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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Apia, Samoa

We arrived O.K. to the Apia Harbor in Western Samoa at 9:00 am. They didn't have room for us in the marina, so we anchored in the bay. No big deal as we had 4.5 days of soot and smoke to scrape off of the boat (the engines are smoking big - Detroit's deal - and we had a following wind the whole way). So in the only sunny day that we will see for awhile, we get the boat sparkling again. We can't go ashore as this is Sunday and the customs officials do not work on Sunday so we can't get cleared into the country until Monday. Monday, it is raining heavily on and off and we begin the frustrating process of trying to get into the marina and to have our boat and us cleared into Samoa. Finally after a bribe of 6 Canadian beer, we get a spot in the marina (we reserved a spot 1 week earlier - God knows with who!). Then even though we have an agent hired to expedite the clearing process, we have 5 - very friendly - customs officials parade through our boat, each lounging while the other asks us to fill out the same pieces of paper that the person before him did. So by 2:00 pm we are now legally admitted to the country. Our friend boat Ammonite is still parked in the bay and their nose is a bit out of joint. But most of the sail boats that we met in Suwarrow are here. Finally dinner out, and pretty good food too. Tuesday is another rainy day but we have a car rented and head out to tour the island. Well we know why it has rain forests, this is the "dry season" and we've probably had 2 feet of rain in the last two days! And because of the high rainfall, and the temperatures of 30 plus degrees C, the humidity is extremely high - we dry little prairie people are suffering. It is like being in a "hot Yoga class" all day (and night) long. Which leads to the type of houses that the majority of the people in the country side live in - a roof, supported by posts over a raised concrete floor. The fancier ones have a low wooden railing around the pad and some type of chairs, but mostly they are empty with the occupants rolling out sleeping mats and pillows for the night and rolling them up again during the day. Wow, how do they get any privacy? They do have a custom that being "tribal" everything belongs to everybody so I guess that the less you have the less you have to share. That being said, everybody we have met is extremely friendly without a hidden agenda and they all for the most part speak very good English. Things are very inexpensive which is a pleasant change from French Polynesia and the market has plenty of vegetables and fruits and the grocery stores have a very good variety of anything else that you would need. On our tour, we come to the south side of the island, this is where all of the really nice beaches are found. Exactly one year ago, this island was hit with a tsunami that wiped out the south and west sides of the island. All of the little beach "fale" (roofs over platforms) were wiped out. They are slowly being re-built. It is still very pretty, the accommodations are going in exactly the same - a central reception area with a restaurant/bar and clusters of these beach fale. The rest rooms are a block of shared facilities, toilets and showers. For $90.00 tala per person per day (roughly $36.00 Cdn) you get breakfast and dinner, a sleeping mat and mosquitoe net and your fale (open room with roof on stilts) ON THE BEACH. This is extremely popular. Some of the places are putting in private "fale" with ensuite bathroom but all are still under construction. The few 4 and 5 star hotels are all found on the north side of the island in the city of Apia (not too large) and by the airport. But they don't have the beach! So we have seen the beach and we have tromped through the rain forest and seen some massive trees and stunning waterfalls and walked all over the town markets/craft stores/churches. We joined a bunch of the other boaters and went to an historic hotel here for a traditional "fiafia" evening, which is their version of Polynesian dance and some of the local food (tourist friendly) and it was a very nice affair. We've done our usual boat community socializing and all in all are very much enjoying our stay here.

