The Kingdom of Tonga – Vava’u

We have been in Tonga for several days now.  We arrived on Wedensday, September 29.  On Tuesday (we skipped Monday), our wind had died to less than 10 knots.  Worrall Wind needs at least 12 knots to move.  Consequently, we polked along all night on Tuesday, finally turning the motor on around 6:30 a.m. when we got our first sight of land and our visual bearings.

Tonga – Day 1 – Wednesday, September 29, 2010 - Vava’u

As we were motoring into the channel to Neiafu, there was some splashing directly in front of us, less than 100 yards.  We slowed the engine and veered to port as three hump back whales were doing the slap dance with their fins.  A pod of dolphins was leaping about.  It was great fun to see them.  The last time we saw dolphins was in Moorea.

Our Nobeltec navigation maps on our laptop which were very accurate in French Polynesia, Cooks, and Samoas, were way off here in Tonga.  We had been warned of this, so were prepared to enter during the daylight, use the range markers, visual cues, and gps waypoints.  When we positioned ourselves correctly, we looked on the nav system to see how far off we were…..according to the nav system we were traversing the land!  This is definitely one place not to enter at night.

When we called port control, we were directed to tie up at the fisherman’s wharf and raft up to the boats already there.  We were number three in the checkin-checkout cue.  Elysion from Great Britain with friends Steve and Josie whom we had met originally in the Marquesas and again in Tahiti, were the boat we rafted up to.  We arrived about 11:00 a.m., and were boarded in succession by immigration, customs, health, and quarantine.  After our visits, we were directed to the ATM so that we could get the fee money we needed. 

Since it was after 12:00 p.m. and lunch time (all offices closed), we decided to have lunch with Steve and Josie at a local café.  We returned to our boats, stopping to pay our fees, and pushed off the fisherman’s wharf by 2:30.  The anchorage was only a short distance away where we found a buoy and latched on.

Our first visitors were Brian and Claudia from Skylight.  We had met them in Suwarrow, and they too will be going to Fiji with their boat during the hurricane season.  Brian helped to fix our Wifi bullet system in American Samoa.  It stopped working in  Samoa.  Once again, he tried to help us, but the elusive bullet was not cooperating this time.  Brian and Claudia had already been in Vava’u for a couple of days and were heading out in the morning for some of the outer anchorages.  We’ll catch up sometime within the next couple of weeks.

Later in the early evening,  we joined Don and Marie on Freezing Rain for gin and tonics.  Both Lori and Ken from Trim and Steve and Helen from Dignity were on board.  We swapped stories and spent an enjoyable evening just sitting still.

Tonga – Day 2 – Thursday, September 30, 2010

On Thursday morning, we got up and headed into town to look around and deposit or laundry at the Coconet Café which is just a short walk from the dinghy dock.  From there we met an anglo lady coming down the hill who asked us if we needed any help finding anything?  She was bubbling with excitement because she had just found a local establishment that would bake gluten free products.   We of course made one of our stops at the Tropicana Café and talked with the owner/baker where we ordered gluten-free bread and banana muffins.  Her supplies were getting low, so I offered to bring in some of my own flours which I did the following day along with my gluten free recipe book.

During our touring, we stopped at numerous shops to look around and the tourist office where we picked up a pamphlet and discovered that the Ene’io botanical gardens offered Tongan feasts and entertainment on Friday Nights.  We hustled back to the boat and organized a party for Friday night.  I was really looking forward to learning the names of native plants and trees. 

We also spent quite some time with a Fijian/British woman, Ameca, in her art shop.  She was very informative about the Tongan culture.  The farther west we have gone, the stronger the missionary influence.  In French Polynesia, provocative hip swaying dancing,  showing  and adorning skin with tattoos is the norm.  In the Samoas, the women are quite covered up and show very little skin.  Their dancing is far less sensuous.  She indicated that the women here are far more covered.  Fiji is even less tolerant. 

Ameca was telling us that the Mormon church here offers to build local families houses if they join the Mormon church, but the family must tithe 10% of their income.  As far as she knows, the Mormons are at least returning some material benefit to their parishioners.

Some churches such as the catholic church still pass the basket, and other churches, publically publish a list of families and donations received from each of the families.  She said that the Tongans are humiliated at the bottom of the list, so it is not uncommon for them to take out big loans so that their donation status rises on the list.  The standard of living is so poor here with 80 percent unemployment, that is disheartening to see the Tongans take out these loans which they can ill afford to take out or pay back, immersing them into more debt. 

