Nicole Journal #4:
Cook Islands

Nicole in Polynesia!

We finally left French Polynesia at the end of July. Although it was great to have been in French Polynesia, it was time to move on. We slowly made our way to the Cook Islands. The winds were great so it took us about nine days to arrive to Rarotonga, the capital of the Cook Islands. After being on French speaking islands for the past three months, it was a bit weird to find that everything was in English and in the Maori language. Things were a lot easier to find, conversations were easier to carry.

At Rarotonga we had planned to do a science study. We wanted to gather a lot of vita reef information. But unfortunately the coral reef was in a bad state; nearly all the coral just below the ship was dead. All we could do was take pictures of what used to be a beautiful coral reef. But among the dead corals were little baby corals, just beginning to grow, so there is still hope.

It was whale season in Rarotonga, and we were in the middle of it. From July till October the humpback whales are seen all around the island just outside the reef. The whales come to the South Pacific to breed and at the end of the breeding season they head down south to Antarctica to feed for the summer. Just before we anchored a lady named Nan Hauser came by in her boat to welcome us and to tell us that we were in a great place to see whales.

We all became great friends with Nan. We invited her to have dinner with us on the ship. She told us about the whales in the area and many of her adventures with whales, including snorkeling with humpback whales. Nan also gets many calls during the day on the VHF radios by local fishermen telling her when and where they have just seen whales. As fast as she possibly can she gets on her 22 foot research boat equipped with cameras, hydrophones, and dive gear. Nan will try to follow these underwater creatures and try to identify them by taking pictures of their flukes and recording the ‘song’ the whales are singing. Nan puts all her findings at the Whale Center that she established in 2001. At the whale center one can find a lot of information about whales, dolphins, turtles and sharks.

We shared our information about the coral reefs with her as well. She was very interested in the work that the ship has been doing with the coral reefs. Before we left, Nan asked us to put together some kind of display that she could put up in her Whale Center. So there is a section of the center with information about the coral reefs and what can be done to help protect and preserve the coral reefs.

When I wasn’t whale watching I got the chance to do some island exploring. There was a beautiful hike that I and two other crew members went on. The hike started at Nan’s house. It was already a cloudy, misty day when we started. All we took with us were cameras, lunch, and a light jacket. We walked until the end of the road, to a sign that read Tu Mua Walk. It was a beautiful hike; the trail went into the taro gardens. Taro is a type of plant that is a made into a favorite dish on the island. It started to rain as we were making our way into the trees. On the way up we passed several waterfalls. Then it really began to pour. Our shoes no longer were of any use to us. We would just slip in the mud and slide down. So we took off our shoes. At some points we had to use a rope that was tied to a tree to be able to climb up the trail. It rained nearly the whole way up. It was a two hour hike to the top; barefoot and cold we made it. At the top we had cheese sandwiches, boiled eggs, orange juice, and a can of tuna. We could see the ship from where we were, once again I was above the clouds, on the top of a tropical mountain and as far as I could see there was nothing but deep blue ocean. Unfortunately we realized that the way up is the way down.

With the ground being so slippery it was very tricky not to roll all the way down. There were times where I slid on my bum a few feet down. It was a great hike. I never did a hike bare footed; it was fun and sometimes painful. We made it back down to Nan’s place and had a wonderful hot shower before going back to the ship.

We left Rarotonga and sailed north to Aitutaki, home of the best female dancer in the Cook Islands. We spent almost three weeks at Aitutaki. There we did a research study of the coral reefs, collecting vita reef information, coral identification, and fish identification and documenting it with underwater video and photographs. And of course we did some exploring of the island, and made a lot of good friends.

One of the highlights of our stay there was the dancing. Almost every night was an “Island Night.” At an island night there is a buffet of traditional island meals, including raw fish salad and taro leafs with coconut cream.

After the dinner the local dance groups came out and did a show, near the end of their show they danced with people from the audience to see what they learned from watching them.

One of the dance groups had just returned from Europe on a two month tour. This group was called Flowers of Aitutaki. We invited the lead dancer of the group, Caroline Bishop to the ship and to talk with us about her dancing career. She had been dancing all her life. At the age of 13 she became a professional dancer and has been competing in dance competitions ever since.

She has traveled to many countries around the world. At the age of 24 she retired from competitive dancing, it is unusual for women to retire from dancing at such a young age. The reason why is because her younger sister will start competing in dance competitions next year and she does not want to compete against her sister. She is now in New Zealand to take a little vacation time. She told us the way to be a good dancer is to feel the music and the song, to feel it in your entire body. Once it is in your body, it becomes easier to express it in the movements of every part of the body.

After watching Caroline dance, it’s no wonder she is the best dancer of the Cook Islands.

My other adventures at Aitutaki included a tour on a glass bottom boat. We made friends with a man named Lawton and his wife Aisne. Lawton owned the glass bottom boat. He invited people on the ship to take a tour with him on his boat. He takes tourist around, both outside and inside the lagoon. On his tour people have seen turtles, eagle rays, and even humpback whales.

