by Judy Handley | Sep 16, 2006 | Sailing Logs Year 1, Samoa |
Day 334, Year 1: Website Overload
Date: Saturday, September 16, 2006
Weather: Beautiful Day; Rain in the Evening
Location: Apia Harbor, Upolu Island, Samoa
Evidently I have been writing and sending logs for the past few days, but they have not been posted on the website. We exceeded our site capacity and have been in contact with the webhost to pay for more space, but it is taking a longer than we hoped to get his accomplished. The overload happened when pictures from French Polynesia were in the process of being posted. I was not able to send those pictures to Justin via e-mail, so I sent them on a CD. I didn’t shrink the size as I would have if they had been sent by e-mail, and the full size pictures caused the overload. All of this is complicated by the fact that Justin is here and doesn’t have round the clock access to the internet. He goes in once a day to check on things, but with time differences, this is a slow process. We are hoping that things will be fixed early next week. In the meantime, I will continue to write and post logs daily and hope that you will have time to catch up once the logs are on the site.
Today we toured the eastern end of this island. There were 18 of us in two van taxis-cruisers from Quantum Leap, Aqua Magic, Noa, Kika, Jade, and Windbird. We headed east from Apia along the northern coast. Our first stop was at an old Methodist church that has fresh water pools beneath it. The pools are in caves and you can swim underwater between the two pools. The braver among us tried this. Since you had to climb down slippery rocks to get into the pools, I passed on this one. We had a great time and then continued our trip. We stopped to see a waterfall and then drove to the beaches on the east and south side of the island. We stopped at a small restaurant that caters to the visitor’s staying in the beach fales. Here you can pay the equivalent of about $25US to stay overnight in a fale right on the beach, and the price includes breakfast and dinner. Once we say the beauty of the beach, we were all ready to abandon ship and stay in a beach fale for the rest of our lives. Truly, the beaches on the southern part of this island are the most beautiful we have seen in the South Pacific. And the snorkeling is great. We had lunch, swam, snorkeled, and just sat on the beach for about three hours total before resuming our island tour. The villages on this island are much more traditional than those in American Samoa, and we saw many traditional fales along the way. Our next stop was another waterfall, but this one came with a little “education package” included. We learned all about the importance and uses of the coconut in this culture and finally learned the name of some of the plants and trees we have been seeing. The waterfall was spectacular and the coconut education most informative.
When we got about half way around the island, it was time to head home on the Cross Island road. We made one more waterfall stop and then we were back in Apia. It was a wonderful day, and now we just need to figure out how to get back to those southern beaches. This really is a beautiful island.
We had a few fatalities today. Tom on Quantum Leap got a nasty scrape on his forehead when entering the caves at Piula and Patrick on Aqua Magic also got a head scrape on the same rock. Arnie from Jade wasn’t feeling great when we started, but got really sick as the day progressed. It seems like it is probably the result of an infection from a cut, and hopefully getting home and starting a course of antibiotics should solve his problem. Otherwise, we had a healthy and happy day.
Tomorrow is Sunday and will be a day of rest for us. Justin and Lynn are having a great time, but they expressed a need to have a vacation from their vacation. They’ll get that tomorrow and then we’ll continue our exploring on Monday.
by Judy Handley | Sep 15, 2006 | Sailing Logs Year 1, Samoa |
Day 333, Year 1: A Visit to Vailima—Home of Robert Louis Stevenson
Date: Friday, September 15, 2006
Weather: Beautiful Weather with Some Intermittent Showers
Location: Apia Harbor, Upolu Island, Samoa
Today we had a relaxed breakfast aboard, and then we headed into the town. As always, our first stop was at the internet cafe. Mark and I left Lynn and Justin there and went to Aggie Grey’s to arrange for taxis for an island tour tomorrow. About 20 of us want to tour, so we needed to arrange for two van-type taxis. While doing this, Margaret and Patrick from Aqua Magic came by and wanted to join us for our tour of the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum. We also went to one of the nine Bahia Temples in the world just a couple of miles north of the Stevenson Museum. The gardens surrounding the Bahia Temple were absolutely beautiful. The grounds surrounding the home of Stevenson are also beautifully landscaped and the tour of his home was fascinating. The house was full of memorabilia that belonged to Stevenson and the walls were papered with tapa cloth (called Siapa in Samoan). The house was built in the typical colonial style with white clapboard siding and a veranda all around. It contained some of the nicest original Samoan artifacts we have seen.
