Birthday Party
Memorial service
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We arrived here Wednesday afternoon at about 3 PM.
It was blowing stink of course. We broke the whisker pole the night
before in a gust of about 35 kts. Spent 4 hours lashing down the two
halves and then unwrapping the genoa. It was a monster. I gave up
several times. Just didn’t seem possible with the wind and the rolling.
Ended up unwrapping the halyard, then cutting off the third sheet, then
finally unwrapping the two sheets. Once they are unwrapped the jib starts
to fill and there you are with the two sheets in hand like a wild horse.
It took a few tries at that, followed by rewraps before we were able to
run the sheet and then sheet in a bit. Then I put turns back on the
roller furling and bit by bit we rolled it away.
On closing with Palmerston, we hailed the island and
were met with “Welcome to Palmerston. Welcome home.” It was either Aka or
Sarah. They sent James and Less out to meet us. Actually, there was a
race from the nightly volley ball game when they all spotted our sails.
Melbourne was with the boys and he hailed us on their handheld. They told
us how to approach the anchorage and then waited for us at the spot that
they chose for use. As we closed in, James pulled along side and dropped
Melbourne and Less off. Less came forward to ask if I needed help with
the anchor and Melbourne stayed aft with Sarah. They told us just where
to drop the anchor and after a few tugs it set very well. (Less dove it
the next day and said that it was set alright, in fact when we want to go,
call him first to free it.) Edward and Correy and another pulled up on
the other side of the boat to chat. We unloaded our boxes, mostly for
James’s boat but some for Edward’s. There was a definite feeling of
competition in the air. After a while, when we said that we would not be
going into shore that night, James pulled away. Edward stayed. They
asked if we had any gasoline to sell. I said that we didn’t and that if
we did, it should go to James boat. Later James and Less were really
pissed off about that. They said that Edward had no business staying
after we said we weren’t going in, and that it was not on to ask for
petrol. Saying that it was to buy was an old trick. We sensed
immediately some real family hassles. Even though James and Edward are
from the same family (East).
Let’s get on to the politics. We talked with Simon
and his mother. They are not happy with the council etc. They say that
they are not being represented and that they are worried about people
getting claims to their land through marriage rather than blood. It all
sounded very reasonable, they never said who they had the problem with, so
we went back to the blue house and started asking questions. It was the
next morning, during the bird collection on Bird Island that I told James
we had been talking with Simon and that he had some problems. James took
a deep breath and told me that he had some things to explain.
There are some bad feelings around. They really got
hold in the early 90’s. John James (JJ, Aka’s husband) died in 1994.
They had just had parliament approve the devolution act which put all
power to the island governments. During the 80’s, the island council was
elected. One representative from each family, chosen by the family. Big
problem is that the head of the family, senior male, had all of the power
over the land. Each family has 1/3 of the island. No one owns any land
(this stuff is from Mayor George Marsters). When you are born on the
island, you get a share of your families land. If you change families,
such as through marriage when the woman goes with the husband’s family,
you give up your share in the one family but pick one up in the new one.
A woman by the name of Jane Dean was the government representative, after
JJ, living on Rarotonga. She wanted the democratic style government.
There is some real interpretation problem. Simon’s gang say that you have
a share due to your blood only. George and the blue house, and David Tom
Marsters, say that the tradition is that you move with your husband. If
he dies the wife has the choice of what family to be with, her original
family or stay with the husband’s family.
George is the new mayor. The council members choose
the mayor. He is one of the council. His vote is the tiebreaker if the 6
votes split. The head of each family is the oldest male, unless he
declines in which case it goes to the next most senior. The second
council member can be male or female. They have the say in all matters.
Now that the budget is in the hand of the islanders they can dissolve
agencies if they want. George said that the Agriculture would be chopped
immediately. So we have George and his wife as the two from the West
family. He is 40 and she is 36. They are the two elders of their family,
as his dad doesn’t feel capable. The East family has Joseph (Simon’s
uncle) and his wife. The Middle family has David and _________. There is
no representation of the people other than through the family head. “As
it always was and as is correct.” Says George.
George has had Jane removed from government
representative and Bill was acting for a while. George wrote a letter
pointing out that Bill did what Jane asked. Now it is Melbourne as the
GR.
And at the chapel it is the same. George is the
leader, Melbourne and the rest of the Blue house are there, but no Simon
or family, and no Bill or family. In fact it is just the Blue house,
George, and David’s house. But note that with that they have the three
families represented.
