Team Giddyup: cook islands

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A Pacific Ocean’s Worth of Fees

Team Giddyup 1/17/2016

How much did our Pacific crossing cost us in fees for entering and exiting countries? Time for a NUMBERS post!

Important background: We are 35’ with two people aboard and no pets. We spent four seasons in the South Pacific between 2012 and 2015. I am counting the cost of all required things for entrance and exit, even if the money doesn’t go to the goverment because I’m counting how much it cost us. We made some choices that other people don’t have to make. We didn’t visit all countries. Fees have changed over the years (particularly in the Cooks) so YMMV.

In sum: If you aren’t interested in the nitty gritty, the most we’ve paid in fees for clearances was for Australia, with Mexico coming in a close second. The least we paid in fees was for New Caledonia where we paid nothing. Most other countries were in the approximately $200 range.

Country break down: All of the below are listed in the approximate USD cost.

Mexico: $400 USD buys a lot of cheap tacos! At the time of clearance in 2012 we had to pay a little over $110 for our TIP, $40 twice for fishing licences, and $210 for Mexican liability insurance (required by the govt, paid to a private party, despite our having other insurance). This would have allowed us to stay for quite a while (I forget how long) but we left after 6 months.

French Polynesia: We paid about $200 for an agent so we could avoid the bond. If we had been willing to risk the ups and downs of the currency markets and also getting our bond back in CFP at the end of our stay, this amount could have been zero, but I think our choice was fairly representative. If you count our return to Canada for our long stay visa,

this would, of course, be the most expensive country on the list, particularly if we included airline tickets in our estimate of the “cost” so I’m just considering our first run through the country which was more normal.

Cooks: We paid a total of about $300 - $50 to clear in Suwarrow and then about $250 in various fees to exit.

Niue: It is a little difficult to decide how to categorize Niue. We only spent $54 in fees but you essentially must take a mooring which adds another $10 per day. Depending on how long you want to stay (and are able to with the exposed anchorage), this could become costly.

Tonga: We spent $183 in Tonga for three month stay. The clerance was inexpensive but after one month the visa ran about $30pp/per month.

Fiji: We paid $180 for all of the standard fees including visa extensions for our more than 4 month stay.

New Caledonia: No fee! No bond! No exit fee! …but you only get 3 months as a N American.

Australia: We paid $450 for two visas and the quarantee fee. Granted, they give you a year but holy crap!

weather

Typhoons, El Nino and the Republic of the Marshall Islands

Team Giddyup 10/04/2014

Editor's Note: To compare across regions of my own personal interest, I am using the common definitions of cyclones in the S Pacific as >34 knots and comparing them to tropical storms-and-typhoons North of the equator (>34 knots). If I use the phrase 'typhoon' without explanation below you can assume I am saying "typhoons and tropical storms" because on its own 'typhoon' implies >64 knots just as 'hurricane' implies >64 knots.

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While trying to understand the various tropical storm regions in the Pacific I kept reading contradictory statements about the Marshall Islands (RMI). The Marshall Islands are North of the equator and thus outside of the S Pacific cyclone best. Of course, that doesn’t mean they are exempt from tropical storms because the RMI is at the edge of the typhoon region. When you talk to cruisers who are going north to avoid the South Pacific cyclone season, they often will describe the Marshall’s, and Majuro (the capital) in particular, as outside of the region because the country is so far east. Further, besides being outside the typhoon belt, many cruisers will also mention that they will not be in the Marshalls during the peak of typhoon season (i.e., the Boreal summer, July-Aug-ish).

While doing my advance reading, I came across a statement in our copy of Jimmy Cornell’s World Cruising Routes that indicated that the most dangerous time for the Marshalls from a typhoon perspective was actually the Boreal winter (Dec-Jan ish). (Note: I recently saw his newest edition in which he changed that statement to August to early April.)

So, given that we have been planning to head to the Marshalls for the South Pacific cyclone season, and given a possible impending El Nino, I was quite interested in whether the Marshalls are hit by typhoons-or-tropical-storms or not (and if so, how frequently and at what time of year), and whether the possible impending El Nino has any effect on the Marshalls and tropical storm activity.