We returned to Apia and had lunch in a little sidewalk cafe. After that we returned to Windbird. Justin and I took the dinghy out of the harbor to check out the possibility of snorkeling. We both had a great swim and will return here on future days.
by Judy Handley | Sep 14, 2006 | Sailing Logs Year 1, Samoa |
Day 332, Year 1: Happy Birthday to Justin
Date: Thursday, September 14, 2006
Weather: Beautiful Weather with Some Intermittent Showers
Location: Apia Harbor, Upolu Island, Samoa
By 9am this morning, we were all at the Harbor Master’s Office getting our pictures taken for our ID badges. We didn’t even have to show our passports to get the pictures taken, so we can’t see that this security measure is really going to help, but they are trying. The South Pacific Games are here next summer and this is a first step to make sure terrorists don’t enter the country by boat. We then walked to the internet café to check our email. From there, it was in to town to explore the local fruit and vegetable market and the local arts and crafts market. Both were wonderful. The fruit and vegetable market is huge but has only locally grown produce. That limits the selection to coconuts and anything made out of coconuts, Samoa koko (cocoa nuts), green beans, bok choy, cabbage, tomatoes, mangoes, papayas, star fruit, taro, breadfruit, and loads of bananas
We had a birthday lunch at Sails Restaurant. This site was the first home of Robert Louis Stevenson when he lived here. The view from the balcony and the ocean breeze was fantastic even though the food was only so so. But the feel was very “South Pacific” and worth a stop.
And now for the really good news of the day. I am actually walking without crutches. The Aircast Airsport ankle brace that Paul Urbanek sent with Justin is just what I needed. The box says, “Step In, Strap Up, And Go!” And it works. If I need speed, it still helps to use the crutches, but I’m sure I’ll get faster as my leg muscles get stronger. I also was able to snorkel with both fins today and made it to the deep part of the Palolo National Marine Reserve. The Reserve is just a very short walk from the harbor. When you get into the water it is very shallow for quite some distance and we snorkeled over some beautiful coral. Then when you get to the drop off, there are lots of fish. I swam with thousands of little blue chromis which is always a magical experience.
Kathleen from Quantum Leap went to the beach with us and then came back to Windbird for a taco dinner. Then we all went to Quantum Leap for an evening of music. There were cruisers from Holland, England, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and the US, but we all seemed to know the words to the same songs. It was great. The highlight of the evening was when seven year old Molly from Hong Kong requested that we sing “Almost Heaven, West Virginia”. Everyone knew the words and cruisers that have already been around the world shared how people all over the world have adopted that song and made it their own. It was a great evening and the perfect “birthday” evening for Justin.
by Judy Handley | Sep 13, 2006 | Sailing Logs Year 1, Samoa |
Day 331, Year 1: Justin and Lynn Arrive in Apia
Date: Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Weather: Beautiful Morning; Rainy, Rainy Afternoon
Location: Apia Harbor, Upolu Island, Samoa
Well, we set the alarm for 5:30 AM this morning, but evidently we no longer have the touch. The alarm did not go off, but we did wake up and got ourselves into Aggie Grey’s by 6:30 to meet Justin and Lynn. They were not there and no one at Aggie’s seemed to know when the bus from the airport might arrive. We waited until about 8:00 and still no Justin and Lynn, so Mark headed to the nearest internet cafe to see if there was a message. Sure enough, Lynn had her friend Gina e-mail us to let us know that the flight left Los Angeles late, so we still didn’t panic. But when the buses from the airport did arrive, and still no Lynn and Justin, we started brainstorming what might have happened. Mark had seen an add in Aggie’s talking about another Aggie’s resort out near the airport. We thought that maybe Lynn and Justin had gone there. We had them paged with no result, but just about that time, another bus arrived and they were onboard. They had gone to the other Aggie’s, but quickly realized it was not the right one and found their way into town.