September 30, 1998
We are doing chores on what was to be our departure
day, waiting to hear if they will pick us up after searching for whales.
Nan and Hoyt from the Whale Institute in Lincoln, MA have been here doing
a pilot study of the local humpback population. It was previously
undiscovered, they think. So they have been taking photos and video of
the whales from above and below the surface, and got some skin samples
floating in the water.
Yesterday we joined Less and James and Bob and Tupo
for fishing up at North Island. We actually went for a family walk on the
island while they fished. They were in waist deep water with a net and a
spear. They caught about 50 fish, mostly mullet with a few parrot fish.
We wandered around the west side of the island, looking at schools of
little mullet and eels. Then on to the island looking at the coconut
palms, growing everywhere. We got thirsty and decided to harvest a few.
Lots of hard work getting them opened up, but we did it. Three nuts
cracked. Good milk in two of them, sour in the third. Good meat too.
Then we watched two hermit crabs fighting for some meat. We got back to
the boat when we saw the fishermen return. They were gutting the fish
there at the boat, just inside the reef. After a few minutes James told
me to get into the boat. There were several sharks around us. Four and
five feet. The mullet blood apparently drives them crazy, more than the
other fish.
Back at the island we went to Bill’s house to get our
wood to splice the whisker pole. He was really helpful, cutting a nice
straight piece and then using his electric planer to smooth it out. We
talked about getting to the yachties to claim them. I told him that the
Blue house has some stuff coming on Glory Days but that Shoktee was
arriving today and so far unclaimed. He said he also had goods on Glory
Days and there was no advanced claim. The rule is the first one on the
boat. When the single hander Gill on Sang Froid came Bill’s son Alex went
out with Graham from Phase Three, and Edward was out there representing
Simon’s family. Alex wanted Graham to close with the boat and board it
way out but he said it was too rough. So even though they were easily the
first on the scene, Edward came up and got someone on the boat to claim
it. Graham protested to Bill, but he agreed with the outcome, first on
the boat. I asked him if they could take turns with the yachts. No way.
He said that it didn’t matter if the Blue House got more because once the
Yacht Club was up and running the yachties would be flocking there to
drink beer and play darts. It is a real competition to get the boats.
They say it is for hospitality only, and I am sure that is the big reason,
but of course there is also the issue of getting pressies from the guilt
ridden and overwhelmed guests. Each house has lots of evidence of yacht
visits, from books and video tapes to tools and watches.
We played volley ball as usual. The Stanfords all
played poorly. Sarah had a lot of trouble serving until Less said “ I am
gonna stand right next to you and watch this time.” Bang, perfect serve.
Towards the end of the last game, the sky opened up with a real downpour.
The teams thinned out, but we played on. We were down 6-14. James,
Corey, me and someone. We got the serve and scored a few, lost it, got it
back, scored a few, so that we were up to about 12-14. Then they served
and I dove and hit the ball . . . into my chin. End of game.
Back to the house for dinner, fresh mullet. When it
is fresh they just boil it and put some coconut sauce on it. We didn’t
like it as much as deep or pan fried, but it was nice. They served it
with some coconut patty things. Coconut meat shredded and mixed with
flour and fried. Great. After dinner we watched some video from Nan and
Hoyt of the new whales. First we had to convince George to interrupt his
viewing of Broken Arrow. The video was fantastic. Right here, astern of
Maggie. We had been watching from the surface and now we could see what
they were doing under the water.
The kids interviewed some of the family the other day
as a school project. Aka, Sarah, James and Less. They all did well.,
seemed to enjoy it.
Twin, the oldest living Marsters, currently on
Rarotonga, died in the night. When we went ashore we found Aka finishing
her walk around all of the houses on the island, telling of the memorial
service at the Blue House that night. We were in a quandry as to whether
or not we would truly be welcome there. It is hard to tell if these
people are being polite, or really want you. Aka said that the more
people that were there the better for the family. I asked Jock and she
said we should be there. I suggested to James that we stay on the boat
and he replied “So, you are not part of this family?” We decided to stay,
in our tatty clothes. People started arriving at about 6:30. We had
spent the afternoon at Bill’s, talking family tree. Every house brought
some food, cakes or bread, or soup or something. We were even allowed to
help in the kitchen preparing rolls. It was a real buzz there. Very low
voices, but lots of activity and a general good feeling. The oldies
gathered in the lounge and the young in the kitchen. They had so much
food. At 7 or so we gathered into the lounge. Typically, we were taking
seats in the lounge that the family should have been in, but we were
grateful. George led the service, with hymns and prayers similar to
church. Aka did some great singing, first we had heard her singing. No
words really about Twin from anyone from George. All families were
represented, in fact all islanders were there except Simon and old
Joseph. It was a great feeling, I told several people that this must be
the old feeling of the island, and that this is what the council should
work to bring about now. The old timers seemed to agree, as did all of
the women, George looked at me somewhat blankly.
