The Central Pacific - Pacific Crossing Notes: A Sailor's Guide to the Coconut Milk Run - page 289

9. The Central Pacific
• Connecting the Dots in the South Pacific
• Trash or Treasure? The Sailor's Book Swap
• The Spice of Life: What's the Rush?
• Niue: the Rock of Polynesia
• A Tongan Feast
• Green Wakes: VEPA Leads the Way in Tonga
• The Spice of Life: the Boater's Barter Economy
Reefs, reefs, and more reefs: in this section, we cover an area we loosely term the “Central
Pacific,” including the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tonga. But along with the navigational
challenges come an artist's palette of incredible greens and blues, genuine island folk, and
unique sights both above and below the waterline.
It's also an area of choices that divides the cruising fleet. While some maintain a westerly
course, calling in at Suwarrow and Samoa, others dip south to visit Aitutaki, Rarotonga,
Palmerston, Beveridge Reef, and/or Niue. Each of these remote specks on the charts have