Suvarov

S/V TETHYS	Suvarov Atoll (Suwarrow), Cook Islands August, 2000
Discovered in 1814 by the Russian explorer Mikhail Lazarev and named after his ship the Suvarov. This is a very isolated and uninhabited atoll, home only to nesting birds. It is also a National Park of the Cook Islands and a United Nations Biosphere Reserve. The British Admiralty Pilot and Cook Islands spell Suvarov as Suwarrow!
We motored away from Bora Bora with just the mainsail up until the batteries were charged, then we poled out the genny and broad reached all afternoon and evening at about 5 knots. Maupiti was passed at 1600 and that just leaves Motu One as the last piece of land before Suvarov.
In the afternoon of the second day at sea, we caught a red tailed tropic bird on the fish line, which really surprised us as we thought only boobies were that foolish. We managed to pull it into the rail and Vlad held its beak and released the hook while Paula held its warm, soft body and talked to it to try and keep it calm. Surprisingly it did not attempt to attack us with its sharp black beak or the claws on its webbed feet. When the hook was pulled out from just behind the beak, Paula put it down on the water and it took right off, flying away from the boat squawking indignantly. We hope it is okay as our fish hook is rather rusty.
We had one day and night of fairly strong winds (25-35 knots) from the southeast and sailed with triple reefed main and staysail only but the trip was mostly uneventful with winds and seas coming from behind us. We averaged 5 knots for the most part, slowing down just before dawn on the 6th day as we approached Suvarov. We wanted to have enough sunlight to be able to see the reefs at the pass into the lagoon.
We arrived off the pass at Suvarov just before 0900 and had about a three knot current against us with some standing waves, but visibility was pretty good and the reef off Anchorage Island was clear as was South Reef as we got a bit further in.
There were seven boats in the anchorage when we arrived: AUGUSTA, RONGEMAU, OREADE, AZZURI, NEPENTHE, RUNNING TIDE and SKUA. We took OREADE's spot when he left as it is tucked in behind the reef and fairly well protected from waves in the lagoon. The bottom here is sand and coral with quite good visibility.
It is nice to hear the birds – the terns, which are Sooty Terns, are noisy as they fly overhead and there are lesser frigate birds high in the sky over the lagoon and reef. The terns even fly at night, which we found unusual.
In the late afternoon we joined everyone ashore for a drink and met Cathy and Rhys, the bird counters from NZ (although Cathy actually lives in Ireland now). They had bird books and had been told that TETHYS was coming and was very interested in birds, by another boat which passed through a couple of weeks ago! We can expect to see two kinds of boobies, both lesser and magnificent frigate birds, brown and black noddies (which nest in the coconut trees and are quite noisy when in the nest although very quiet while flying). There are also curlews and sometimes plovers or sandpipers here on migration. The curlews, which breed in Alaska, are supposed to return there for the northern summer, but juveniles often spend the whole year here.
It’s very interesting to see the island after reading Tom Neale’s book about living alone here. Tom Neale was a New Zealander who decided to get away from it all and live alone on an island, living off the land. He wrote a book, An Island to Oneself describing his exploits, including about a million recipes using breadfruit and coconuts. There are a couple of cats on Anchorage Island and a number of chickens roaming around. Breadfruit and papaya trees still grow and produce fruit and of course the coconut is ubiquitous. Water is available from a ground cistern for laundry or washing and there is drinking water as well. There had been plenty of rain so water was in good supply. The jetty Tom spent so much effort rebuilding, only to have it washed away a short time later in a big storm, is still partially there and you can tie a dinghy up to it or land on the beach.
The next day AUGUSTA, RONGEMAU, RUNNING TIDE and SKUA left in the morning and FYN arrived so we were now four boats, down from fifteen just a week or so ago. More boats now seemed to be heading towards Rarotonga than here, reversing the trend of a month previously. (Cruisers are quite often herd creatures, and follow one another like sheep.)
We stayed in Suvarov for a week. Each day we would listen to the morning net on the SSB radio and then either putter around on the boat doing projects for a few hours, or going exploring ashore at one of the motus along the reef. In the afternoon we would read and perhaps have a nap, then maybe snorkel a bit and get ready for the evening sundowner ashore.
At about 1730 all the cruisers in the anchorage would meet ashore and share snacks and have a drink while chatting and watching the sun go down. Every once in a while we would all bring food to share in a pot luck dinner. Rhys and Vlad caught a large blue trevally one morning and this became the main dish at one of the pot lucks. This was repeated several days later after Vlad and Louin from FYN caught another trevally as well as a yellow tail tuna. Savi of FYN gave us a recipe for a wonderful Trinidadian Coconut Sweet Bread.
We explored Anchorage Island a bit, crossing over to Pylades Bay past Tom Neales old house, now extended a bit with verandas. There is a small book collection there and we took a couple away with us. A notice on the hut says that anchorage fees here are NZ$4 per day, NZ$30 if not cleared in to the Cooks, so it is lucky there is no one collecting the fees. You are supposed to stay only four days and not land on any of the motus. We know some boats have stayed as long as two weeks but the cruisers generally seem to be very conscientious about garbage etc. and police themselves. Rhys said a cruiser who left garbage on the island was very unpopular with the others in the anchorage. We are probably more careful than the Cook Islanders who sometimes come here as they will take birds and coconut crabs to eat, while the cruisers generally don't like to eat that kind of food.
There are large red crabs on the beach, and pale pink ones on the coral sand near the lagoon. Some hermit crabs are around, although not as many as on Tahanea. We saw what we think was a wandering tattler on the western side of the island and a reef heron on the outer reef. On the beach west of the jetty we found two markers commemorating the "discovery" of Suvarov by the Russian America Company vessel Suvarov in 1814. The markers have copper plaques and Vlad made rubbings of them.
We also explored some of the other motus where different bird species are nesting. Once again we found a white tern nestling just sitting on the branch of a bush, as we had in Tahanea. There are sooty terns nesting on some islands. They simply lay one egg on a sandy patch of ground. The noddies build nests in the bushes as do the red footed boobies and frigate birds. We spotted a couple of red tailed tropicbirds nesting deep under the bushes, also just on the ground without a nest. In August there were sooty tern fledglings everywhere. They are not quite ready to fly and stumble along the ground trying to get away as we approach. Rather comical but we try not to frighten them too much as we walk around the edges of the motus.
Snorkelling along by the island and around some of the coral patches is interesting. With a wary eye out for sharks we explored the colourful underwater sites a few times. We found some lovely big Episcopal Miter shells hidden under the soft sand. Miter shells and augers tunnel just under the surface of the soft sand in about 15 to 30 feet of water. By wafting away the sand at the spot where the easily visible track ends, one can often find a shell. Unfortunately, all the ones we found were alive and so regretfully, we put them back under the sand where we found them. For a while we followed a large sting ray, with at least 4 foot wing span, as it swam along the sand, very close to the bottom. It was closely shadowed by a big trumpet fish, a parrot fish and another fish, presumably hoping for handouts. It looked like it was quite an old ray – one of its wings was a little torn.
We'd been away from civilization for over two weeks now and had run out of bread and most fresh vegetables. Vlad baked bread three times, once was a total disaster, while the second and third batches worked out well. We were anxious to get to Vava'u, Tonga, a six day passage from Suvarov but regretful at leaving this delightful atoll.
Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the birds on Suvarov. When we got the pictures developed in New Zealand, we found that our camera had malfunctioned and the several rolls of film we took there were all blank. Bummer!