New friends on Palmerston Island

Just as the sun broke the horizon after a night of tumultuous seas, the cheerful call of "Land Ho!" could be heard throughout the boat. We had reached the island of Palmerston, home of the Marsters family, notorious across the Pacific for their kindness and hospitality. In Rarotonga, we had picked up one of the residents of the island, Edward Marsters, who had been looking for a boat that could take him back to his home for months. He filled the journey to Palmerston with good company and beautiful guitar and ukulele playing. As we proceeded towards the atoll, four boats approached our boat, the islanders expertly guiding us through the coral reef until we could safely anchor. They then loaded our crew and all of Edward's belongings into their small metal boats, ferrying us to their home.

We were welcomed with smiles and handfuls of candies called Minties which we'd be given by the bucket throughout our time on the island. With a total population of 43, the arrival of the Robert C Seamans had suddenly doubled the island's population. Everyone had gathered in the Palmerston Opera House, a structure with a palm frond roof built on the sandy beach filled with homemade hammocks and plastic chairs for an opening ceremony. The voices accompanying these new smiling faces melded together as they greeted us with traditional hymns. Each song had such complexity, yet each voice blended in perfectly to create a sound like nothing I've ever heard before. The mayor then explained that everyone in the crew was invited to stay with families on the island.

An especially smiley girl named Carlie introduced herself to us, inviting myself and three other students (Zack, Nate and Casey) to stay in her house. We grabbed our bags and followed her down one of the sandy roads. After showing us our beds, Carlie introduced us to her mom, Mary, siblings, Maeva and Ray Charles and her nephews, Dion, Robert, James and Aloysius. 

At first the kids were a little shy, but they quickly became less timid as they showed us their pet blue-footed boobies. They explained that they took the eggs from nests once a year and then each hatched, raised and trained one bird. James looked so proud as he introduced us to his bird, Cool James. The birds would leave once a day to go fish but seemed to come back every time. We were caught off guard as Robert let one of the juveniles bite his arm, prompting us to pet its white down fluff, promising he's used to getting bitten.

We were called away from the birds by Mary who told us it was time for church, handing myself and Casey fancy church hats. We removed our shoes at the entrance of the church, a mere 100-meter walk from our house, and were divided by gender into the pews. The pastor led a lovely, incredibly welcoming service, full of more passionate singing. Afterwards, they organized an opening ceremony for a rainwater treatment center funded by the German government. This was followed by a feast of barracuda, parrot fish, rice, breadfruit, coconuts and cakes that could feed hundreds. We spent the next days in paradise, playing soccer and cards with our host siblings, eating each meal with our warmhearted host families, finding endless hermit crabs, snorkeling on beautiful patch reefs with such high biodiversity including white-tip reef sharks and parrot fish, circumnavigating the island as the sun set, sleeping in beds that don't even move, laying on the beach at night, marveling at a sky full of more stars than I thought was possible.

I feel so grateful for the wonderful Marsters family for opening their hearts and homes to the entire Robert C Seamans crew. It was difficult to leave such a spectacular place with such special people, but I know we're all excited for the next seven days on the open ocean as we head towards Tonga and will hopefully one day have the opportunity to return to our new friends.

Chloe Peterson-Nafziger