Maamalni - Suwarrow - #1 Land ho! Or Suwarrow Tomorrow?

When the fleet left Bora Bora, some of the boats went to Roratonga in the southern Cook Islands while others went to Suwarrow. In making our decision of where to go, we contacted MaaMa's previous guardians, Roger and Alice Williamson asking their advice. Their immediate response was "whatever it takes, beg, borrow, steal or even if you have to book passage on a freighter, go to Suwarrow". While the trip to Suwarrow was a bit of a detour, being about 300 miles 'above' the normal rumb line, we had
an uneventful passage there. With about 2 days of good winds after 2 days of motoring we came upon this atoll archipelago designated as a National Park and managed by the county of New Zealand.

At sea, when coming upon an atoll, one see a ragged line upon the horizon that from a distance looks like a line of vertical lines - very odd. As one approaches, those vertical poles meld into coconut palms and coral sandy beaches surrounded by a continuous line of breakers on it protective reef. The color of the water is literally beyond description. The 'blue' is cobalt and aquamarine. Some of the most dazzling colors we have ever seen. The colors are so vivid the only comparison would be to squeeze out Grumbacher oils on a fresh canvas and those won't have the brilliance and variation of nature's real color! As we approached the only natural passage into the 60-mile long lagoon, a voice was heard over the VHF radio asking if we saw the masts of the already arrived boats of the fleet. "Not yet" was our response but we soon saw them beyond the palm trees. The passage into the lagoon is quite narrow and is approachable during daylight hours only. Basically the approach is a Par 4 with a dogleg to the right with coral heads on either side of the boat replacing the ubiquitous sand hazard. The approach is further complicated by a 2-3 knot current, which is trying to take the boat from port to starboard. The good news is that the color of the water changes around the coral heads and makes them more identifiable.

Once we made the dogleg to the right, it was a natural entrance to one of the most magnificent blue water lagoon imaginable. Ahead lay the ARC fleet. We made contact with Southern Princess of Sydney Australia who suggested that we anchor off their starboard quarter in about 80 feet of water and thought to be generally clear of coral "bommies". Suzan and Larry went forward and laid out about 250 feet of chain while I backed MaaMa down setting the 60-pound Bruce anchor. Thunk and we were parked!