We mentioned to Ameca that there were several women at the church we passed.  We inquired if it was a funeral as many of the women were wearing black.  Both men and women were seen with straw mats around their waists.  Ameca told us that today was Ladies’ Day.


It was a special day honoring women. The men and women who were wearing black are in mourning.  The thicker and bigger the mat around their waist and hips indicates their closeness to the relative that passed away.  Less than a year ago a Tongan ferry making its way north to Vava’u carrying many Vava’u citizens sank.  Seventeen people from Vava’u were killed, and many of those we saw were in mourning for those lost in this tragedy.

Other people, particularly bankers, government workers, and others who command respect where light weight short mats indicating that they have an office job or profession (similar to wearing a tie).  We noticed several students wearing the shorter mats and many who were not.

Tonga – Day 3 – Friday, October 1, 2010
On Friday morning, we made a quick trip into town to pickup our laundry, and to drop off some supplies to the Tropicana.  We picked up the banana muffins and loaf of bread, and at another stop The Crow’s Nest Café, we made arrangements for 12 cruisers to attend the Ene’io garden feast and entertainment.  Russ also picked up some very good looking muffins and cinnamon rolls.

Steve, Josie, Russ, and left for Ene’io beach via a local taxi with our packs and snorkel gear at 1:00 p.m.  We enjoyed an afternoon of lounging on a beautiful beach which we had all to ourselves, reading, swimming, and snorkeling.  Some of the remarkable creatures we saw while snorkeling were giant black sea urchins and deep indigo purple sea stars.

At 4:00 p.m., we washed off in some clear water which was provided to us in a bucket by the owner Hana’tele.  We dressed ourselves and were just finished when two more taxies pulled up with the rest of our group from Freezing Rain, Trim, Acapella, and Leu Cat.

Hana’tele is 64 years old and retired just a few years ago as a minister of agriculture for Tonga.  He is a very learned man, having traveled around the world visiting California, San Francisco and Sacramento, and meeting the Pope four times.  He inherited family land when he was 8 years old and always loved plants. 

Hana'tele

Josie from Elysion

Plants grow easily in the South Pacific, but the culture is such that Tongans do not think of plants as renewable resources.  They just take what they need until the plant becomes scarce and eventually extinct.  Planting and harvesting is not a part of their cultural psyche.  They live for the day and perhaps tomorrow, but think no farther into the future.  Over the years Hana’tele has be planting and nurturing Tonga flora.  He has had little help from friends and family who think his ideas of planting and purposefully growing plants and trees are strange.  Yet they are most willing to drop by his garden and take whatever they want (communal mentality).

We spent an enjoyable afternoon in Hana’tele’s beautiful botanical gardens.  He showed us the plants and told us how the plants, leaves, and roots are used in Tonga.  He must keep his gardens behind locked gates and fences because the cultural aspect of taking what you want would soon deplete the acres of gardens he has painstakingly grown.  Many of the species are no longer  on the verge of extinction because of his foresight.

The group enjoyed watching the sun set while we had cocktails over looking the bay.  Dinner included roast suckling pig, sea cucumbers, red snapper in a cream sauce, and curried chicken.

After dinner, we were entertained by local youth dressed in tapa performing Tongan dances and song.  Tongan women dance with their feet close together and hardly moving.  Most of the dance is done with their hands and there is no hip movement.  It is very sedate and quite exquisite compared to other Polynesian dancers. 

The boys and young men are much more active.  During the dancing, spectators are encouraged to bring their paper money out and give or attach it to their favorites.  The cruisers were quite generous with their pang’as and helped to provide some scholarship money to the young dancers and their families.

At the evening’s end, each of us were presented with leis made out of plumeria.  I think everyone had a wonderful time.  When we returned to our boat in the starlight, we noticed hundreds and hundreds of big white jelly fish in the water.  We were glad not to be swimming as the jellies invaded the water.


Day 4 – Saturday, October 2, 2010

We did some shopping at the local produce market, picked up some gluten-free baked goods, and spent some time cleaning the boat.  We were able to find through the Tropicana café a man who owns and operates the Vava’u net.  Russ picked him up and ferried him to the boat.  Within 45 minutes, Thomas originally from Switzerland had our Wifi bullet working again.  Yeah!  The good news is we are working.  The bad news is that we are working very slowly. 

