After three days at sea after our departure from Niue, we arrived in the early hours of the morning today to Palmerston island. What we expected to be an upwind bash the whole way, turned out to be a really lovely sail! We had blue skies and a consistent 10-15 knot breeze, often just southerly enough for us to leave the engine off and sail close-hauled while still making our heading. The crew spent the days reading, playing cards, eating delicious food, having cat naps between watches, and always keeping a diligent lookout of course! The adjustment period to life at sea seems to be over, as everyone appears much more comfortable onboard, and in the watch system compared to our first night.

We dropped anchor here at Palmerston early this morning, hoping to get in touch with someone on the island via VHF after breakfast, and go ashore to meet the locals after hearing some amazing things about the community here. As this island is not a port of entry to the Cook Islands, we had requested permission ahead of time to stop on our way, and received what we believed to have been the green light to visit. However, upon arrival, we were told that we would not be allowed ashore until after clearing customs at another island.

So we enjoyed our day at anchor, jumping in for a swim to cool off and catch up on a bit of R&R before finishing our journey to Aitutaki island. Just from what we’ve seen right off the boat, the reef is thriving and sea life here is abundant, with some of the biggest parrot fish I’ve ever seen, and no shortage of them! We’re taking the opportunity this afternoon to open all the hatches and dry out the boat, along with some of our laundry and bedding. Scott and John have been in and out of the engine room trying to troubleshoot one of our electric winches that seems to have given up the gun, and the rest of us are reading our books or having a snooze in the heat of the day.

Steve enjoying a quiet afternoon at anchor

It has been a beautiful place to stop here at Palmerston, one that is probably quite convenient and easy to stop at after the Cook Islands, if sailing east to west. However, that is not how we like to do things here on Silver Fern, we prefer the challenge of sailing the wrong way across the Pacific! So we will carry on tonight, finishing the final 200 nautical miles to Aitutaki, slowly closing the distance to our eventual destination of Tahiti!

Cheers,

Liv

The Forbidden Island

Bikini’s & Budgy Smugglers

Niue’s Grand Tour