“I chose to live in the Pacific Islands because life there moves at the sort of pace which you feel God must have had in mind originally when He made the sun to keep us warm and provided the fruits of the Earth for the taking.”
Tom Neale — An Island to Oneself
Photo by Behan
For most of us, moving to a deserted tropical island will always be a fantasy. For a select few, however, the fantasy became a reality.
A man that wanted something better
Tom Neale was one of those lucky few that lived out the fantasy. Starting in the 1950s, and continuing until 1977, Neale lived on Suwarrow Atoll, an unpopulated atoll located hundreds of miles from the nearest populated area, out in the Pacific Ocean, far from civilization.
Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Neale joined the New Zealand Navy when he was just 18. He joined just so he could explore the South Pacific. But, after just a few years, Neale wanted more.
He was tired of being bound by the New Zealand Navy’s schedule and rules. So, he bought himself out of the Navy and went exploring the South Pacific on his own.
Throughout the 1920s and 30s, he supported himself as a handyman and odd jobber. He eventually settled in Tahiti. In the early 40s, he moved to Rarotonga, the largest island in the Cook Islands. He moved there at the invitation of his friend, Andy Thompson, who connected him with a job as a fill-in store manager for a chain of Cook Islands grocery stores.
Neale meets Robert Dean Frisbie
Robert Dean Frisbie was a travel writer who wrote extensively about the South Pacific. He too lived in Rarotonga, and Frisbie and Neale became fast friends. Neale was a huge fan of Frisbie’s writing.
The two would often sit out on the porch of Neale’s Rarotonga home in the afternoons where Frisbie would talk about his south seas adventures. He mentioned to Neale one day how he and his family spent about a year on the Suwarrow Atoll. However, they had to leave after a hurricane blew through the atoll and devastated their home.
Neale was not discouraged by Frisbie’s warts-and-all story of living on a nearly-deserted atoll hundreds of miles from New Zealand. In fact, Neale relished the idea of living there himself someday.
Tom Neale: A brief history of his years on Suwarrow
1943 — In 1943, while living in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, Neale, then 40, meets up with travel writer Robert Dean Frisbie, who once lived on the Suwarrow Atoll. Inspired by Frisbie’s stories, Neale begins to formulate a plan to move to the atoll himself one day.
October 1945 — Hitching a ride aboard his friend Andy Thomson’s ship, the 100-ton schooner Tiare Taporo (Lime Flower, Neale visits Suwarrow Atoll and Anchorage Island for the first time. While on Anchorage Island, he checks out a hut that was used as a reconnaissance station during World War II and also notes it comes with two large freshwater tanks. With his hopes up, Neale starts planning the big move. When he gets back to Rarotonga, he starts saving his money and accumulating resources. His job as a fill-in shopkeeper for a Cook Islands grocery store chain helps tremendously. Neale is 42 years old.
October 1952 — Neale books a one-way passage to the distant and isolated atoll on the Mahurangi, a ship owned by an independent trader named Dick Brown. He brings all his equipment, food, and other supplies he bought in anticipation of moving to Suwarrow. Neale is 49, a month away from turning 50. Along with his supplies and equipment, he brought his two cats along, and plenty of books. He stayed there until a very serious back injury disabled him in May 1954. He was rescued when a couple of men yachting around the Pacific visited the atoll and discovered him.
June 1956 — Neale marries Sarah Haua. They have two children, Arthur and Stella. Having been rehabilitated, Neale falls back into his shopkeeping duties. He is around 53 years old.
Neale’s first return to Suwarrow Atoll… by himself
March — April 1960 — Neale returns to Suwarrow Atoll, by himself, better supplied and prepared for a longer stay.
But, he didn’t stay long. Neale returns to Rarotonga in December 1963.
Tom Neale came back because during this period. However, a group of pearl divers began visiting the atoll. To Neale, it spoiled the beauty and the serenity of the place. He also was quoted in a news article acknowledging his age was also a factor, and that he did not want to die alone on the island. He is around 61 years old when he returns to Rarotonga.
1963-1965 — Around this time, Neale, with the help of author Noel Barber, writes a book about his two stays on the atoll. It becomes a bestseller.
June 1967 — 1977 — Neale came back to the atoll in June 1967. He’s 65 years old. Ten years later, he was found ill by yachters visiting the island. He was taken to a hospital in Rarotonga. He died eight months later, at the age of 75, of stomach cancer.
1978 — Suwarrow Atoll is designated a national park by the Cook Islands government. A famous French sailor and author, Bernard Moitessier, a friend of Neale’s made a monument to Neale. It is on Anchorage Island in the atoll.
