were sleeping. Have you any idea what it’s like waking up to the gush of cold water on your head and the splish-splash of fish in your bed with you? You don’t want to know!