Tonga has no fiber optic cable laid out across the ocean.  All transmissions are through a narrow band on the satellite…slower than slow.  Sorry, no Skyping at this speed.  We enjoyed our visit with Thomas who expressed many of the same sentiments about the Tongan culture that we had heard from Ameca and Hana’tele.

Day 5 – Sunday, October 3, 2010

A group of us visited the Catholic Church this morning to hear the Tongan Choir.  Our boat is in the harbor below the Catholic church.  Clear melodic voices drift across the anchorage each evening during their practice.  The mass began at 10:00 a.m.  The choir sang for over 30 minutes of the service, and it was quite lovely.  As we expected, dressing for church brought out the Tongans finest clothes.  Men and boys wore skirts with mats, women wore dresses with mats that were below their knees and covered most of their arms.  There were many Tongans dressed in mourning black with mats around their waist.  The family of women and children directly in front of us, made us wonder if their father, brother, or husbands were lost during the ferry accident.

It was cute watching the children and their response to being in church.  Kids are kids the world round.  Several children were being pushed and pulled into the church.  Their wiggly, giggly bodies were up and down, in and out.  Mothers were giving the children meaningful glances as the kids got too active while playing with handheld toys.   One child got a cuff on the head from her mother for goofing around. 

Ordinarily, flip flops are the shoe of the day, but on Sunday, the fancy footwear was pretty amazing.  Even little girls were wearing heels.  Some women and children were barefoot; apparently they could not afford fancy shoes or their fancy shoes hurt their feet.

The priest was animated  and gesticulated while pacing back and forth across the alter platform.  The entire service was in Tongan, and we didn’t understand one word he was saying.  He did however elicit a few laughs from the congregation who appeared to appreciate the service.  Nearly the entire congregation got up for communion.  There were three lines and three stations.  Communion was very efficient and took no more than 10 minutes.

After the service, we returned to the boat for lunch.   In the afternoon, Russ dropped me off at the Aquarium Café while he helped the Dutch couple on Spirit.  Their boat caught on fire a few days earlier and their Lehman engine (same as ours), needed some repairs.  Russ was offering some help.  While Russ worked with Spirit, I learned how to play Baja Rummy from Freezing Rain, Trim, and Acapella.  It was a fun way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Day 6 – Monday – October 4, 2010

We woke up to rain this morning.  Our planned hike to the top of Mt. Talau was postponed a few hours until the clouds passed by and the sun came out.  Of course when the sun came out, it was hot and steamy as we hiked up the trail through the jungle.  It was an easy hike, although there were some places along the trail where ropes had been tied as hand holds going up the slippery muddy slope.

Russ, Susie from Sidewinder, Steve and Josie from Elyison

Once on top, we had some nice views of the bays and islands of the Vava’u group.  Tomorrow, we are going on a jet kayak expedition on the east side of Neiafu.  The kayaks will take us across some shallow reefs and into some caves for snorkeling.


Day 7 - Tuesday-October 5, 2010

We received word from Marie on Freezing Rain that she had been in contact with Vava'u Adventures and because of the low tide, our jet kayak tour was being postponed from 10:00-11:00.  It was nice to have a leisurely morning on board, drinking coffee and reading through emails.  By 10:30, our sunscreen was on, our snorkel equipment was packed, the camera was in a water tight ziplock bag, and we were in the dinghy to pickup Marie for our jet kayaking adventure.

We parked the dinghy at the Aquarium Cafe dock and walked over the hill from Neiafu to Old Harbor, arriving at the adventure shed just before 11:00.  The tide was very low.  Our guide and proprietor was a young man named Jason from Oakland, California.  He grew up in the Montclair area.  He and his sister and brother-in-law  live in Tonga, currently operating Vava'u Adventures.

There were three kayaks on the shore ready to push off….kind of.  Seems the kayak to which I was assigned didn't want to work.  There seemed to be something wrong with the fuel injection and it wasn't firing right.  Both Russ and Marie were in jet kayaks ready to go.  There were no other kayaks available, so I hopped in the dinghy with Jason.  It would have been fun to zip along in the kayak, but I would not have been able to take pictures as my camera is not waterproof and would have been tucked away.  It was actually to my photographer's advantage to ride in the dinghy, let Jason do the driving, and allow me to snap away.