When I went I saw some eagle rays. He took us to one of the islands on the outside of the lagoon. On the way there we stopped at a clam reserve.

Another man named Richard Story, who is also Lawton’s brother works at the Marine Resources in Aitutaki. He is doing a lot of work with the clams. He farms clams to later put them on the reefs when they are ready. The problem with the local clams is that they grow too slowly, so he has been importing clams from Indonesia that grow twice as fast. When we got to the island we had lunch. He made us fried barracuda steaks, salad, sandwiches, and a fresh drinking coconut to wash it down. Delicious! The weather began to pick up so we called it a day. It absolutely was a great day.

Another great day was the day we had a party with the locals of the island. It wasn’t just any kind of party, this party was special. We started getting ready for the party early Sunday morning. I and other members of the crew went with Richard to start the preparations. It included grating coconuts for making coconut milk, cutting up the fish for a raw fish salad, and starting a fire for the rocks to get hot for the pig. Yes, a pig. We were doing a traditional pig feast called a humu. We put the pig on the hot rocks and covered it with banana leaves and hibiscus leafs. Around the pig we put pumpkin and a root called arrowroot. Then the pig got covered with potato sack bags, and copra bags, trying to cover the entire pig so that no heat escapes. We finished most of the preparation before noon, after the pig was inside cooking; it would be another four to five hours before it is done. At six o’clock we started to get together, people brought some dishes of their own. With Polynesian music playing in the background, we sat around eating, and sharing stories with each other. Later in the night we put together a slide show of the ship and where it has been. It was a great party with great people.

Once again it was time to depart. After saying goodbyes to our friends, exchanging emails and addresses it was off to our last stop in the Cook Islands; Palmerston. Population: 75 people, but when we were there, it was only 50 people, 25 had gone to play in the South Pacific Games. The history of the island is pretty interesting. William Marsters came to inhabit the island with his three wives in 1862. He fathered 26 children, divided the land into three equal parts for each of the three families.

Upon arrival we were greeted by two men and a woman. One of the guys, Paul was a teacher and the other Edward, was the one police officer the island had. They were eager to step onto the boat. They were very friendly and invited us to go with them to see the island. We got a tour of their part of the island by Paul and Sue’s children. This island was very remote.

They didn’t have much, and what they do get comes by a supply ship. But when we were there the ship was already a few weeks late, so they were struggling a bit.

The children were great. They told us that they have a volleyball game with all the ships that stay at Palmerston. They also mentioned that they always win. The children took us into ‘town’ which was a group of houses, a big satellite, a grave yard, and a house that William Marsters had built out of pieces of shipwrecks washed ashore. The island runs on a generator that comes from 6am to noon and 6pm to midnight each day. The children also showed us the many volleyball courts they had, they had four volleyball courts; I was beginning to figure out why they always won.

After our tour we had a practice round with them, and realized that there was no way we were going to beat these kids. The kids ranging from six to twelve year olds were competitive. Since we were only five that day, they decide to let us have one of their teammates, whose nickname was the ‘rattlesnake,’ it didn’t take us long to figure out why. He was awesome; he moved so fast, he would fix our mistakes and gain the most points for our team. The only reason we won was because of Alfred the rattlesnake. The next day they came to our ship. The kids were very excited to be on a ‘pirate ship.’ We gave them a tour, and had cookies and juice. Their mother, Sue was showing one of the crew members, Orla, how to weave a fan.

It was beautiful fan with a pearl shell in it. She also showed the crew members who were cooking dinner how to cook the parrot fish. Later we had a coconut grating contest, who could grate a coconut the fastest. Sue tied first place with our second mate Eddie from the Solomon Islands at 48 seconds, then Sue’s oldest son (12yrs) at 1minute and 12 seconds. We don’t have to mention how long it took me to grate a coconut. It was so great to have children on board, it made us run around like children, playing with balloons and laughing so hard our stomachs hurt. We spent only three days there and once again we moved on to our next island, Western Samoa.

I have been away from home now for 18 months. That has been the longest time I have ever been away from home. It has been a year and a half since I have participated in any traditional ceremonies and dances, and listened to the voices and drumming of my people. My spirit has been yearning for these things; to taste the foods of my ancestors, to see the faces of the people of my village, and to speak the language of my mother tongue. It is for these reasons that I have decided to go home. I will be leaving the ship at the end of October. Sometimes on my expeditions I am so happy and having so much fun that I sometimes feel guilty for being able to be happy in a place other than home, but I have come to realize that home is truly where my heart lies. My spirit needs to go back to Santo Domingo Pueblo; to the place that gives me strength. I have my family to thank for this; they raised me to never forget who I am, where I come from, and that no matter where I go in this world I will never lose my way back home.

I have three weeks to spend with the ship, its crew, and of course to explore Apia, Western Samoa- my last stop. It will be a ten day voyage across the ocean to get there, but it won’t be my last.

Nicole