Download Neale’s book for free
To know the complete story, you will have to read Neale’s book, “An Island to Oneself.” The original version is long out of print, but, a friend of Neale’s made a free ebook out of the original. In the ebook, the friend also included a chapter written by him about his relationship with Neale. Another chapter is written by one of Neale’s daughters. The book also includes a reprint of an article by reporter Noel Barber based on a visit Barber paid Neale during Neale’s second stay on the atoll.
Barber also helped Neale write the original version of “An Island to Oneself.”
Reality vs. Fantasy: Living on a deserted island is harder than you think
Read between the lines
Reading the book and the articles online, if you’re observant, you’ll see that quite a lot of factors came into play that allowed Neale to pull it off.
Among those factors were relations with a government that tended to look the other way.
There’s a scene in the book between Neale and a Rarotonga Island government official that paints a perfect picture of what the government really thought of Neale’s exploits.
Then, there was his family situation. If you read the original version or any of the articles online, you may have been wondering how Neale was able to just pack up and leave without his wife and family objecting. The online version of the book clears up the mystery.
Getting to the atoll
You would think Neale’s book would have created waves of tourists to the atoll, but that was never the case. To this day, Suwarrow can still only be accessed by private yacht or cargo ship.
When Suwarrow Atoll was made into a national park in 1978, access was formally restricted and enforced, and it’s still like that now.
This was to protect the atoll’s habitat as well as visitors to the atoll. Park rangers were assigned to Suwarrow, and the number of visits to the island was closely monitored and regulated.
Visitors are not allowed to stay on the atoll overnight.
Not that access to the remote atoll was easy in the first place. To this day, the only way you can get there is just how Tom Neale did way back when… by yacht or cargo ship.
The paperwork starts with your entry to the Cook Islands, whether you get there by plane or boat. From there, the paperwork gets more specific as to which atoll or island you want to visit.
You can get into Suwarrow… if you know the rules
Below are four websites to help you plan your stay at Suwarrow Atoll.
- Cook Islands Pocket Guide to the Northern Island Group (Where Suwarrow Atoll is located)
- Cook Islands Pocket Guide to Suwarrow Atoll
- Cook Islands Pocket Guide to Flights to the Northern Island Group
- Noonsite: Suwarrow Atoll Trip Planner for Boat and Yacht Owners
Real-life visitors weigh in on Suwarrow
Here are a couple of accounts from people that have visited the atoll. We hope their accounts give you a good perspective on what a visit to Suwarrow may be like.
All the accounts appear to be from personal blogs, so take that into account. Note the common takeaway: the rangers seem strict about the rules!
- “Suwarrow, and Suwarrow, and Suwarrow” The Life Galactic
- “Suwarrow — Cook Islands” A Family Afloat
- “Suwarrow: An island almost to ourselves” The Red Thread
- “Suwarrow: Rotten apple in the basket” Zwerf Cat
- “Suwarrow — No Strangers Here” Sister Ship Training
- “Suwarrow Atoll… Cook Islands’ only national park Just a Little Further
‘I don’t want to visit Suwarrow, I want to live on it like Neale did’
Unfortunately, very few people get that privilege these days, unless you’re one of the atoll’s two caretakers, or, a naturalist or a wildlife researcher doing a project on the atoll.
About that caretaker job…
If you’re curious about the caretaker job, here’s a little bit of information to help you with your research.
The job has a five-year term, and the caretakers are expected to serve 6-8 months out of the year on the atoll.
They are employed through the Cook Islands National Environment Service.
Requirements include:
- Cook Islands citizenship
- Being able to live and work with another person in a close environment
- Must be confident in their swimming and fishing abilities
- Must have seamanship skills
- Must be able to adapt and find alternative solutions to problems
Suwarrow Atoll
Facts
- Suwarrow Atoll is in the northern group of the Cook Islands, in the central southern Pacific Ocean.
- Suwarrow Atoll is located 1,300 kilometers (810 miles) south of the Equator and 930 kilometers (580 miles) north –northwest of the capital Island of Rarotonga.
- Suwarrow Atoll’s circumference is 80 kilometers (50 miles) in circumference.
- Suwarrow Atoll derived its name from the Russian-American ship “Suvarov”, which followed a large flock of birds to the atoll. The official discovery date is September 17, 1814.
- In 1978, a year after Tom Neale’s death, the atoll was made into a national park.
What would you do? Comment at the bottom of the page!
According to Wikipedia, there are hundreds of uninhabited islands out here in the world’s oceans and seas, most likely thousands.
If for some reason you wound up on one, would you:
- Make immediate plans to get rescued?
OR…
2. Keep a low profile and hope you don’t get caught, try to survive, and live a “carefree” life?
Leave your comments at the bottom of the page!
