Visit to Rarotonga, Cook Islands:

On our way to Rarotonga we had a rainy day and night, a dark and cloudy night, two windless days, mixed in with the sunny, bright, clear and breezy sailing weather. This gave our two visiting crewmembers the real flavor of life aboard Cosmos. The highlight of the passage was the 58" Mahi Mahi that Aaron got to reel in with Captain Joe's rod. This was the fishing rod that has become an enduring fixture on the stern of Cosmos, protruding from a rod holder that serves much more productively as a mount for the barbecue grill. This fish could not have picked a better time to visit us. In spite of our lack of experience in retrieving hooked fish, the whole crew of Cosmos went into action as a well oiled team; each participating in a significant manner. Aaron and Captain Joe worked together with rod, gaff hook, and aluminum bat, to land and club the fish. Then Aaron and Anton secured this monster to the after deck in preparation for cleaning and filleting. Captain Joe, Aaron, and Anton all shared the gutting, filleting, and cutting of steaks that were wrapped and placed in refrigeration. Don and I furnished the tools, buckets of water, sharpened knives, and handled the boat during this frenzy of activity. This all took place just before lunch on the 24th, so, I mounted the barbecue in the rod holder and we cooked fresh Mahi Mahi steaks for lunch.

 _____________________________________________________________________________

10/31/01: Rarotonga turned out to be a pleasant surprise. We had not heard as much 'hype' about the Cook Islands as we had about the Societies so we weren't expecting much. We attended a dinner, with Polynesian dancing typical of that in the Cook Islands, at the Edgewater Resort on the 27th. At one point during the dancing, the dancers went out into the audience and grabbed people to participate in a dancing contest. Cosmos was well represented but did not win the contest. There were people there from all over the world. We are encountering more and more New Zealanders as we get closer to their homeland.

Yesterday evening we left Rarotonga enroute to Nuku Alofa on the island of Tongatapu. So far, the sailing has been nearly perfect. This is about a 6-day trip.

 _____________________________________________________________________________

11/10/01: We left Nuka Alofa, Tongatapu, this afternoon. Fortunately, the trip from Rarotonga was a downwind sail, because a couple of days before we got there, the main halyard chafed through and the mainsail came crashing to the deck. After tidying up the sail and lines, we continued to sail on with the genoa and staysail. On the afternoon of the 4th, we sailed through water that, according to the chart, is 30,000 feet deep. (The Tonga Trough) Tonga was different than the other groups in that it is not supported by another country to the degree that the Marquises and the French Polynesian groups are, and the topography is rather plain. It is a shame that we didn't have time to visit more than one island at the Cook and Tonga group, but there are hundreds of these islands. It would take several years to see them all;....hmmmmm.

We took a van tour of Tongatapu Island yesterday and learned a lot of their history. These island groups are in step with the rest of the world in one respect though; they all brew their own beer. The French Polynesian Island groups have their Hinano beer. The Cook Islands have their Cooks Lager. Tonga has its IK Ale. Frederick, Maryland has its Blue Ridge brews.

Some of the chores that we had to do in Nuka Alofa Harbor were: set-up a new mainsail halyard, replace port genoa sheet turning block, add battery water, clean refrigeration cooling water strainer, straighten water generator propeller blade, address line and sheet chafe, replace bearing in water generator.

We are on our way to New Zealand. This is the last long passage of the first leg of Cosmos' circumnavigation of the world. It is a little over a thousand miles. I don't know whether we are nervous or just excited, but this sail seems special.

George