The Cook Islands|
Again it was difficult to leave another paradise with such nice people, good fresh fish to eat and plenty of coconut water … but we sadly said our goodbyes and sailed 350 miles west in the vast Pacific ocean to meet a new land for us, but long ago discovered by Captain James Cook – the Cook Islands. Aitutaki Island was a really great stop for us, after a long 3 day crossing it felt good to see land again. We anchored outside on a mooring buoy because the pass was narrow and very shallow in some parts and too risky to navigate in our boat. Life became easier communication wise as English is the official language here.
Once we cleared paper work with immigration we were free to explore the island. Winds came up from the south east so we took all our windsurf and kite gear to a small Motu that had beautiful turquoise water and a few coconut trees in the centre with some sea birds hanging on them surrounded by sand banks, making some great, really flat water areas to ride in and great for freestyle and blasting.
Since we still had a lot of miles to navigate until Tonga, we decided to shorten our stay and depart to Beveridge Reef that was 450 miles west from us. Beveridge Reef, often called “the loneliest anchorage in Oceania”, is an atoll with a horse-shoe shaped lagoon about 6 nautical miles long from north to south and 2 nautical miles from east to west, with a depth between 10-15 metres. It is only a coral ring submerged most of the time, with a shallow lagoon inside, one pass, no land, nobody living there, and no detailed navigation charts; basically a lost place in the middle of the Pacific with only us anchored. We arrived with some good winds, about 25 to 30 knots, offering again some great conditions for freestyle inside the lagoon. Just next to where I was sailing there was a ship wreck from a long line fishing vessel; a place so remote as this with no land around makes you really appreciate how vulnerable you are in this big ocean. We had 62 knots in one night, it was crazy windy and we had to turn the engines and gear them forward a bit to support the anchor and make sure we were not dragged onto the reef like the other vessel. The good thing was that the wind kept blowing for days after the storm, lighter of course but it was about 28 knots and I finally had the chance to windsurf in this beautiful lagoon with a 4.6 KS3 Hot sail and my 90 litre freestyle board.