We saw some lovely beaches, climbed up to a sink hole, and saw some tremendous blow holes shooting foam 50 or more feet into the air.  We also got to do some snorkeling on a reef.  Most remarkable on this snorkel trip were the giant plate or platter coral delicately terraced up the shelf to the reef and teaming with yellow fish over a foot long.  We also saw a crown of thorns sea star and several of the now familiar periwinkle blue/purlple sea stars.

Tonight, Worrall Wind, Trim, Freezing Rain, Pincoya, and Restless visited a local pizza parlor.  Tomorrow, we'll do some shopping for fresh produce, breads, etc., and take off for the anchorages either tomorrow afternoon or Thursday mooring.

More later.  All is well on Worrall Wind

Bustling Busses of American Samoa

 Family enterprise is alive and well in American Samoa, at least when it comes to busses. Families not employed by the tuna factory look for other ways to earn a living.  Apparently, buying a chassis and building a unique bus is one of the ways a family can earn money for their families.   

Decorating the bus with feathers, hanging ornaments, and playing incredibly loud music and showing music videos on the screen at the front of the bus personalizes the experience for the driver and the riders.  On one of the busses, it felt like we were inside the base section of a boom box.  It was our understanding that they play the music loud so that no one falls asleep and misses their stop.

The wooden bench seats would fit two normal sized Americans or one American Samoa.  These folks are quite large, obviously one of the reasons there are so many American Samoan tackles on college football teams. When the bus is full, trying to sit one American and one American Samoan on the same seat is quite a challenge.  When school lets out, the busses are jammed.  While sitting in front of the laundromat waiting for clothes to dry, I captured these photos within the span of 15 minutes.

Worrall Wind Periodic Position Report - Safely Arrived Tonga, Vava'u Group

Hello!! Here is a quick position report. For more details, go to WorrallWind.blogspot.com.

UTC/Local Time +13: Wednesday, September 29, 2010, 1700

Latitude: 18 39.577 S
Longitude: 173 59.018 W

Update:

We safely arrived in Neiafu Bay in the Vava'u Group in Tonga this morning at 11:00 a.m. We motored the last 20 miles as there was no wind and the seas were flat. Just as we were nearing the entrance, we were greeted by a pod of humpback whales and dolphins. These are the first sea mammals we've seen since we left Moorea. It was very exciting.

The anchorage here looks similar to the Gulf Islands with the exception of the palm trees. We will be on a mooring ball here for two nights then begin our exploration of the many islands.

The 2 Sail R's on Worrall Wind

Worrall Wind Update - Day 4, Samoa to Tonga - Landfall in the morning

UTC/Local Time: Tuesday, September 28, 0400/Monday, September 27, 1700

Latitude: 17 51.935 S
Longitude: 173 47.350 W
Course Over Ground: 200 @ 3.0 knots
Wind Direction: SE 15 knots
Sea Swell: 1 meter East
Sky: 10% cloud cover
Barometric Pressure: 1013

Update: Last night of passage. Landfall tomorrow.

Well as usual we have poked along on this passage, and will be arriving as we expected tomorrow morning which will actually be Wednesday, September 29. Through out this entire voyage, the wind has been coming from the south, southeast, almost the same direction we need to travel. We have been pinched tightly to stay on the course line due to reefs and obstacle on either side. Because of the strong winds the first two days out, we reefed down our main and let down the traveler to spill out some of the wind and to reduce the heel. We also had 12-14 foot seas on our port beam rolling us more into the heel. We found a good sail combination that kept us moving (although slowly) forward and kept the ride as comfortable as possible. In those conditions, it was not comfortable, but heeling more and going faster would have made it worse.

As the wind decreased, we have been putting up more sail, but again we are pinched tight. For the last couple of hours, we have tacked to get well east of our course line, knowing that we will drift west with the lighter winds and a half knot of west-setting current. Today even though we have been poking along at 4 knots, the sailing has been very pleasant. Seems we don't get to utter those words often enough. It's always a joy to open the doors and hatches a bit when the weather permits.

Tonight, we are within 50 miles of landfall, and as usual we don't want to arrive in the dark, so tonight we will really slow down, timing our arrival for dawn. We have had such a wonderful cruising season, that it is hard to believe that the season is coming to an end here in the South Pacific. All of us are beginning to feel an urgency to get where we are going to be November. Many of the boats are already making landfall or will be making landfall in Fiji, Tonga, and Australia within the next couple of weeks. It was sad to hear that our Polynesia Breakfast Net, which has become our daily contact with other cruisers and weather reports, will be signing off the air October 2, this coming Saturday as the primary organizers have traveled further and faster west than the rest of the fleet.

