Palmerston is a small coral atoll about 200 nm west of Aitutaki and part of the Cook Islands. It has 37 residents and they are all descendants of William Marsters who came there in 1863 with three Polynesian wives. Initially, he was part of a company producing copra but in time he took over the local operations and was officially recognized as the sole lease-holder for the island. He built a church and 3 homes, one for each of his families and presided over all until his death in 1899.
Since then, the residents have always been his descendants and their spouses (who often came from Rarotonga (the capital of the Cook Islands) or New Zealand). Many of the inhabitants of Palmerston also maintain a place either in Raratonga or New Zealand, or both, and have family in these locations and Australia. So, in one sense, Palmerston is very isolated, but in another, it has strong ties to the capital, NZ and Oz.
The passage from Aitutaki to Palmerston was about 200nm. We had a good wind and following seas, so we made good time and it took us about 30 hours, arriving about 1500 on May 19.
When we arrived, we radioed the island and Edward Marsters picked up. He came out in his boat, greeted us and showed us where to drop the anchor. We were sitting over a long shelf, maybe a half mile long, 200 yards wide and 20 to 40 ft deep with a rocky bottom with good holding. We were very near the pass to get into the atoll but it is very narrow and I was more than happy to let Edward take us between Calista and the Island on his boat.
The first thing I needed to do was to fix the stbd engine. Again! Before the passage, I had made foam plugs that fit tightly into the exhaust pipes, where they exit the boat. I thought this would solve the problem. The waves slapping the side of the boat were much stronger than I thought. The plug on the stbd side had been forced into the pipe, where it turned sideways at a 90 degree bend, allowing water to get by. ARRGGHH! So I went through the process of pulling the fuel injectors, extracting the saltwater from the cylinders, putting it all back together and cranking away until it started. Again, my new jumper cables and spare Lithium Ion battery came in handy.
I am getting way too much experience at this. To ensure (I really hope) that I don’t have to do this again, I added acrylic caps to the foam plugs. These are rigid cylinders, larger in diameter than the foam plugs and all tied together on a pull string. There is no way the waves will force those inside. So that should be that! Really.
The next day, our friends Kasia and Lesheck on Xanadu, dropped anchor nearby. It was really nice to see them again! Over the next several days we had a lot of fun together, exploring Palmerston, meeting the people, snorkeling and having drinks in the evening.
Each day, we would talk to Edward on the radio, he would come out and help us plan our day. The first day was a tour of the island.
The roads, although not paved, are well maintained, very clean and even have a street light every few hundred meters. Note the lamp post in the center above.
The school was quite active with 12 children, age 3 to mid-teens. They have good internet and do a lot of online classes, especially for the older students. They frequently do group work with multiple ages in the group. The older kids are learning the more advanced concepts and assisting / teaching the younger kids. A great example is the “Clam Study” which is a multi-year project. A protected area of the lagoon has been marked off in squares. Periodically the students count the clams in each square, enter this into a database, and compare against previous years. The older kids take the younger kids out into each square, teach them the process for counting clams, and then check their work. Over the years, kids learn all the varied skills, including making reports with graphs and bar charts showing the trends. What a great way to train the next generation of scientists and team leaders! Check out more of what they are doing in the Lucky School Newsletters!
The school also has a hydroponics system growing all sorts of greens. Gardening is difficult in Palmerston because there is a fungus that takes nutrients from the soil, preventing most gardens from growing. Numerous times people have done a great job of supplementing the soil and starting a garden, only to have it die after a year or two because the fungus had found it’s way into the soil. Hydroponics is one way to solve that problem. Completely enclosed containers also works if you make sure the soil you start with is free of the fungus.
Edward lives in his family compound with two of his brothers, his sister (when she is in town – she was there when we arrived but left for Raratonga with the supply ship), his son and various nieces and nephews. He is the local police officer and has a fishing business where he and his son catch parrot fish and ship them to Raratonga, where another of this brothers sells them to local restaurants. Note the green 4×4 electric vehicle, a cross between a jeep and a golf cart. We also saw a couple scooters and one very big backhoe.
The town also has a large diesel generator, a room full of batteries and an array of several hundred solar panels. Most of the homes also have a generator for emergencies.
Vodaphone has a satellite uplink system that provides 4g cell phone connections across the island and they have wifi in the town center and at some of the family compounds. A few homes now also have Starlink.
William Marsters outlawed music and singing in church because after church, some people would go home and the music would turn into a party. Not acceptable on the Lord’s Day. So, to this day, there is no music or singing on the island on Sundays.
But they do enjoy singing and many residents play the Ukulele. The local “Operah House” has a style all its own!
Palmerston has a local clinic where Mele is the full time nurse. Peggy spent some time with her, discussing medical care procedures and helping her to meet a requirement for nursing continuing education. Peggy also assisted with some patient care for one of the residents. Mele is the only local medical staff and is doing a heroic job. Normally she does all the normal things you’d expect. Other times she needs to quickly determine if an emergency evac is needed, set that up and do the best she can to stabilize the patient to survive for the two days it takes the emergency medical ship to arrive. At other times her work includes talking doctors on passing cruise ships into giving her medicines and other supplies that she has run out of. (Yes, there are occasional cruise ships with over 200 passengers that stop at Palmerston!)
New Zealand supplies quite a bit of funding for Palmerston. I think I heard that about half adults on the island work for the government at least part time. This money comes from NZ (maybe through Raratonga?), as well as funding for infrastructure like the clinic and the emergency shelter. The shelter is a very solidly constructed two story building that the residents can use in case of a cyclone or tsunami. Mele is showing us the main room (above) where there are beds, a very large kitchen, emergency food and water, etc. The building is next door to Mele’s home which is also the clinic.
Talking to the residents it was interesting to hear about their extended families. Everyone has extended family living in Raratonga, NZ and Oz. Many of the adults had spent years in one of those locations themselves and keep homes in more than one place.
The arrival of the supply ship (once every 3 months) is a BIG deal and happened while we were there. The whole town was abuzz for days getting shipments ready and preparing for family members who would arrive or depart on the ship.
The ship anchored near us (there is no chance of it getting into the lagoon) and the residents spent the entire day running cargo from the island to the ship in their small boats. First, supplies of diesel, food, electronics, and many personal orders people had placed, were brought ashore. There are no stores or restaurants or commercial establishments of any kind (well, maybe the Vodaphone uplink would count?), so people need to find a way to ensure they are supplied with everything they need to get by until the next supply ship arrives.
After unloading all the supplies, cargo going from Palmerston was loaded. There were many large freezers full of fish. The supply ship also transports people – several arrived and a few left with this one.
We had a little lunch party on Calista with Lesheck, Kasia, Edward and Mele. Edward told us many stories of Palmerston and its people. He also played our Ukulele and sang some songs about Palmerston and William Marsters.
We also found some time to do some snorkeling. We went once in the lagoon and once from our boat, outside the lagoon. Outside was the better of the two.
We saw tons of fish, lots of nice coral, and a few large grey reef sharks. We want to stay away from them as they are unpredictable.
It will be hard to find a more unique place than Palmerston. The people are hard working, self reliant and incredibly nice. We will long remember the hospitality and warmth of the people in this very special place.
But now, it’s off into the west, looking for the next adventure. Niue. Or American Samoa. Or just Samoa? Let’s figure that out in the next post!
What an interesting place. Who would guess a family could control their own habitable island.\? It’s great you two got to really know some of the people there.