Here is what I found out…if you love data (like me – another woman who likes math), read on. If you want just the punch lines, skim over the bolded sentences.

1) When is the most risky time of year for tropical storms and typhoons in the Marshall Islands?

Having been a data collector in a previous career, I went as directly to the source as I could. An article published by Spennemann and Marschner (1994) collated typhoon data for the Marshall islands. There are many holes in their data set but it was the most complete that I had access to, and as far as I know the most comprehensive available. Note: It is not completely clear whether they are including tropical storms in their data or only severe tropical storms and typhoons. I took their data and sorted it by month to create the following
:

These data are fairly clear and support Jimmy Cornell’s statement: Contrary to the rest of the typhoon zone, the highest risk in the Marshall Islands historically speaking has been between November and January with the summer months being the lowest.

Two obvious questions come to mind: 2) Do these data depend on El Nino? And, 3) as the Marshall Islands cover a large region, do these data support the common conception that the southerly portion of the Marshall’s, including Majuro, are safer than the northerly portion.

Spennemann and Marschner (1994) conducted an El Nino analysis and concluded that El Nino increases the risk (almost triples) of a typhoon coming to the Marshalls. Their reported probability of a typhoon in the region are actually .27 in a non-El Nino year (12 out of 34 non-El Niño years) and .71 in an El Nino year (9 out 14 El Niño years).

Both of these findings were reiterated in the most recent Pacific ENSO Update (2nd Quarter, 2014 Vol. 20, No. 2 ISSUED: June 11, 2014) in which they state “The risk of a strong tropical cyclone in the RMI is almost wholly dependent upon El Niño. Nearly all typhoons affecting the RMI occur during El Niño. The greatest threat is during November through January. Historical El Niño-related tropical cyclones in the RMI include: the November 1918 Typhoon, Typhoon Zelda (Nov. 1991), Typhoon Axel (Jan. 1992), and Typhoon Paka (Dec. 1997). “

Regarding the north vs south issue, this graph was on the Pacific ENSO site. I’ve highlighted the approximate Marshall Islands grid in red with the red diamond being Majuro’s approximate position (blown up below right).

TC frequency in NWPacific by grid marshalls majuro

The graph covers 50 years of typhoon data ( >35 knots). If we take the 4 levels of longitude the number of typhoons listed are: 19 between 12.5N and 15N, 24 between 10N and 12.5N, 35 between 7.5N and 10N

TC frequency in NWPacific by grid marshalls majuro zoom

and 26 between 5N and 7.5N --- or 43/61 split in half north/south. No obvious trend for the southern portion of the Marshalls to be safer, in fact the raw data tilting the opposite direction. When you consider the quadrants east to west you find: 35, 32, 25, 12. If anything, going east inside the Marshalls might be slightly better.

Again using Spennemann and Marschner (1994)’s data I tried to replicate this finding by splitting the Marshall islands at 8N (thus using just N of Majuro as the split) and counting the number of storms they listed as having affected each atoll. 58% were above 8N and 42% were below 8N. In this case the raw data tilt slightly toward the south being safer, but not enough for most boaters to see a huge difference in boat safety.

In neither set of data could I find evidence that there is a substantial difference in tropical storm and typhoon frequency in the southern Marshall Islands as compared with the northern Marshall Islands.

4) Finally, in terms of absolute numbers, how does the Marshall Islands compare to other places people consider going to avoid tropical storms?

Using the capital of Majuro as our main port, over 49 years the 2.5 degree longitude by 2.5 degree latitude quadrant containing Majuro averaged .16 typhoons per year. Comparing this average with other ports, the quadrant containing Majuro saw more tropical storm-and-typhoon activity than cyclones in S Pacific border areas like the Gambiers, French Polynesia (.03 per year average) or even Tahiti, French Polynesia (.11 ), very similar numbers as Suwarrow, Cook Islands ( .14 per year) and Pago Pago, Samoa (.19), but fewer than the more intense cyclonic activity areas such as Noumea, New Caledonia (.56), Vuda Point, Fiji (.5) or Nieafu, Tonga (.28).

