More Samoa

We have found a beautiful, brand newly completed, high end resort on the tsunami damaged south side of the island. The Sinalea Reef Resort is back in business, better than ever. We were touring the island again in the company of our friends off of the boat "Ammonite" and we stopped there for lunch. So for those of us whose bones creak at the thought of sleeping on a mat in an open air "fale" (beach house), there is an alternative vacation destination.

We have met a delightful Italian couple off of a small sailing boat here in the marina and have spent several evenings being entertained by their animated ways. They met only 8 months ago when she was looking for a job on a boat and he was heading out of Panama single handing his sail boat. What small spaces will bring together!!

We went to church at the Cathedral on Sunday. Believe it or not, this is listed as a "must do" while in Samoa as these people love to sing, especially in church. We were not disappointed, the choir was fantastic. It was also refreshing to have the Mass performed in English. There are many different Christian denominations here so a person could pick any one they wished to attend services with.

Just a short story about our encounter with how Samoan culture can work. Solomon is one of the Port Authorities. He has befriended us after his heroic effort to get our boat into the marina. (remember the beer bride?) Anyway, we are minding our own business on the boat one day when Solomon appears at the side door (which means he has already invited himself onto the boat) and says "Can I come in out of the rain?" (as he is now also letting himself in through the side door), well yes I guess that is O.K. as I call Glen to come and take over. We've just come back from getting some groceries so while I put things away, Glen offers Solomon a Pepsi which is happily accepted. I am now finished my putting away and have shined the galley counters so I head down below to do some other errands while Glen chats with Solomon and waits for the rain to end. Next thing I know Glen is hollering down for me to come and make him a sandwich, ham no less. Now I'm steamed! But I can't go into "B...." mode with Solomon there. So I go mess up my recently cleaned galley and make Glen a ham sandwich and one for Solomon too which is only fair. They eat, the rain finishes, Solomon thanks us very much and leaves. Before I can "go off the deep end" Glen says to me, "I can't believe it, he actually asked if we had anything to eat! Can you (believe it)?" So now I get it and Glen doesn't have to die today. We marveled about this to some of the other boaters and found that many others had had a similar experience. So for the rest of our time at the dock, we kept our side door to the dock closed and the side door to the cabin closed so as not to leave and "open" invitation to anybody else.

This morning, we were up early and out of our dock slip by 7:00 am to take advantage of the high tide as the depth in the marina basin is very shallow. It would be very embarrassing to be stuck in the mud as we try to leave. Before heading out for Tonga, which is our next destination, we need to re-fuel, so we deploy our great big (exercise ball size)fenders (proper name, Scotchmen - not sure of the spelling) and belly up to the commercial wharf to wait for a fuel truck to come and dispense our diesel fix. Amazingly he arrives on time which is a pleasant surprise for us as "Ammonite" had to wait many uncomfortable hours for their fuel to arrive because of a number of "issues". We pleasure boats are tiny little ants compared to the container ships that regularly tie up to the wharf, kind of like a small child trying to peak over the edge of a table. We learned a new bit of nautical etiquette during this whole process. The harbor master radioed down while we were fueling and asked me to put up our "Tango" flag. What flag????? Don't we have "alphabet" flags? No! They must have excused us at this point as they didn't come back to me on the radio. But now my curiosity has been aroused, what the heck were they talking about? A quick reference to our proper seaman's book shows that the flag symbolizing "T" also serves as a one flag message saying "stay clear of me", to be used in times of taking on fuel and I suppose other dangerous situations too. So now, much smarter and full of fuel, we are headed for Tonga. We will be there in 24 hours.

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