We are looking forward to making landfall in Tonga, a few weeks of cruising in these waters, then heading for Fiji during the last week or two of October. That passage will also be about 500 miles and take a week, but will be the last for this cruising season.

All is well with the 2 Sail R's on Worrall Wind.

Worrall Wind Update - Day 3 Samoa to Vava'u Tonga

UTC/Local Time: Sunday September 26 2200/Sunday September 26 1100

Latitude: 16 18.420 S
Longitude: 173.09.923 W
Course Over Ground: 201 @ 5 knots
Wind Direction: SE @ 18 knots and dropping
Sea Swell: 2-3 meters ESE and dropping
Sky: 40% cloud
Barometric Pressure: 1017

Update: Happy Birthday to Russ - Conditions are moderating

We are in day 3 now of our passage from Samoa to Tonga and are over half way. The first half of the journey has been moderate to rough seas with winds of 20-25 knots forward of the beam. Today, on Russ's 64 birthday, the seas and the wind are becoming more moderate. A nice birthday present. Russ is currently taking a well deserved nap having been on watch from 1:00 until 7:00 a.m. this morning.

Sometime tomorrow, as we are closing in on Tonga, we will skip ahead a day. We will not have officially crossed the 180 degree dateline, but because Tonga and Fiji wanted to be the first to celebrate the new millineum, their time and date reflects the date change. Our local time will jump from -11 to +13 Zulu , basically staying the same time. We will just lose a day in the process. Consequently, Russ will have 1 less day in his 64th year. I guess that means, I too will have one less day in my year. Seems very abstract since time doesn't really exist except as a human manifestation to organize ourselves. Hello to all, and happiness and health to all the family with September and October birthdays and anniversaries.

All is well with the 2 Sail R's on Worrall Wind.

Worrall Wind Update - Day 2 - Tonga Bound

UTC/Local Time: Sunday, September 26, 0530/Saturday, September 25, 1830

Latitude: 15 26.372 S
Longitude: 172 50.326 W
Course Over Ground: 181 T @4.2 knots
Wind Direction: SE 18-20 knots
Sea Swell: ESE 2-3 meters
Sky: 70 percent cloud cover
Barometric Pressure: 1014

Update:
So far it's been a pretty bumpy, restless ride. We've had fairly constant winds in the 20-25 knot range, with squall gusts up to 30. Unlike most of our other passages where the wind has been on our stern quarter, it's almost directly on our nose as we head south. We are on a close reach with our main triple reefed and our self tacking cutter sail in place. This combination keeps the boat very steady, not too heeled, but pretty slow. The seas have been 12 feet on our beam and just before the beam often breaking on the side and across the boat.

All of our doors and hatches have been shut tight in these conditions. With the temperature at 85 and humidity at 82 percent, the boat interior is like a sweat box. The little grass fans we bought in Samoa are coming in handy. Every once in a while, we crack open the skylight on the cabin top for some fresh air. Invariably, we get a high splash that makes it in to the cabin. Nothing terrible, but enough to remind us that we need to not keep the skylight open for long. We have covered about 145 miles of our 330 mile distance. We are more than 1/3 of the way to Tonga. Hopefully, wind and sea conditions are predicted to mellow out tomorrow. We'll see.

We've started listening to John Grisham's Testament. It helps to pass the time as it is pretty difficult to move around the boat or read in these conditions. Looking for calmer seas and lighter winds on Russ's birthday.

All is well on Worrall Wind.

Worrall Wind Update - Tonga Bound - Day 1

UTC/ -11 Local Time: September 24, 2010 2200/September 24, 2010 1100

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.

Worrall Wind Update - Moored in Apia, Samoa

Latitude: 13 49.683 S
Longitude: 171 45.579 W

Update: Moored in Apia, Samoa

Friday, September 17, 2010
We have been in Samoa now since Friday. We arrived in our slip at the new marina in Apia around 1:30 p.m. We were told to raise our yellow quarantine flag and stay on the boat until we were cleared by all of the officials who would be visiting our boat within the next half hour. We purposely arrived on a Friday because we knew that a weekend check in would involve overtime for all of the officials.

