Sweet Soulful Special Suwarrow

I can't believe I almost skipped this spot because I was nervous it would be too crowded with too many social obligations (aka potlucks). Many blogs mentioned potlucks at Suwarrow, so I wasn't sure if they were a daily event and I'm not good at saying "no to potlucks" when I need more time alone. In our 10 day stay there were only between 6-12 boats anchored and only 2 potlucks, which I should add were a lot of fun. I understand now that cruisers write so much about these potlucks because they are so special. During the potlucks …
….cruisers sang songs they'd written about Suwarrow because they love the place so much
…..Harry played guitar
…..Charlie welcomed us with many words and Maori dancing
…..we ate fresh fish and coconut crabs
……we played games, sang, danced and just had a lot of plain old fun

I snorkeled daily off of the boat in crystal clear waters. It was a good way to check on our anchor and I enjoyed it immensely, even on our rainy days. I was treated to turtle, eel, shark and many fishie sightings. I even discovered that coral grows beautifully on sticks and branches.

We swam with giant manta rays who gracefully glided around us as we starred in awe. They come for a cleaning twice daily on a reef near the anchorage and snorkeling with them never got old.

Manta-Annie Collision Course. I felt like I was so close...

Like my new tattoo?

We went on beautiful walks. We had 4 days of rainy and windy weather and we took this walk during one of those days. You'd never guess it from the photo because we found the one blue patch of sky to photograph!

We made it to Suwarrow!

We played with beautiful children. We had lots of play-dates with these wonderful kiddos. Nothing beats hearing Teddy's voice on the VHF radio asking if we have time to play or feeling Poppy's hand reach out to hold mine as we walked along the beach side-by-side.

Thank you Harry and Charlie for being such wonderful hosts at this magical atoll. I loved the remote raw beauty of this island and my soul was truly happy at Suwarrow.

For more pictures of our Suwarrow stay, check out: https://picasaweb.google.com/chris.foxxxy/Suwarrow

Note: We've made the 700 nautical mile journey to the kingdom of Tonga (Vava'u Group). We look forward to exploring the nooks and crannies of this country in the coming weeks.