By George.Curtis2 - 30 Oct 2015
Nukunonu – 09°12.70'S, 171°15.05'W
The village elders like at least 4 weeks notice of arrival. I think this can be arranged through the yacht agents in Apia, Samoa. However, we gave 2 weeks notice of our arrival and were allowed to visit, and had the Chief and some elders on board for lunch as a thank you!
The villagers are very friendly as they do not get visitors often (a cruise ship has recently started to go there but only arrives once a year). They are happy to take you snorkelling in exchange for NZ$ and/or any spare alcohol. There is a post office on Nukunonu which is of some interest for Philatelists since they have their own postage stamps which are obviously quite rare. It is not possible to buy postcards however and we didn 't see any particular shops when there. We were able to buy fuel off the villagers which we transported in our own jerry cans, as we had very light winds there and back from Samoa with no time to refuel in Samoa beforehand. The local supply ship from Samoa regularly brings fuel so this was not too much of a problem; however we ensured that we bought extra fuel in Samoa as well on our return there that we put on the supply ship to replenish their stocks.
There is one mooring bouy off the main village on Nukunonu which is actually reserved for the ferry which arrives approximately fortnightly from Samoa. However if organised in advance it may be possible to use the mooring ball, although it is very close to the reef and some yachts may be wary of using it. Otherwise there are no anchorages and the only option is standing off the island.
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