At first glance it may seem difficult to make a direct comparison because although both cyclones in the S Pacific and typhoons in N Pacific occur throughout the year, the typhoon season is more distributed. However, although the typhoon season is generally more distributed, it is relatively concentrated into a single season in the Marshalls, much like cyclones in the S Pacific.

video

Celebrating Two Years of Cruising in the South Pacific

Team Giddyup 5/23/2014

What better way to celebrate two years of travel in French Polynesia and the Cook Islands than to make an iMovie trailer (Swashbuckler theme of course)?

Ride along with us in with this one minute video:

(Click here for a direct link)

tip

Our Ciguatera Strategy

Team Giddyup 2/19/2014

As already mentioned, the only way to be certain to avoid ciguatera is not eating reef fish or predators of reef fish.

We spear fish because it is fun, good exercise, something to do with people we meet ashore or on the water, and really cuts our grocery bill when successful.

It’s a comfort level with risk that each person has to decide on individually. We decided that we were comfortable with the risk of ciguatera from eating reef fish under certain conditions.

In French Polynesia and the Cook Islands we have been following these guidelines in hopes of minimizing our risk:

Ask two separate people which fish are safe to eat. If there is disagreement on a fish, don’t eat it. At least one of those two people must be a local.

The other can be a cruiser if they have been in the area for a long time. If the person makes their living from selling fish or serving fish in a restaurant, they are excluded.

If we move to a different area of the atoll, ask again. Fish that are safe in one area of the atoll aren’t necessarily safe in another area of the atoll.

We don’t eat larger sizes of any species. When asking around, ask for a good size.

Use a picture book to eliminate confusion about species. The addition of a waterproof flip book of local species has been a big step forward in our spear fishing knowledge. We keep it with us when snorkeling or fishing and can use it to point to when discussing fish with other people. Our book has the French, Tahitian and English names of each fish. Although it doesn’t have every single fish in it, it has the main species and provides a starting point for description. We found ours at a local dive shop although you can find similar plasticized fish guides for this area online.

The first time we eat a species in an area of an atoll, eat a small portion. We might cook the whole fish but eat half a filet and save the rest for the next day. The idea is that if the fish is toxic we might experience mild symptoms rather than intense symptoms.

Ume Tarei in reality, and in the picture book:

So far, we haven’t had ciguatera, but we are taking a risk. We’ll let you know if things change…

tip

Logbook: Penrhyn

Team Giddyup 10/23/2012

If you want to feel like a celebrity, go to Penrhyn.

I wanted to start with my overall impression because I find that if I list pros and cons in a blog post, later when I talk to people about the post they only remember the cons. And the full picture is that by the time we left, Penrhyn had a special place in our hearts and was very difficult to leave.

Pros: It is a beautiful atoll. Very few boats visit (we were the 8th that year and it was nearly the end of the non-hurricane season) and so the people are excited to see each yacht arrive. Yachts are an important part of their trading and supply line and your extras on board are a boon to the community. The singing in church is intense. You will be a guest of honor at every event that happens and you can count on at least a few feasts in a several week stay. The culture is very different than French Polynesia. Their religiosity is much more apparent and it is impolite to do anything but go to church and eat on Sunday (including moving your boat or kayaking). I had to wear a lot more clothing here than French Polynesia and I want to say that I blame the Christian missionaries for the fact that I had to wear sleeves in the tropics.

English speakers can chat freely with the locals who learn both Cook Islander Maori and English in school. You will be greeted on shore with an offer of coffee (don’t plan on hurrying anywhere) and likely leave with an invitation for another even or a gift of shell necklaces, a pumpkin or a watermelon. Children swam to our boat, and after seeing the sharks, got a ride back in our double kayak courtesy of Carol. The speeches directed at us at the last feast, for two other peoples’ birthdays, the day before we left had us both teary eyed.