Eating followed the service, lots of “Help Yourself”
going around. Jock and her friends had fun making fun of me pigging out.
There was some great food, from cakes and bread to fresh fish and a nice
spicy soup. The men, me included, gathered outside of the kitchen door
after the food. It was a light and happy atmosphere. The oldies had
regrouped in the lounge to sing more hymns and the kitchen was full with
the young ladies. It was fun, felt like there was liquor present, but
there was none. Silly jokes got great responses. I noted that we were
leaving the next day. Also noted that my birthday was Saturday. Well,
that stopped it. They held a vote and it was unanimous that we should
stay through the weekend, and leave after the tourist boat on the Monday.
We returned to the boat feeling very happy and really
grateful to have been invited in to such an event. It was very special
and a good note to leave on, in Sarah’s opinion.
The next morning we had a long discussion/family
meeting on whether to stay or go. It was very hard, I wanted to stay, for
obvious reasons. Emma wanted to stay to play with her new friend Tya from
Bob and Tupo’s house. Sarah felt we had done the island and it was time
to move on. Bronwen didn’t know and Douglas was agonizing over making any
decision. Finally after much debate and Sarah and I taking turns offering
the other’s choice, we had a private vote, paper marked and put in a
bowl. A “+” to stay and a “-“ to go. It was unanimous to stay. Tears in
my eyes. Sarah hugged me and said “Happy birthday, sweetheart.”
That day things seemed to change on the island for
us. We were very knowledgeable and knew all about getting around etc.
Just as well as the Blue House was busy with the Whale boat. We were
actually a bit stranded on Margarita. Some new boats arrived that day and
Friday: Shoktee, Max, Sarah, Freebooter, and Sybelious.
We put Ieuan together to get some independence. Got
all fired up and charged off towards Bird Island. It was still blowing
about 20 from the East so the lagoon was a very wet ride. We had to
cruise at a low speed to keep the spray down. Took about 75 minutes to
get there. Great to arrive, nice shelter and such a great island paradise
there. A gorgeous motu. We landed on the motu just to the South of the
main Island and started hunting for birds. Found lots of them. Should be
some great shots. The mommas and papas were flying all around overhead,
along with some other birds
On my birthday I woke at 6:30 to try and get some
fish. Douglas woke and we went off in Ieuan to troll off of the reef
point, West of town. Back and forth many times with no luck. Only thing
we caught was the bottom. It was fun though, a great sunny morning,
Palmerston in the background. We also got to watch a new boat get
caught. I think it was Roland on Sybelius. When we returned I opened all
presents. Great stuff, new shirt, hat, pens, screwdriver and a diving
knife. It was fun. We got organized to go into the island and then Rod
from Glory Days called to see if I wanted to join him spearfishing off the
pass. We had a lot of fun. After I got into the water I noticed a white
tipped shark about 4 feet or so. It made me think that spearfishing in
this area might not be the best idea. We talked about it and decided to
stay until it got ugly. So off we went. It was really pretty cool, I
found a few schools of Parrot fish in the deep water at the pass, but it
felt too far from the boat, hard to get back with a dying bleeding fish.
Rod speared a nice one, it grew in his mind’s eye, but it somehow worked
off of the shaft and was promptly eaten by a larger shark. After that
incident they grew in numbers and mass. There were a couple about 4 feet
and one at 5 and one of at least 6 feet. They seemed very timid, but
there is no doubt in my mind that if I had a fish on the Hawaiian sling I
was using, they would get it. Less and James say that if you worry about
the shark you might lose your fish and your life, just think big and worry
about your fish only.
I went into the island to find Sarah (Stanford) and
Sarah Marsters and Bronwen at the kitchen table making those flower
things, a headdress and two lies. I thought that they were for the
tourist boat. In fact I asked Sarah M. and she let me carry on with that
thought. Outside I went with Douglas and later Bronwen to help James and
Less collect green coconuts for the tourist boat. Each family (of the
three) collected and prepared 50 nuts. When the boat arrived, they cut
open the top and offered them as drinks. It was fun watching Less climb
the trees. Douglas climbed a good sized one, say 18 feet, to knock down a
few nuts. I naturally declined. I peeled a nut in about 2 minutes using
a metal spike in the ground. James did one in about 3 seconds. Really.