While we waited for the officials to arrive, we straightened up the boat, opened the ports and promptly fell asleep. When we awoke at 3:00 the officials had still not come. Russ called the port control to confirm the instructions we were given. The port captain's response seemed a bit vague and embarrassed. We think someone in his office forgot to notify the other officials to come and check us in. By 4:00 p.m. the first of the four officials boarded the boat. We were boarded by customs, immigration, quarantine, and health. The last of the officials left at 5:00 p.m. when we were instructed to lower our quarantine flag. We were cleared to leave the boat, but it was too late to visit the port control office with our documentation which would not be open again until Monday.

We took a taxi into town to get some local currency from the ATM. The Samoan currency is the tala which is about 2.4 to 1, so 24 talla is about 10 dollars. We looked around a bit, but were anxious to return to the boat, get a bite to eat, and go to bed. We ate a local restaurant across from marina, the Wildfire. We enjoyed sticky beef salad and an excellent chicken bar-b-qued in quava marinade.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

After a refreshing night sleep, we were ready to do some exploring. Our slip neighbors, Austrians on Blue Sky, suggested that we might want to contact Andy, a young Samoan Taxi driver who had served them well as a tour guide around the island for a reasonable price. Ordinarily we like to rent a car and do our own thing, but Samoa is right hand drive on the left side of the street, just like England and New Zealand. Russ and I would be so busy trying to stay on the correct side of the street, we wouldn't be able to look around and enjoy ourselves.

Andy took us to Robert Lewis Stevenson's home and now a museum in Samoa. In addition to Treasure Island which we listened to on the Pacific crossing, Stevenson is best know for Kidnapped and Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde. He also wrote the Child's Garden of Verses. I remember having that book and loving it as a child. Stevenson was well regarded in Samoa.

Next we stopped at a hardwarde store (Russ wanted to see if he could get an electrical adapter for our boat to fit into the marina plugs...we couldn't find one..oh well). After the hardware store, we went to a grocery store to pick up some snacks and two large loaves of bread to feed the giant turtles. From there, Andy took us to a place called sliding rock, a mossy set of waterfalls into fresh water pools. There was a changing room, and we got into our swim suits. We spent an hour cooling off in the pools before returning to the boat for a quiet afternoon of reading and relaxing. We tried calling boat friends at the appointed time (7:00 p.m. Tahiti, 6:00 p.m. Samoan) on 6510, but no one responded)

A block down from the marina, we ate dinner in a wonderful Itlaian restaurant called Paddles. We had a bottle of red wine, eggplant parmagiana, baked fish in olive marinara, chocolate mousse and apple pie with ice cream. It took us right back to Italy. We reminisced about our trip one year ago to Tuscany for Garyn and Jessica's wedding. They will be celebrating their first anniversary in just a few days. Hard to believe a year has gone by.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

We downloaded some new weather information this morning. It is looking doubtful that we will be leaving Samoa Tuesday as we hoped. The weather and wind look fine, but the seas coming up from a storm near New Zealand would be sending 12-14 foot waves from the south right on our nose as we headed down to Tonga. It is disappointing, but we will have to skip the regatta in Tonga that is starting on Wednesday through the weekend. It just isn't worth the bumpy ride. We probably will not leave Samoa now until those waves subside, hopefully by Wednesday or Thursday.

Our tour guide Andy, picked us up at 9:00 a.m. for another day of touring. Today, we have visited several beautiful waterfalls, driven into the mountains and rain forests, visited the south side of the Island where many of the resorts are rebuilding after the tsunami last year, and the Baha'i temple. We had brought our snorkel gear and were planning on snorkeling on the south side of the island, but the tide was quite low, and we were advised that the snorkeling would not be the best, so we stayed dry.

At one of the waterfalls, the family who owns the property offered us some taro and taro leaves with coconut cream. They were waiting for their five children to return from church. We enjoyed our visit with them. The proprietor's name is Archie and he got a kick out of knowing that my dad and brother's name was also Archie.

Andy took us to a Sunday Samoan buffet for lunch on the island before returning to the boat. He said this buffet was typical of the foods that the Samoans eat on Sunday after church. The food is prepared early in the morning and baked in hot rock ovens (umu) while the family was in church (raw fish in coconut milk, cracked crab, taro root, taro leaves with coconut cream, sea weed, roast pork, salt beef (corned beef), curried chicken and chicken chow mien. When the family returns from church, lunch is ready followed by an afternoon of napping and bible reading. Children are not allowed to play and families do not go on picnics, swim, or involve themselves in any activity on Sunday.