The cons have to do only with the check in and check out procedure, more specifically the anchorage for doing so. The anchorage on the East side of Penrhyn, by the village of Te Tautua is fantastic. White sand, very few scattered coral heads, and under 20 feet. No fetch in the prevailing winds and the atoll breaks the wind. It is a much better anchorage than Suwarrow.

In contrast, the anchorage on the West side, by the village of Omaka is foul with coral (even in the spot marked as sand in the Compendium), and the water by Omaka is too cloudy to see what you are dropping in. We had our anchor caught when we tried to leave and had a bit of panic until we drove around and freed it. PLUS, you have more than 8 miles of fetch building and you are close by a lee shore. This is where you have to check in.

Partial solution: After checking in, it is possible to then check out by asking someone in Te Tautua (on the East side) to take you across to town in their aluminum skiff. We gave them a full tank of gas and went with them when they were already running an errand – win for everyone.

People complain about the fees for the Cook Islands which are high although nowadays the regular fees are well known so they shouldn’t catch anyone by surprise…but sometimes other fees are tacked on or at least proposed. We paid $50USD at Suwarrow for clearance into the Cook Islands (including health certificates) and for a 2 week stay. We paid nothing additional upon entering Penrhyn. On clearing out of Penrhyn we paid around $130 ($55 per person exit fee and $2.50 per day for a port fee based on size of vessel). However, the immigration/customs officer was out of town and the town secretary said there was an additional $50 fee for the officer’s time. Because this additional fee was not on the list of fees from Rarotonga (the capital), we politely declined to pay and with only minimal back and forth that fee was dropped .

Penrhyn is off the beaten path of cruisers. Most boats go the Southern route (Rarotonga and Aitutaki) or stop only at Suwarrow. Penrhyn is thus farther North than most people travel. We went there and left against the wind, but cruisers coming from Bora Bora should have a downwind sled ride and a similarly nice sail from there to Suwarrow or beyond as long as no convergence zones appear (a problem in the entire region).

south pacific

Pictures from Penrhyn

Team Giddyup 10/19/2012

writing

Leaving Our Mark

Team Giddyup 10/17/2012

There were three places in the Cook Islands where we left a trail: Suwarrow at the ranger station and in Penrhyn in the cruiser logbooks that are now at both villages (Omoka and Te Tautua). We were the very first entry into the Te Tautua logbook and we were quite honored.

I love the idea of these cruiser traditions. You might remember the map we left on Wallace Island, BC or our plank at Hot Springs Cove, BC. If you visit these places in the future and see our mark, please take a picture and send it to us.

At Suwarrow I made a palm frond wreath, the type that can be made for a headdress or a necklace and put our card in the center.

Here is our entry in the Omoka logbook next to a card from SV Freya. When we went to return the book a card dropped out and it was friends of ours in Victoria BC. We re-took our picture of our log entry with their card.

And our entry on the first page of the brand new Te Tautua logbook in which I misspelled Penrhyn *sigh* twice:

Where next? Who knows.

south pacific

Grocery shopping in Penrhyn

Team Giddyup 10/15/2012

Imagine your run to the grocery store. Now imagine that you haven’t seen a grocery store in more than a month and have been living off whatever was in your fridge and cupboards.

This is our most recent run to a grocery store in Penrhyn. First we hitched a ride in an aluminum runabout to the other side of the atoll to the main village (30 minutes). Then, after some chatting at the main village, we hopped on some plastic chairs on the back of a small flatbed truck and rode the 2 or so miles to the store. Here is the store and our ride, notice the sweet plastic chairs.

Here is a close up of the main part of the store (beer stacked on right – Victoria Bitter if you are curious tastes about as watery as Hinano):

Close up of our ride and the nice guy driving us. Oh, and the hoses on the back of the truck that we were sitting by…I don’t want to know what they are normally used for.

And unloading our supplies back into the runabout for the return trip into the wind (1 salty hour):

Afterwards, we unloaded the boxes from the runabout onto our deck before the runabout could knock a chip out of our fiberglass. There are never enough fenders for a metal boat to come alongside. Then, while unpacking, we lost our shit when we discovered a stowaway – our first cockroach aboard! We crushed it, tossed it overboard and watched a fish eat it (fast fish!), disinfected the place where we crushed it in case we squeezed out eggs or something, and then shivered with the extreme heebie jeebies convincing ourselves that it did, indeed, just come from the box and there weren’t any more aboard.