We bought some lamb chops from Bill (he told the blue
house that he hadn’t any chops for sale) and watched the party
preparations. I still had no idea that it was for anyone but the blue
house. What a dunce. They invited all of the yachties and a few family
members. From the Marsters, George, Iopa, Carl and Mata, and the Blue
House: Sarah, James, Les, Melbourne, Jock, Nooroa, Ati, JJ, with Aka
inside watching the two little ones. From the Yachties: Rod and Brenda
Glory Days, Gill Sang Froid, Guidot Freebooter, Skip and Cass Sarah, and
Thane and Coreen Shoktee; and then Nan and Hoyt. When Carl and Mata
showed up they came to me with a shirt and a shell necklace. The shirt
was a storebought, new flowery shirt, very nice and a perfect fit. So
sweet. I talked with Carl for a while about it. He does all of this
because we brought some things from Raro (nothing for him) and because if
we then leave he may start thinking that he missed his chance to be nice
while we were there. Wild.
It was a great party, they brought out a cooler full
of cold beer and then a few bottles appeared, probably from the yachties.
The food was great, grilled tuna steaks, lamb chops, sausages, roast
chicken, pasta, cakes. Sarah S made a chocolate cake and a banana bread
cake both with homemade frosting, but they sat on the table, indicating
something bigger. Melbourne talked and we all ate and then the cake came
out. I made a little speech, then Jock tried to make one and couldn’t
speak. I was next to her and she told me “Rub my back, rub my back.” But
it didn’t work, she was a mess. Sarah M. saying “Don’t be so silly.
Finish what you are saying.”
We sat with Sarah for a while. She said that the
beer was OK but she didn’t much like to see the hard liquor because she
wanted a good party. After a while James took all of the yachties
including our kids home. Nan and Hoyt and Melbourne and George and Iopa
and Carl. Lots of singing and guitar and Uke playing. What a hoot. I
had had Less drive me out to Maggie earlier to get some more rum. In a
spark of generosity that would later show to be a misjudgment, I grabbed
two bottles. At the beach I told Less to take one to Melbourne’s room and
hide it and I would bring the other to the party. Leaving one in
reserve. Less agreed, then took that second bottle to his own party at
Bob and Tupo’s house.
The ride to the yachts was reported to be very
entertaining. James was making announcements the entire trip out. He was
well oiled. “Attention ladies and gentlemen. This is James speaking.
You are in my hands. I am in charge of your safety or you danger. Do not
worry, I have made this trip may times, after more drink than this in my
younger ears. Now I am in my older ear.” He went on and on. Finally
people started ignoring. Him. After 40 minutes or so we called Maggie to
see if they were there ok. B answered saying that the trip out had been
fine and that they had just arrived and were all safely getting ready for
bed. She said James drove very slowly. James returned to the party
pretty well lit, with a new bottle that he “found on the beach.” He
started singing and playing the uke. Nooroa came out and seemed to be
having a great time with him. Sarah M seemed a little concerned and went
inside. George was shitfaced. Carl as well. Iopa seemed pretty clear
and Melbourne was sobering up.
We were the last non Marsters to leave, at about 1
am. The generator had been off since 12. I was smoking like a chimney
and we were singing things like Little Sister and Fire and listening to
lots of island music. I was concerned about who our driver would be.
George wanted to do it but that was out of the question. Finally
Melbourne and Iopa took us. I wasn’t sure at first, but it was a perfect
ride. I asked how many touches there would be, Iopa wanted to bet $10
that there would be none. He was correct of course.
The next day we found out that the party moved to
Bob’s place, with the extra rum bottle, and James went ballistic. He
punched Bob twice, knocking him off of his bench. Bob went inside to
bed. He then went after Iopa. Finally he started attacking the shack,
and wrecked the benches and a nice little fence around it. I was upset
that our excessive drink caused it. They simply drank all that was
available. Every last bottle around.
It had been a great party, lots of visiting, the
islanders had a blast as well. Guitar in the background, beautiful night
of stars and moon and palm trees. Family all around. And then to end it
by sitting around a small table with some Marsters, Nan and Hoyt was
magic. We were not quite one with them, but we got front row seats to a
Palmerston party.
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