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Suwarrow to Samoa

We arrived bright and early to the pass at Suwarrow on Sept 7/10 after 4.5 days on the rolling ocean. Suwarrow is a tiny little atoll in the northern Cook Island group. It is basically a narrow perimeter of sand and coral rock around a 5 x 5 mile lagoon. In several places the sand raises high enough out of the ocean to support a few coconut trees. But from all accounts, this is the cruising destination of the whole south Pacific! All of the boats passing through here say that it is by far #1 on their list of the best places that they have been. Many stop for a few days and end up staying a couple of weeks. This place is not unlike many of the other places that we have stopped so far with regard to topography and lagoon, beautiful yes, but what makes this place special is the two fellows that are stationed here as the rangers/customs officers for the Cook Islands, James and Apii. They roll out the red carpet for the boaters coming to visit their corner of the world. Sure they check you in and out of the country with a smile, but they are also great social conveners. They organize coconut crab hunting parties and fishing trips, then host delicious pot luck dinners with crab, lobster or the catch of the day as the feature food items. After so long at sea with just yourself and your mate for company, all boaters jump at the chance for some face time with a bunch of like minded people, good food (even if it is 15 different pasta salads) and of course refreshments of choice. James and Apii also know where all of the good spots are in the lagoon for diving and snorkeling and set up group expeditions for this or private trips if you wish. It really is in their best interests to be such gracious hosts as their government basically drops them off for their 6 month posting with a small boat (no extra fuel) and a fishing rod. So the boaters return all of their good will with food items (not fish) and jerry cans of fuel. After the cold un-friendly attitudes of the French Polynesian islands, the warm fuzzy community that these guys create is truly refreshing. So we lucked out, the day we arrived was a crab pot luck dinner night with 16 other boats in the anchorage. We did our check in and out the next morning and arranged for Apii to man the surface boat for us to do a dive in the afternoon. We attempted to snorkel on the third day, but the winds were pretty stiff so it kept blowing us over the reef. We have been monitoring the weather everyday for the last week and know that there is a big system coming in so we have to leave for Samoa on our third day or stay for at least another week and chance that things will stay calm enough in the lagoon for our anchor to hold. We choose to head on to Samoa. So here we are again rolling along in 2.5 meter seas with 20 knots of wind, thankfully all on the rear. Our current position 13.20.498 lat. and 165.19.446 long. We will be in western Samoa the morning of Sept 12.

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Good-by French Polynesia, Hello Suwarrow

If only the good-bye/hello could be so quick as speaking it! For the Google Earth followers, we are at 15.52.427 lat and 153.56.858 long. We got back to Tahiti on the evening of Aug 30/10, arriving to a lovely warm 25 degrees C from an un-seasonally cool 14 degrees C in Calgary. Our boat was waiting patiently at the dock for our return. Our agent, Laurent, had done a good job of making sure everything continued working properly in our absence. His attention to this was not without peril though as we had dropped the general information to several of our boating friends along the dock that we would be away and to keep an eye out for suspicious activity on our boat. So it seems that Laurent was called upon several times to prove that his intentions were legitimate - our friend Yasmin threatening him with her mop! Our final days in Tahiti were busy, one day to wash the thick layer of grime off of the boat - life just feels better in a clean boat, one day to fill the pantry and freezers up again and our third day was topping up the fuel (ouch - that hurt) and departing for Suwarrow in the north Cook Islands. You can tell that you are getting to be a "dock potatoe" when you obsess for days about what the weather conditions are going to be over the duration of a passage. How quickly we forget what our little boat can handle. The weather forecasts were calling for 2.3 m waves at 7 second intervals with 17 knots of wind - that sounded pretty intimidating while we were tied up, but now we are happily splashing along in all of that and it really isn't too bad at all. We are actually getting a big push along our route as the waves are coming from behind. This trip's duration is 4.5 days and it is the first for Glen and I to do more than one overnight in a row. It is pretty lonely out here by ourselves as the majority of the other cruising boats did this trip in late July. "Oso Blanco" is already in Tonga and we won't be there until October.

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Shinny Boats and Little Goats

Our parking spot inside Opunohu Bay on Moorea is very interesting in that it is the play ground of the large - and I mean large! - private yachts. In the three days that we are here there are two nearly 200 ft yachts, each with their harem of water toys and two elegant sailing vessels one nearing 200 ft and the other a very graciously styled three mast ship of 300 +ft. We are definitely slumming it here. These vessels are each so beautiful in their own ways, the sailing ships with their lines and style and the power vessels with their utter opulence. It's not really "peeping Tom" activity when you openly stand on your back deck with the binoculars and check them all out - Is it?

