Special Taxation in Suwarrow

At the remote island of Suwarrow, the whole of which is a national park in the northern Cooks, sharks are accustomed to humans in the main anchorage. "We would normally have two to six black-tip reef sharks cruising lazily by the boat," explains Wayne Wilson and Susan Leader of the B.C.-based Selestra 50 Daydream, who recently spent three wonderful weeks there.

"When we went for a swim they tended to let us get a lot closer than normal before they turned away. We didn’t feel threatened, but always tried to keep an eye on them. If one headed toward us, we would always swim toward it." Nevertheless, Wayne and Susan had no doubts that these sleek marauders were potentially dangerous, as illustrated by the "shark tax" which was taken from a young fisherman’s catch.

Look for a thorough report on Daydream‘s visit to Suwarrow in an upcoming edition of Latitude 38. And remember, every issue of the magazine can be downloaded for free from the website.