Total time for grocery trip: 7 hours.

I have come full circle past frustration into enjoyment of these type of errands. Part of that is a change in location; it is more fun to deal with logistics here than it was in California and the scenery doesn’t hurt. Part of that is a change in perspective. We no longer say “we are going to get propane”. We say “we are going on a propane expedition”. This implies that the terminus is uncertain and the timing as well. The expedition may or may not be finished today. We are simply starting the process today.

I also have come to love how our errands end up bringing us into other people’s lives and them into ours. To see us struggle breaks barriers and evokes offers of help. The helpful responses from people makes me feel good about humanity.

south pacific

Logbook: Suwarrow

Team Giddyup 10/12/2012

Suwarrow is summer camp for cruisers. It is a place where many people experience their “first times” with many living off the land activities such as coconut crab hunting, coconut husking and grating, green coconut opening, etc. Having experienced those activities in French Polynesia, we were looking forward to the other reasons to visit Suwarrow – beautiful snorkeling and fun parties. We were not disappointed.

We expected Suwarrow to look just like a remote atoll in the Tuamotus and it did. It is, after all, another atoll in much the same reason.

The snorkeling was really excellent. We went on two of the expeditions, run by the park rangers and conducted with their aluminum runabout. On one we visited a bird nesting colony (loud, moderately interesting) and then snorkeled in the pillars near Seven Islands. This area has multiple reefs that you can swim between with many pass throughs and pass overs. Nice healthy coral on the leeward side and even on the windward side despite the fact that the Cooks get pounded by hurricanes. Many, many fish.

On the second we snorkeled at Perfect Reef which is a large reef that you can snorkel on top with depths in the 15 or so foot range, snorkel the edge where the reef comes up to the 10 or so foot range, or snorkel on the edge of the reef where the coral is vibrant and drops off into the deep blue watery depths. We did all of the above. Next we went to Lewin Reef which had a very nice edge/drop off. Both were worthwhile but I preferred Perfect Reef to Lewin.

We met a lot of great people at Suwarrow. At one point there were at least 4 Victoria BC boats in the anchorage (Estrellita, Ladybug, Picara and Sea Turtle) and at one point there were 32 boats in the anchorage which the rangers said was a season high and probably an all time high.

The problem with Suwarrow is finding a good place to anchor. There is a lot of sand but a lot of tall coral heads to get caught on. The wind is a little switchy and the motu only offers protection to a small number of boats and no protection if the wind veers to far to the South.

Still, we think that the best time to be in Suwarrow would either be 20 years ago when you could be the only boat, OR now with 30 other boats. Once you no longer have the island to yourself, you might as well make it more the merrier and enjoy the rich socializing and mix of different nationalities. Of course, we lucked out and snuck into the front row good part of the anchorage snagging the spot of a recently departed vessel.

A note: everything on Suwarrow is organized by the cruisers. If you want an expedition, get 10 people and talk to the ranger. If you want a potluck ashore, hail the anchorage. If you want the rangers to talk about Cook Islander culture, ask them. Also, don’t forget to invite the rangers to eat with you at the potluck.

If you haven’t read “An Island to Oneself” by Tom Neale, it is quite a good read. I read it on passage to Suwarrow and it was nice to arrive with it fresh in mind. The book is about Tom Neale’s stay, by himself, on Anchorage Island in what was then called Suvarov. Factoid: Suvarov was the name of the ship of the whitey who stumbled upon the place first. The Cook Islander native language did not have a v-sound and so Suvarov was pronounced Suwarrow by the locals. When the Cook Islands became a nation they officially changed the spelling. Now Cook Islanders speak English as well as Cook Islander Maori and can pronounce the v-sound, but despite much confusion amongst us cruisers, the current name of the island is Suwarrow.

More pictures of Anchorage Island: