Pacific Odyssey - Leg 3

I am somewhat overwhelmed as to how to describe our time on Palmerston Atoll the past 2 days.  Last night, some of us returned very late at night to the ship after ´dance practice,´ which happens 3 times a day, in preparation for the barbecue and ´show´ we had today with the islanders.  Our hosts, Cory and Jock, took us so incredibly skillfully through the winding coral heads and then the pass, in the dark, to the Grace, with only the occasional 30 second check with the flashlight. The islanders grow up living with the sea and it´s instinctual how to respond to it.  As in Pitcairn, the islanders are the transportation between the outside of the reef where the boats anchor, and the island, where we are housed in their homes.  Everyone has had a chance to sleep on the island.  We are staying an extra night so we can fill their beautiful church tomorrow, plus, they asked if we would, and we didn´t need much of an excuse to stay longer in a true paradise.  Palmerston is a flat, sandy island with many coconut trees.  They also grow bananas, papayas, taro root, and breadfruit.  The sand does not allow them to grow vegetables, so they need to bring them in and often ask boaters from Rarotonga if they can bring them over.  The fish are plentiful and each family fishes for themselves as well as for export to Rarotongan fish markets.  Parrot fish are the only fish they export.  They fillet them immediately and vaccuum pack and freeze them for shipping.  Parrot fish is a very white fish that is absolutely delicious; we´ve had it a few times already.  Their diet is simple, they supplement it with pork or chicken when they butcher one of the island penned pigs, or one of the free ranging chickens. They have a supply ship come in every 2 to 3 months from Rarotonga, which comes from New Zealand, and this brings the bulk of their supplies. From food to building supplies to house, and school supplies to washing machines, and other appliances to parts for their boats to clothing etc. Once the supply ship arrives, everything is loaded onto the 20-22ft aluminum boats which then run through the pass and the zigzagging coral heads, with their cargo, back to the island; it´s an incredible feat, and I can barely get my mind around it.  There´s always spray, so everything needs to be waterproofed, and once it´s on the beach, it needs to be brought to the houses and then unpacked and stowed!  Never complain about your shopping!  The homes are one floor, simple dwellings, with many windows that the breeze can blow through.  Most of them have extra beds ready for people to come ashore; they are incredibly hospitable.  There are large tables with benches set up inside and outside, with tarps for shade and protection from the rain.  Everywhere there are palm trees and tarps, and while we were here, there was a constant wind blowing, which made being on the island very comfortable.  The ocean is always close as the motu is only 1km wide. We walked around the perimeter; it is beautiful . . .  soft sand, coral in the lagoon, so many hues of blues, turquoise and greens in the lagoon and in the distance, the motus in a ring, creating the atoll.  All the islanders live on the one motu, they always have.  William Marsters lived with his 3 Maori wives from the Cook Islands on this island, dividing the land in 3 for each of the family groups.  These 3 divisions still exist and are in operation today, i.e. each has a graveyard, members own land only in their section, as a woman, you marry out of your section to your husbands section, the land is looked after and tended by the family on it, each division has a head.  When we got to the island, Bob, the mayor, divided us up in groups of 2 and 3 and assigned us to a family.  We went to our family´s home and were given something to drink, usually a chilled drinking coconut (ice circling the opening) and then fed.  We had several hours to chat with the family, play with the 25 kids, and walk around the island, usually meeting and chatting with more of the islanders.  Slowly one gets to know who belongs to whom, we loved it.  We visited the school and the church, both recently built and nice looking.  They have very good intentions with their education program, hoping to give the younger generation a chance to find work easier, to have more marketable skills than the parents feel they have.  The kids are extremely happy to have so many young people on the island and some of the trainees constantly have a trail of kids behind them, or kids hanging all over them, or are holding one in their arms.  It´s great.  Everyday at 1600hrs there is volleyball.
Beside the volleyball court is the soccer field, and while we´ve been here, there is a game happening in both courts simultaneously.  Every age plays here and we´ve had a lot of fun playing together. They have some very strong players.  Dance and music are a large part of their island culture; they teach both at the school and spent quite a bit of time teaching us. At the barbecue today we had to perform in front of everyone.  Their girls and their boys, whom they referred to as ´island boys´ and ´island girls´ danced for us, and we danced our practiced dances for them, amidst howls of laughter from everyone.  It was a lot of fun.  Their little ones, as young as 3 yrs. old were incredibly cute doing the dancing as best as they could as they´ve been brought up in it.  Most islanders have showers and wringer washing machines. They hang the clothes up on lines, which are everywhere under the tarps, in case of rain.  They collect water in cisterns and most homes also have a well, which has been providing fresh water for a very long time. The islanders take great pride in their island and everything is immaculately kept. The walking roads are swept once a week, each family being responsible for a section.  They have street lamps and minor lights lighting up some of the darker spots on the island between the homes in the more wooded section.  They have arranged coconut husks, older whole coconuts, and lengths of coconut trunks as edges to roads and gardens, just as we would make rock walls, borders etc.  It´s a wonderful place to walk about in.  Their power is supplied by a generator which runs from 0600-1200 and 1800-2400hrs.  Everyone has freezers for the foodstuffs they order in bulk from New Zealand.  Tonight, after the barbecue and the dancing, we played a volleyball and a soccer game and then the crew was brought back to the ship while the trainees have another night on the island.  Tomorrow at 0900hrs, Cory and Jock will come to pick us up for church and one more meal with our host families.  We have had the most amazing visit here; from trainees and crew I hear repeatedly that this is the best island so far, both in terms of beauty and the ability to get to know the people who live here.  It is a chance in a lifetime to experience what we have experienced here. We leave tomorrow afternoon for Samoa, if the wind stays as it is tonight.  I think this is it.  Tomorrow night I´m hoping to get some impressions from the trainees and crew on their stay here.  Until then, good night,  Bonice.