During our customized taxi tour with Andy, he taught us some Samoan words, chanted the Kava ceremony of the chiefs, sang the Samoan Anthem, played the drums, husked a coconut, made coconut cream, idenitifed some of the local flora and fauna for us, shared Samoan legends and customs. We had a great day.

We are having difficulty connecting to the Internet here so this update is via our radio. Sorry no photos. We'll upload some photos when we get a chance.

All is well on Worrall Wind.

Worrall Wind Update - American Samoa to Apia, Samoa

UTC/Local Time (-11): Friday, September 17 2130/Friday, September 17 1030

Latitude: 13 51.846 S
Longitude: 171 28.697 W
Course Over Ground: 310 T @6.5 motorsailing
Wind Direction: East
Sea Swell: East
Sky: 10%

Update: American Samoa to Apia, Samoa

We left our mooring buoy in Pago Pago Harbor late yesterday afternoon around 4:45 p.m. Fellow cruisers Windryder had asked that we notify them just before leaving as it was their intention to pull anchor and claim the buoy. We heard a later radio transmission that confirmed that they were indeed securely moored, but not until Brian on Skylight dove on Windryder's existing anchor to help free them from the rubble on which they were tangled.

Earlier in the day, Russ checked out with the port authorities and paid our dues of $167.00 while I spent $6.00 at the laundromat doing two loads of laundry. Such a treat not to be using my bucket and toilet plunger as the agitator. The sky was finally clearing, and we were seeing sun for the first time in a week. We had been waiting for a window to leave and Thursday afternoon was the window, but not for Tonga.

After a somewhat elongated stay in Pago Pago due to the weather and sea state, we were considering skipping Apia and Nuiatoputapu and heading straight for Tonga. The extended sea forecast however suggested it might be better to arrive in Tongan waters after Wednesday. Going directly would put us there on Monday or Tuesday. Apparently a storm to the southwest of Tonga is sending large waves north. We would have 15 knots of wind on our beam (a good thing), but 12-16 foot seas on the nose (a bad thing). So we made the decision to head to Apia for a few days and wait there while the sea state near Tonga settled out a a bit.
Having seen most of American Samoa and tired of the foul anchorage and the odor for the tuna cannery polluting the air, we decided to move out. If all goes well for Brian and Claudia on Skylight, they will leave Pago Pago on Monday/Tuesday as we will, and we will buddy boat down to the Vava'u group in Tonga. For now we have given up the idea of going to Nuitoputapu so that we have a little better wind angle down to Vava'u.

We met Brian and Claudia in Suwarrow. They are from Acton, CA. We enjoy their company so are looking forward to buddy boating with them. Pincoya with Gene and Gloria are also in Pago Pago, but are currently waiting for a propeller shipment from the states. Within the course of a week, both of their outboard motors and their propellers failed. Hopefully, Pincoya will catch up with us in Tonga. Beginning on Wednesday, September 22, there is a Tonga Regatta for which we are registered. However, it looks like we won't get there for the start, perhaps a few days late. We aren't so interested in the Regatta as catching up with the fleet before they all head to NZ, Fiji, and Australia for the hurricane season. Freezing Rain, Pincoy and Sula are a few of the boats headed to New Zealand. The Road and Endless Summer are off to Australia. Trim, Skylight, and ourselves are headed for Fiji.

We had our sails up and were headed west by 6:30 last night, chasing the setting sun. During the course of the evening and night we had to change course a few times to head north and then northwest to the lee side of Samoa. It was a beautiful sail. The seas after we left American Samoan waters and started heading north subsided from 9-10 foot swells to 3 - 6 feet. The wind was a gentle 10-14 knots. The waxing half moon shone in our windows most of the night.

We are on the northeast side of Upolu Island (Samoa) and within 15 miles of the harbor entrance. We understand there is a modern marina here with electric and water hookups. They will probably have WIFI as well, but I'm sending this update via the radio anyway, just in case. We look forward to a weekend of sight seeing. The wind remains under 12 knots, the seas are less than a meter and the sun is shining. It is a beautiful South Pacific Day. I think now we've had about five of these, so now I can start using the other hand.

All is well on Worrall Wind.

How the rainforest got its name....Rain!

