Sept 23rd & 24th -

Sept. 23rd – Aitutaki

We’re still anchored in an open roadstead out side the reef of Aitutaki,
the Cooks Islands. Great friendly people and they all speak English so
communication is much easier than my broken French. Brimman and I are
renting motorcycles today to tour the the island. We have checked out of
the Cooks and Saturday we will probably leave for Nuie 470 NM due west.
Yesterday was a very successful day as after many conversations by phone
with Rick at BALMAR I was able to fix the engine charging system. After
doing many tests it seemed to be burnt out Diodes but during the
disassembly of the alternator it turned out to be a wire from one of the
brushes that had come unsoldered from its connection. For the pass 7
days we had been relying on the only the solar panels for supplying our
electrical needs and recharging our batteries. The last two days of our
passage it required our using our windvane to steer the boat as the
autopilot required too much electricity. We celebrated our sucess by
watching two DVD movies last night loaned to us from some other cruisers
in the anchorage.

Sept 24th – Impressions of the Cooks Islands and their people

We departed for Nuie this afternoon flying a spinnaker almost dead
downwind heading due west at 4.5 to 5.5 Knots.
Yesterday was full of exploration for Brimman and I on our motorcycles.
We traveled to the highest peak on the island 124 Meters or about 400
feet. The final part required a hike to the top. Brimman left his mark
by scratching his name on a rock at the peak and me leaving my mark by
laying the bike on its side and scratching my right arm and leg and
leaving some of my blood on the rocks on the way down. After exploring
narrow bumpy forest roads we separated. I managed to find two Maraes
hidden in the island’s jungles and Brimmann managed to find and hangout
with a beautiful Australian girl on the beach for three hours.
The island’s population is about two thousand and decreasing as people
are moving to New Zealand for more opportunity. Maybe it is different if
you were born, raised, and have lived here all your life but many of
these people do not see the exceptional life they have here on this
small 30 mile long island.
The landscape is green forests and jungles fringed with mostly white
sand beaches with aqua green lagoons all surrounded with waves crashing
on coral reefs and is extraordinarily beautiful. Ho hum, just another
outrageous island in the Pacific. But it isn’t that way. Each one is
different, unique. Has its own character.

Love
Jim