Skyelark of London - Our stay in Suvarov
Life is very hard, on and around the island atoll of Suvarov in the Northern
Cook Islands, with its pristine verdant Motus and warm, well stocked waters
of multi shades of blues and greens encircled by the 35 mile long coral
reef.............shallow snorkelling waters within the lagoon, in contrast
to the 1000s feet of vertical shelf outside the reef, where 5 foot high
breakers mark paradise's boundary from the wide dark seas of seaming
nothingness. Skipper Dan broke the heartbreaking news this morning that we
would have to stay here yet a further day, as the winds needed to blow us
south west to Niue, our next port of call, have yet to materialise and would require a potential motoring distance of at
least 300 nmiles. This is in addition to yesterday's World ARC's gut
wrenching announcement of a day's delay to our departure due to a lack of
moorings in Nuie harbour! Hence our decision to stay, bite our collective
proverbial bottom lips and think positive thoughts over our rotten luck, as
we were made to slum it for another two days in one of the most remote and
awesomely beautiful places on the planet ........... as Gerard surmised 'a
little piece of heaven, 500 miles from anyone else in the world', except of
course from the other fifteen to twenty WARC yachts and crews sharing the
anchorage off Anchorage Island! 'It is so lovely here' says Chris, 'I've
almost stopped thinking about pimping my Landrover Defender'. The rest of
us refrained from going quite that far!
..................but for sheer beauty and remoteness the uninhabited
islands of Suvarov, must surely take some beating............. this morning
we swam with manta rays, gliding elegantly across the coral floor below us
as they fed on the reef, trailing smaller fish in their wake, feeding on
scraps within the safe haven of their hosts' shadows............ or our
stroll two days ago, across the mile long coral reef between Whale Island
and Anchorage Island exposed only at low tide providing an Axminster like
carpet of fossilised and live coral, the colour of every rainbow shade
imaginable............ or the unexpected birdlife on Whale Island of nesting
red boobies with teenage size chicks now bigger than their twiggy nests or
Arctic terns terrorising any nearby walkers straying towards their nesting
grounds in the scrub.....................or just pondering your naval navel
on board Skyelark being circled by bright yellow, black finned sharks, which
have no problem making room for you in their waters as you swim out to the
nearby coral reefs teeming with fish of every hue possible.
But our main thoughts are of Tom Neale (already referenced by others on the
blog), whose autobiographical book 'An Island to Oneself', now read by all
on board through the encouragement and gift of Chris, which gave Suvarov its
full context before we arrived. Tom Neale, lived alone for 6 years on
Suvarov for two periods of 2 years in the 1950s and 4 years in the 1960s,
with only very occasional visitors over that period, building his own
shelter and living on a very rudimentary diet on the daily (yet pleasurable)
grind of feeding and taking care of himself..................ill health and
onset of old age in the end forcing him towards some source of regular
medical care. But Tom and his seemingly idyllic Robinson Crusoe island has
left his mark on all on board as we eagerly found traces of his shelter,
garden, breadfoot tree, crushed coral paths and storm damaged
pier........but no-one showed willing to jump ship to live out a similar
dream by staying on Suvarov for one full year and be picked up by the World
ARC as it passes through here in May 2015...............
...... the mad Scotsman however decided late on our second evening here to
give it a go .........leaving the safe haven of his shelf bed in Skyelark's
saloon to sleep in Tom's ruined beachside hovel.............with the aim of
being the only one to stay on Anchorage Island for the night and get a real
taste of the castaway lifestyle. This ambition was somewhat thwarted by
the arrival of the WRAC young set setting up an all night party 100 yards
further up the beach...............with their bonfire and semi-rhythmic
playing and singing to a non syncopated Caribbean beat! Sleep was hard to
come by ........at one point David awoke to witness a scene of dancing nudes
around the bonfire .........a cross between the coven of witches in Alloway
kirkyard from Tom o' Shanter and the warring boy factions from Golding's
Lord of the Flies...........enough to make the limited hair on David's head
stand on end and poor Tom surely turn in his grave! But sleep eventually
came at 1.30am with occasional pierce calling of the frigate birds and the
unforgiving mattress of hard floor boards cleared earlier of hermit crabs
causing fleeting moments of wakefulness before eventual sunrise met all
expectations of silence with nothing but the quiet lapping of the waves
close by and the more distant roar of the white horses on the far side of
the island as they broke over the coral reef.
Suvarov is surely everyone's imagined setting for Desert Island Discs - but
no need for the distraction of the bible or works of Shakespeare
here............all that is needed is a healthy selection of B&Q products, a
never ending supply from an unmanned Tesco Express store and a Kindle!
Favourite record must surely be the Springfield's early '60s classic of
'Island of Dreams'..............nothing else could come close!
David
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