Wedensday, September 15, 2010

Today marks one week in American Samoa.  We weren't planning on staying a full week, but we have had so much rain and related sea state that we have not wanted to venture out of the harbor.  The weather is calming down a bit, and it looks like we might leave tomorrow afternoon for Apia in Samoa.  Now it depends on our main GPS system which decided to start screaming this morning and then died.  Russ is trying to wire in one of our other three GPS's to take its place.  We will leave when he has that figured out.

While we have been in American Samoa, we have rented a car for two days and visited both extremes of this island.  It is a lush green rainforest.  The key word is rain.

It has rained everyday since we have been here and the last two days have by far been real gushers with thunder and lightening.

We opened the top to our water tank and within four hours topped off our 250 gallon tank which was probably half empty when we started.  Unfortunately, we have not had a real sunny calm day to explore the beaches and do some snorkeling.  We have seen some very active waterfalls as a result of the rain.  The downpour and runoff is quite brown.  We named this gusher, latte falls.

American Samoa is has beautiful topography and beaches.  The people are very outgoing, pleasant, and are proud to be an American territory.  The tuna industry is the primary employer on the island.  There used to be two large tuna factories, but over the years the tuna industry here has been on the decline not only because there are fewer fish in the sea, but because the American minimum wage law along with other regulations is causing the industry to lose its competitive edge.  It costs eleven cents to produce a can of tuna in other countries (Micronesia-Philipinnes) and forty-five cents to produce a can of tuna here in American Samoa.  One of the factories has closed down, and the Starkist factory and fishing boats look like they are suffering.  Building and boat maintenance or lack of maintenance is very obvious.

Within the last couple of years American Samoa has also been subjected to hurricanes and last year a Tsunami wiping out many of the structures close to the warer (most of the buildings are on the flat perimeter of the island).  It looks as if some reconstruction is under way, but the cleanup process seems to have stalled out.  All along the coast there are piles of tsunami rubbish that have been built for pickup, but there hasn't been some pickup in quite some time.  The lighter weight trash is blown away. There are few public trash drop off points (garbage cans) so it seems that the locals just drop whatever they have in their hands.   Plastic bottles, bags, etc. pollute the waterways and Pago Pago harbor is a terrible mess.

The trashy condition of the island is very sad to see.  Having been in French Polynesia where the French government subsidizes the ailing economy by employing locals for landscaping and cleanup, there is a noticeable contrast, and it has resulted in a clean and pristine environment.  America might want to consider a similar strategy. The could rename Charlie to Charlie the Cleanup Man.

On our tour of the island, it is amazing the number of churches here.  There must be  one church for every 500 people.

There are 63,000 people on American Samoa.  The perimeter roads are clogged with cars and independently owned buses everyday of the week but Sunday.  We rented a car on Sunday and drove around the island, encountering only a handful of vehicles.  Everyone else was busy with church activities throughout the day.  Villages begin to gather at their churches around 9:00 a.m. to socialize.  The service starts around 10:00, after which everyone has a large lunch, followed by bible study and then a late afternoon church service again.

We were invited in one village to come and eat with the congregation.  They motioned to us with hand gestures while we were in our car.  We waved, smiled and declined the invitation.  It was raining, and we were perhaps over reacting to the leprosy warning signs as we had entered the village.

The men and women in American Samoa wear a long skirt.  The women wear a tailored, long tunic with a rounded neck, cap sleeves and zippered back over their skirt.  Many of the Sunday clothes for women are accompanied with beautiful hats.  Some of the church goers wore all white, not sure which denomination it was, but it wasn't the Mormons or Catholics.

There is also a large Seventh Day Adventist congregation on the Island.  We saw some of them at their churches on Sunday, but they were more casually dressed as their Sabbath is on Saturday.

Prior to the missionaries converting the Samoans to Christianity,

it is believed that Star Mounds, radiating rock structures, were used not only by village chiefs to capture pigeons, but were also used for some religious rituals.  There are few of these Star Mounds left.  We found one near the Catholic church behind and apartment building. 

In every village there is at least one pavilion or "guest house" where the chief entertains guests and where locals conduct funerals, celebrations, meetings, etc.  It is a covered outdoor area that is also used to hang laundry when not being used for a special event.   Some villages have multiple guest houses.

Like most of the Polynesian Islands, land passes down from family to family.  There are no For Sale signs on land here.  In most of the front yards or side yards of family homes, deceased ancestors are buried about.

We have enjoyed our stay here, but are looking forward to moving on to perhaps a little more sunshine, but we have certainly enjoyed the beauty.

All is Well on Worrall Wind