Friday 6 August Palmerstone Island, Southern Cook Islands

We approached the village of Palmerstone from the north of the atoll on a fine beam reach just after breakfast. A VHF call came from Alpha Tango, the call sign for Bob Marsters, who'd spotted us as we rounded the north motu. Because Bob had made first contact and we responded we were now 'adopted' by our host family for the duration of our stay. To confirm his 'dibs' on us Bob motored out to welcome us to the island and then to wait at our designated mooring ball. When we arrived there were three yachts on mooring balls including Stuart on Imagine who'd come in an hour ahead of His host family was Edward.

The mooring balls at Palmerstone are a comfort for yachts and the cause of intense competition between the three families that own them. There are 6 balls all off the west side of the atoll. Counting from north to south they are owned, numbers 1 to 3 Bob Marsters, 4 and 5 Edward Marsters and number 6 Terry Marsters. Bob and his family are our hosts and he is the Mayor of the island council, although the council rarely meet because some members of the council have had an argument and aren't on speaking terms. Edward is the island's policeman and he and Bob fight hard & dirty to be the first to snag an arriving yacht. Terry is the island's Customs & Immigration officer and the church pastor. He's married to a NZ lady who is the school headmistress.

Palmerstone island is a unique one family community which we knew very little about before we arrived. In 1862 William Marsters from Lancashire settled here with his three wives from Penrhyn island in the northern Cook Island. William and his 3 wives produced 29 children and from this a settlement has evolved where everyone is related. Today there are 65 permanent residents of which 29 are children, plus the church minister and his wife here for a four year tour of duty, the headmistress's NZ parents on a 3 to 4 month holiday (it ends when the supply ship comes to deliver goods in about 2 weeks) and Daniel from Greenwich, London who's here for 6 months to write a paper on the community for his PhD in Ethnography. The islanders were keen for us to meet Daniel because they have had very few British visitors and consider themselves British. It turned out Daniel and us had far more in common than we expected. Where he lived in Greenwich, Ashburnham Grove, was a mile from my house and he left the same year we did, 2008. Sometimes it's a very small world.

Palmerstone island is the western island of a group of four islands making up the atoll. The atoll is at least 4 miles wide and 4 miles long. Palmerstone is the only one that is inhabited. The other, Bird island, Calcutta island and another are used for growing coconuts and the root crop taro. Palmerstone is divided into 3 parts; one for each of the original William's wives and her direct descendants. If a girl from one part marries a man from another part she moves to his house and leaves any claim to the part of the island where she was born. If she marries someone not from Palmerstone she has to leave and give up all her claims. More islanders live in NZ, Australia and the Cook Island capital, Rarotonga than have stayed behind. Every gravestone in the three cemeteries has the surname Marsters.

The island comes under the administration of New Zealand and therefore is a part of the Commonwealth. Palmerstonians are very proud of their British heritage and fly the Union Jack in the Customs & Admin office and, in our honour, they raised a Union Jack over the second oldest house on the island, William Marsters eldest son's house and where Daniel is living. The particular Union Jack was one of five that the Prince Philllip presented to the islanders in 1972 when he came on a visit on Royal Yacht Britannia accompanied by Lord Mountbatten.

They're supposed to have a supply ship visit every 3 months but with so few people to supply the cargo charges hardly cover the costs hence the longer periods between visits. To obtain their supplies the Palmerstone people send a shopping list by email or phone call with a transfer of funds to their relatives in Rarotonga who then go out and buy the goods, pack them in large chest freezers and deliver to the ship for transport. The supply ship off loads the chest freezers filled with food, clothes, household goods in Palmerstone and loads chest freezers filled with deep frozen fish the islanders have caught bound for the hotels on the big island. As an island they'll receive about £15k for 6 tonnes of fish. A unique fact; Palmerstone has the highest per capita ownership of chest freezers anywhere in the world. On the island they have two diesel powered generators that provide electricity for all the freezers, fridges, microwaves, breadmakers, TVs, sound systems, the one satellite internet and the one telephone on the island.

Telecoms installed a huge satellite dish for internet and phone. Internet is available when you sit at Bob's house. The signal doesn't reach further to the other houses. Telecoms installed a modern glass and aluminium telephone box but the telephone is 5 meters away on the wall under the verandah of an empty house, again close to Bob's. Apparently there was a phone in the box but the islanders prefer to sit on a chair on the verandah when they want to talk. When a call comes in one of Bob's family run to answer it. They ask the caller to ring back in 10 minutes and then call on the VHF radio to the person to come over to the phone.

There are sand roads around and across the island. It might be one mile to go completely around and it's densely covered with coconut palms interspersed with mahogany trees. They even have street lights to help the motor scooters and bikes at night. We've seen two small tractors, an earth digger, concrete mixers and a well stocked fire station come rescue station. This is not a poor community. We understand they receive aid from NZ and a good income from the fish they send to market. The school has 3 teachers and is well supplied with books and resources. They even have a tennis court.

On our first day in Palmerstone we cleared customs and immigration on board. Terry Marsters came out in his aluminium dinghy to do the paperwork and check our fridge and freezer for fresh fruit and meat which are not permitted to be imported by private individuals under Cook Island law. Simon Marsters came with him as the island council representative and to collect our NZ$5 (£2.50) each visitors fee. It goes towards island expenses like diesel for the generators. Once we were cleared to land Bob could take us shoreside to meet his family and an island tour. In the half hour before lunch we walked all over the island, saw William Marsters original house, a handful of original houses still left, the cemetery where everyone is a Marsters, a new health centre, a modern school and met other families living on the island. Back to the house for lunch with the family we met Bob's wife Tipo and their 4 children, daughters Taia (19 and ready to leave for Australia), Goldeen (15) and impish Myhou (8) and son Andrew (11) who has the longest hair on the island. It's never been cut in an attempt to make it into the Guinness Book of Records (they have a copy) as the youngest person with the longest hair. The dining room has a tin roof and no walls. The table is made from an old packing case nailed to two trestles with bench seats on either side and plastic garden chairs. I wouldn't say the people are big here but they have to stack one plastic chair on top of the other to make it strong enough. Bob is tall and broad and cuts a dash in his dirty t-shirt with a big hole exposing his big round belly. He smokes rollies constantly.

Lunch today was delicious parrot fish in batter, pasta with chunks of beef, what they call pikelets (my Mum gave us pikelets, or crumpets when we were young) which are mini pancakes with jam, and rice and barely flavoured orange squash to drink. Lunch is the main meal of the day and it's big and greasy. Hence Big Bob. Although we were tired from our 5 day sail and night watches we still went out fishing on the reef with Bob, Taia, Andrew and Myhou. They kitted us out with gum boots to wear in the water as protection from the coral. I had the wellingtons 8 year old Myhou had grown out of. What we didn't know until we got out to the reef was that the water was armpit deep. David and I both opted to watch the net casting and fish gathering from the dry of the dinghy. Fishing finished Bob took us out through the shallow reef passage to the deep water where Jackster was on her mooring ball. And lo, right next to our boat, between us and Imagine was a humpback whale and her calf resting on the surface! The mother had her side fin out of the water so we think she was suckling her calf. We'd been told this is the time of year to see them. The whales come here with their calves and to breed. Unfortunately the sound of the out board engine spooked her and she lifted her fluke out of the water to wave goodbye as she and the calf dived to deep water. Magic to see one so close. If she hadn't dived we were going to get our masks and snorkels and swim over. One seen and we'll be on the lookout for more later.