Suwarrow
Hi - we went to a Birthday party at Kookaburra for Clyde, there were 14 people there. We were going to shore but it just kept raining. They have 3 kids and a 50' race boat. It has two steering wheels and is quite wide. They go pretty fast. We are still here at Suwarrow, we moved over to the seven islands yesterday. Not a good day to move - lots of big rain squalls and overcast, hard to see coral when it's overcast.
We left about 1:00, got anchored by 4:00. Took four tries, Dan didn't like the coral bottom very well so kept moving till it suited him. We circled and pivoted in the rain for about a half hour. We were in 25-35 knot winds last night so guess the extra time anchoring was worth it. There were three to four squalls - we had 2 foot seas at anchor. Astrolabe, Fantom and Kookaburra were here too. Today Gray Hawk arrived at 3:00 pm, now trying to anchor also. They were the ones that got pushed up on the rocks and had to return to Riatea to fix the rutter. We all anchored at least 2, 3 or 4 times.
Went to shore to see the baby birds and nests. We saw lots of baby boobies and other birds sitting on eggs too. There were lots of frigates and terns and boobies flying over head. There were spiders in the trees and there were other trees besides palms, very nice fragrance. We did some shell hunting also. The reef was l foot shallow getting to the island. There is supposed to be big coconut crabs there, but we didn't see them. Some people are going spear fishing soon but the sharks are very fast. There is a wrecked boat on the reef and Dan wants to look at that. Some are looking forward to lobstering tonight.
We will probably leave tomorrow for Western Samoa. We have been talking to friends ahead. They said American Samoa is smelly since they have a Chicken of the Sea Tuna processing plant there and the boats are old rust buckets. They also say bottom growth is bad there. They do have a Cost-U-Less there - good to stock up food. Dan is looking forward to getting some more Coke at $5.00 a case. There is a $25 entry fee and $25 exit and $2 ea day anchorage fee. In Western Samoa $24 for the first 8 days and $50 after that. Someone said it was the cheapest so far. I guess that is right when you look at it that way. Till Later Dan & Sandy
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