An inter-island cargo run
Englishman, David Blackmore writes about his trip to Mauke on Taio Shipping’s Maungaroa II. David is now based in Bend, Oregon, USA but also has a home in Granada, Spain. He is a construction project manager who travels extensively. He has traveled throughout the South Pacific and this is his third visit to the Cook Islands. He first visited in 1986.

A gentle rolling motion sets in as Maungaroa II slips its berth in Avatiu on a heading for Mauke.
Quickly the waters turn to a deep aqua blue reflecting the great depths of over 4,000 metres that give testament to the colossal volcanic seamount of Rarotonga that the majority of Cook Islanders call home. A lone fishing vessel disappears into the night then we are alone with the wind and the stars. Although many things have changed in the thousand plus years since the great voyages of the vakas, some things will always stay the same notably the ever changing weather. Maybe it is this phenomena that ties those ancient mariners to those seafarers of today. A type of calmness and stoicism in facing the uncertainties of life at sea.
Thirty hours on the Captain radios in to Mauke. The huge supply barge for the harbour project is blocking the narrow inlet making our prospects for unloading slim. Discussions for moving the barge or letting the island lighter out past it soon fade. So we head north east to Mitiaro. By the time we arrive at Mitiaro, the storm that took down trees on Rarotonga is at hand. A barge of wood and assorted goods is craned onto the island craft. The sea is wild with huge waves surging through the passage. Turning is everything as the helmsman adeptly reads the waves, first holding back then thrusting forward hard on the throttle in between the surf. It takes five minutes of intense maneuvering to land the craft and steady it in the churning water. Once unloaded we head back to Maungaroa II but this will be the last journey of the day as it is just too dangerous.
Back on board we drift out offshore through the night, careful eyes at both the helm and engine room. Come the morning the boat heads back to the island passage. Conditions are still challenging but marginally better, so agreement is made to unload. With great skill and patience, pallet after pallet is boomed onto the waiting barge tied up alongside the cargo boat and taken ashore to be craned off onto a waiting rusty Hino lorry and a trailer pulled by a tractor, and then dispatched in the village. Last is the fuel which has to be pumped and decanted in a large metal container plus a few oil drums. With the two boats heaving up and down this is no simple task, but the job gets done and all is well.
The lone turtle we passed on the way in was eclipsed by a breaching whale as we skirted along the reef on the south west side of Mitiaro. Time and again its fluke held high above the water followed by huge splashes and diffused spurts of water from its blow hole; a magnificent sight from time memorial.
A six hour crossing and another night of drifting with watchful eyes again at the helm and engine, revealed the dawning skies above Mauke. With the new harbour project continuing the wharf is in a state of disrepair. At first Maungaroa II pulls alongside the huge barge from Fiji that now waits half a mile out at sea. It becomes apparent that this operation to transfer the cargo to it is not safe, so the aluminum craft comes out from the island to dispatch the goods, again a tricky maneuver given the state of the dock, but professionalism wins the day and all is delivered including the much awaited fuel.
On shore Noel McManaway, part owner of Pacific Building Solutions and Lee Oliver, site supervisor, sit in front of their laptop computers taking the occasional phone call. They are two of seven foreigners here to run the project to improve the landing access to the island of Mauke. All the rest of the labour is local and they only have praise for them saying the workforce is willing and able and learn fast. This is reciprocated by the workers who are happy to have the opportunity to help their community and earn some dollars. In a nutshell, this project is a win, win, situation that will be repeated in Mitiaro once the Mauke project is completed about the end of September.
Heavy equipment has etched out a big landing area, which is being cemented, and large prefabricated slabs will form the new seawall, while the channel is dredged out to 3m and 2.5m at the landing. Sand has not needed to be imported as the local coral above the sealine, is being crushed to mix with the cement. Any residual salt is taken care of by a chemical additive. The desalination plant the company brought with them has not been used on Mauke due to the good and so far abundant water from the local aquifer; however, it will come in to use on the Mitiaro project which will start about the end of September. All going well, Mitiaro should have its new improved landing completed by mid to late November this year.
Back on Maungaroa II with all goods dispatched, the journey begins home to Rarotonga. With the seas now calming down we make good time heading back and although some days behind schedule, the mood on board is good, and as we dock after sundown, six days after leaving, it is smiles all round as family await the crew. So ends yet another inter-island trip of Taio Shipping. Tapi is there making a point to welcome us all back, and wishing the engineer a happy birthday. It occurs to me as I watch my own nation in turmoil, as I watch the city of London burning, and on the same day that the vakas arrived in San Francisco, USA, that among this crew of well traveled South Pacific islanders, that all are family and all are accepted and valued for their crucial part in making these 15 islands a nation; a nation connected with a common goal, heritage and culture. A proud nation, small in numbers, large in stature, called the Cook Islands. May you live on. Kia Orana.

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