Suwarrow

Suwarrow is an uninhabited atoll in the northern Cook Islands declared a national park in 1978, and it is known because Tom Neale, a New Zealander, lived there alone for a total of some sixteen years across three stays from 1952 and wrote a book about it. Caretakers are stationed there in the yachting season. Seabirds nest on the motu in very large numbers and the lagoon holds sharks and manta rays.

History

Polynesians lived on Suwarrow in prehistory, but it was empty when the Russian-American Company ship Suvorov, said to have followed clouds of birds, reached it on 17 September 1814, and the atoll took the ship's name, that of General Alexander Suvorov; it has been lived on only now and then since. In the mid-19th century salvage workers from Tahiti dug up a box of coins here. In 1867 Captain Handley Sterndale landed with 23 islanders engaged on Rarotonga to gather pearl shell, bêche-de-mer and copra, and when their supplies ran out and their ship never came back, Bully Hayes took them off on the brig Rona in April 1868; in 1876 the atoll was leased to Henderson and Macfarlane of Auckland, who built a wharf, set up a light on a wooden pyramid and gathered mother-of-pearl (Wikipedia, Suwarrow).

The landscape

• The Tom Neale story - the years spent living alone on the atoll from 1952.
• The seabird colonies - the very large nesting populations on the motu.
• The lagoon - the water holding sharks and manta rays.
• The park status - the national park declaration of 1978.

When to go

May to October is the yachting season when caretakers are present. The atoll is closed and unstaffed the rest of the year. Cyclone season runs November to April.

Practical notes

There is no way to get there except by yacht, and permits are required. The atoll is closed outside the caretaker season. There are no facilities of any kind.

Nearby

Manihiki is northeast, and Rarotonga is far south.

Key facts