Ed. Note: If want to see how living on an island and living the coastal lifestyle is really like, check out this post.
Sources
Entering the Cook Islands, Suwarrow Atoll by yacht
- “Suwarrow” Cruisers Wiki
- “Cook Islands: The Ultimate Cruisers Planning Tool” Noonsite
- “The Complete Guide to Flights in the Cook Islands” Cook Islands Pocket Guide
- “Northern Cook Islands Transport: 9 Ways to Get There & Around” Cook Islands Pocket Guide
About Suwarrow Atoll
- Cook Islands Pocket Guide to the Northern Island Group (Where Suwarrow Atoll is located)
- A comprehensive guide for those visiting Suwarrow Atoll
Visitors’ personal accounts
- “Suwarrow, and Suwarrow, and Suwarrow” The Life Galactic
- “Suwarrow — Cook Islands” A Family Afloat
- “Suwarrow: An island almost to ourselves” The Red Thread
- “Suwarrow: Rotten apple in the basket” Zwerf Cat
- “Suwarrow — No Strangers Here” Sister Ship Training
- “Suwarrow Atoll… Cook Islands’ only national park Just a Little Further
Tom Neale
- “An Island To Oneself — A Remarkable Story” A Glint Of Light
- “An Island to Oneself revisited” Stuff
- “Tom Neale: Adventures in the South Pacific” Tusker
- “The Happy Exile” New York Times
- “Tom Neale— 16 years on an island” Bushcraft Buddy
- “Tom Neale, Castaway by Choice.” Express
- “Tales of the South Pacific Suwarrow Atoll” Ogle Earth
- “Tales of a Traveller: The Self-Made Desert Island Castaway” Exploration Online
- “Tom Neale” Wikipedia
- “Tom Neale and Suwarrow Atoll” Volnomuvolya
- “The Self-Made Castaway Who Spent 16 Years on an Atoll With His Cats” Atlas Obscura
- “Tom Neale’s Canoe” (A French site describing the exploits of Neale) Diacritics
- “Covered by the Sea: Surviving a Hurricane Part 32” Oceans and Seas: The Work of Author Michael Krieger
- “Tom Neale (1902-1977” Finda Grave Memorial Find A Grave
Visitors to Suwarrow Atoll give their accounts
- “Suwarrow, and Suwarrow, and Suwarrow” The Life Galactic
- “Suwarrow — Cook Islands” A Family Afloat
- “Suwarrow: An island almost to ourselves” The Red Thread
- “Suwarrow: Rotten apple in the basket” Zwerf Cat
- “Suwarrow — No Strangers Here” Sister Ship Training
- “Suwarrow Atoll… Cook Islands only national park Just a Little Further
Getting to Suwarrow Atoll
- “Suwarrow” Cruisers Wiki
- “Cook Islands: The Ultimate Cruisers Planning Tool” Noonsite
- “The Complete Guide to Flights in the Cook Islands” Cook Islands Pocket Guide
- “Northern Cook Islands Transport: 9 Ways to Get There & Around” Cook Islands Pocket Guide
Employment in the Cook Islands
- The Cook Islands Port Authority’s jobs page, where the port authority advertises jobs in the outlying islands and atolls. Cook Islands Port Authority
- A description of the Suwarrow Atoll assistant caretaker job Cook Island News
- The Cook Islands’ Official Employment Site Employment Services, Cook Islands
All about Suwarrow Atoll
- “Suwarrow — a national park at the end of the world” Green Panther
- “Suwarrow Atoll, Cook Islands: A desert island with both a buried treasure and a famous castaway” Atlas Obscura
- “SUWARROW — A real treasure island” Cook Islands, The ultimate complete guide
- “DISCOVER Suwarrow” Cook Islands Travel
- “The Complete Travel Guide to Suwarrow” Cook Islands Pocket Guide
- “10 Uninhabited Islands around the World” Touropia
- “Suwarrow National Park” Wiki Voyage
Suwarrow Atoll Habitat
- Cook Islands National Environment Service
- “Protecting and managing wildlife of Suwarrow” Pasifika News
Photo credits
“Tom Neale with a hat” Photo by Noel Barber
“Anchorage Island in Suwarrow Atoll” Photo by Behan
“Neale picking coconuts” Photo by Noel Barber and Chuck Smouse
“Noel Barber and Tom Neale”, Photo by Chuck Smouse
“Tom Neale preparing a meal”, Photo by James “Peb” Rockefeller Jr.
“Suwarrow National Park sign”, by Behan
Satellite photo of Suwarrow Atoll from Wikimedia Commons
