Latitude: 13 41.398 S
Longitude: 171 58.986 W
Course Over Ground: 236 T
Wind Direction: ENE 15-20 knots
Sea Swell: 2 meters
Sky: 30% clouds
Barometric Pressure: 1016 steady
Temperature: 81 degrees
Update: Tonga Bound, Happy Anniversary Garyn & Jessica!
We cast off our bowlines at 7:00 a.m. this morning. The wind was blowing 20 knots, and we had 6-9 foot swells coming out of the northeast as we left Apia Harbor, Samoa this morning. We are headed from Tonga. One year ago today we were in Tuscany enjoying Garyn and Jessica's wedding. Happy Anniversary you two!
The Vava'u group in Tonga is about a 330 mile passage which should take us about 3 days. Because we will cross over the dateline as we reach Tonga, we will most likely arrive on Tuesday, September 28, pretty much skipping September 27th in our lives. At least Russ will get to celebrate his birthday. I plan to make him a chocolate cake when we reach Tonga.
Right now, we are sailing through the Apolima Straight (the channel between the island of Upolu and Suvai'i of Samoa. We are in the lee of one island and the winds are a bit shifty in here. We hope to be through the straight after lunch today.
We enjoyed our stay in Samoa, having made friends with a young man of 26 who is a teacher turned taxi driver. He is married and has two of his own toddler children, plus he cares for his two brothers who are in elementary school. Andy's mother passed away 5 years ago. After our two days of sightseeing with Andy, we spent a few days working on some small boat projects, doing some local shopping, dining with Zenitude before they left at the Italian restaurant which is now our Apia favorite, enjoying a dinner and Samoan song and dance show at Aggie Grey's hotel. While at the show, we met a NZ woman, Shona, who was on a scouting trip to find housing, schools, etc. for her family. The NZ government is moving her to Samoa for a few years to help organize and strengthen their tax system. She is equivalent to and IRS agent. I think she will have her work cut out for her in Samoa as so much of what goes on is "under the table". She took one of our boat cards and said she would pass on some NZ information and contacts for us.
On Wednesday we went snorkeling at a wonderful deep marine reserve within just a short walk from the marina.
While snorkeling, we saw a huge variety of fish, one 3 foot eel, and lots of new growth on the antler coral. The antler coral is an orange color with bright purple tips where the new growth is occurring. The coral is beautiful here, and we are glad to see that it is so healthy. The most remarkable part of our snorkel experience was being nibbled at by aggressive trigger fish, about 5-7 inches in length with tiny little coral chompers for mouths. We literally had to bat at them, and kick at them to keep them from snapping at our legs. We seemed to be attacked by them one at a time as we skimmed over their territory. They were like barking dogs in the front yard.
Our friends Gene and Gloria on Pincoya arrived yesterday morning. They had had a pretty boisterous ride from Pago Pago and were glad to pull in the marina. Turned out though that they didn't get the right customs clearance papers when they checked out of Pago Pago and had to jump through a bunch of hoops. Fortunately, the customs folks were able to make arrangements for them to wire the $100 customs fee to Pago Pago and their clearance document will be faxed to them. If these electronic arrangements could not have been made, Gene would probably have had to fly back to American Samoa. Hopefully, by the end of today, they will be cleared in. We had a nice dinner with them and Andy at the Wildfire restaurant directly across from the marina last night.
So, we'll keep in touch. We plan to check in with the Sea Farer's net at 0300-0400 Zulu today and for the next couple of days as we are Tonga bound. 14.300. We will also be on Marine Side band 6150 at 0500 Zulu in the evenings to chat if anyone who can get that station wishes to connect with us.
All is well on Worrall Wind.
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