So here's the scoop on the "great restaurant" we were directed to for dinner. Chez Vina. Sunday is supposed to be their "Traditional Polynesian Oven" day. So I phoned on Sat. for a reservation.
"Alow?"
"Hello, Do you speak English?"
"A leetle beet."
"Are you open for dinner tomorrow night? Could I make a reservation for two people?"
"Oui." (Yes - in French - good I can understand that much)
"Could you pick us up, we are on a boat and do not have a car?"
"Oui."
So we manage to get that ironed out - we are never really sure that they have understood us or we have understood them, but we have nothing but time here so we are learning patience. 6:00 pm at the Protestant Church by the Papeotai Boat Quay is our pick up time. After I hang up I realize that they don't know our name or description and that we don't know what kind of vehicle to look for. Glen says - Relax, we'll be the only white, non French speaking, out of place looking, people waiting by the church. O.K. so now we are waiting by the church and it is 6:00 pm, we know to phone again as it seems they like to send a pick-up once they know you are there instead of arriving as planned (Go Figure!) The driver will be a bit late - no problem - we are occupied watching the Family day events wind down in the park area. The Polynesian people really do take their weekends seriously. They have organized picnics with sports competitions and music every free day, not just special occasions. Our driver arrives at 6:30 and it is dark now so he drives by us once and we stand in the middle of the road the next time by so he has to stop. He is Serge, the owner of the restaurant and we are riding in his vintage 1980 Volvo. Serge opens and closes the doors for us "Because they are a little temperamental!" Serge is French and has been in Moorea for more than 25 years and he has had this car for all that time. He has a little farm on the mountain side and he has just come from finishing his chores. When we arrive at the restaurant, we are the only people there (typically not a good sign). Serge gives us our menus and goes off to get us a couple of Hinano (Tahitian made beer). According to the menu, we have goofed up, the Traditional Polynesian Oven Feast is at noon, every Sunday - Now what are we going to choose? Serge plops our beers down and asks what we would like to eat and since I get to speak first, I whine that we had really hoped to have the Traditional Oven meal, but we see unfortunately that we have missed it. "Pas de problem, Madam" (No problem, Madam - whew, my high school French is paying off) Serge goes on to explain that the Traditional Oven is a great thing because the people cook the food in the covered pit and eat what they need then recover the pit and the food can be eaten like this for two days. So we indeed can have the Traditional meal and the feast begins. Six courses of wonderful flavors and accompaniments. We have special entertainment tonight - Serge has a little 15 day old goat kid that he is bottle feeding and the little guy has the run of the restaurant (only in French Polynesia!) The little goat follows Serge around like a little dog, because he thinks Serge is his Mama. He comes bounding sideways out of the kitchen, his little hooves spinning on the smooth tiles, then he bleats in complaint when his tether rope (which isn't tethered) gets tangled around some chair legs and holds him in one spot. He is hilarious. The food was great, the entertainment special and we have another good memory from our travels.

We are on the down stokes of our time here, getting ready to go home again. We spend our last lazy days in Moorea polishing the stainless and diving. We are going to need a holiday from our holiday (Not). Lucky for us we choose to head back to Papeete, Tahiti and Marina Taina very early in the morning on July 28 and get into the Tahiti lagoon just as the wind rises to 25 knots, thus missing the impending bad weather that is about to blow out in the open. We are happy to find that we get a standard side dock tie instead of the med moor we had last time. Back at the marina, our social calander quickly fills our remaining days - dinner with our South African friends, a BBQ with our neighboring sail boat and pizza with our Australian/Italian friends. We give the boat a good bath and ready everything to be closed down for the time period we will be gone. Things have been great out here, but we are actually looking forward to going home to Calgary for a while. We fly out on July 31 and will be back to Tahiti on Aug 30. When we return, we will be heading to Suwarrow in the Cook Islands and then on to Samoa. Our time at home will be spent researching where to go and what to see when we get there. Can't wait.