We had a great day. We brought luggage to the boat, got settled in, and then went back to shore and walked to the Palolo Marine Reserve to snorkel. Lynn had assured us that she had a good snorkeling mask, so we didn’t bring an extra. When I saw her put on the “mask” it was simply eye goggles and a snorkel. When I asked how she was going to keep from breathing in salt water, she started laughing. She thought she was saving space by bringing only the goggles and not the full mask, but she had the sudden realization that she was wrong.. It was a Kodak moment, but unfortunately I didn’t have the camera out. Once we stopped laughing about this, we concentrated on finding ways to get out into the Reserve to see the giant clams and tropical fish. It was my first time in the water since breaking my leg, so I decided to wear only one fin on my good foot. It worked fine, but I think that the next time I will be able to wear both fins and more completely explore the Reserve.
We left the Reserve and headed for lunch, but then the rain started. We went to the restaurant close to the dock for a great lunch and actually took a taxi into town before returning to the boat. During all of this, Mark went to a meeting at the Harbor Master’s Office and found that we (and everyone else in the anchorage) needs to report in at 9 AM in the morning to have pictures taken for an ID. We’re not sure why we have to do this, but we’ll let you know more as soon as we do.
This evening we went to Aggie Grey’s for Fiafia Night and had a wonderful time. We saw traditional singing and dancing, and some point they asked if anyone had a birthday. I immediately responded that we were celebrating Justin’s 29th birthday, and he become the center of attention. It was great fun. And after the singing and dancing, we had a wonderful buffet dinner. All in all it was a great evening.
Not sure what we will do tomorrow, but tomorrow after dinner we will be going to Quantum Leap for an evening of music making. Kathleen on Quantum Leap plays the guitar and ukulele, Justin plays the guitar and will play his ukulele which was his birthday present, Lynn plays the ukulele, and Mark and a couple of other cruisers play the harmonica. Sounds like the makings of a great evening.
by Judy Handley | Sep 12, 2006 | Sailing Logs Year 1, Samoa |
Day 330, Year 1: Getting Ready for Justin and Lynn to Arrive
Date: Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Weather: Another Beautiful, Sunny Day—No Rain
Location: Apia Harbor, Upolu Island, Samoa
Today really was a beautiful day in paradise. It seems we haven’t had many days recently without at least some rain, but we had no rain all night or all day today. We really don’t mind some rain, but it is such a hassle closing all the hatches and then reopening once the rain has ended. In a climate this hot, having to close the boat for rain means it gets really steamy down below, so it was a treat to have the boat open all day.
Early in the day I heard Quantum Leap calling the Apia Port Captain. I immediately got on the radio to say hello. We haven’t seen Tom, Bette Lee, and Kathleen since the night I broke my leg, and we have missed them. They are great folks and they are now anchored right behind us. It really is exciting when friends you have made come into port unexpectedly. Kathleen, crew on Quantum Leap, is a musician, and I know our son Justin will enjoy jamming with her.
It is just about 6:30 PM here and only eleven hours until Justin and my niece Lynn arrive . . . at 5:30 AM in the morning. It has been a very long time since we have gotten up that early, and we are actually going to have to set an alarm clock so we can get up to meet them. It’s been almost a year since I have heard an alarm, and I don’t miss that one little bit. Justin and Lynn will arrive at the airport and take a bus into Apia. The airport is 45 minutes away, so we figure it will be almost 7:00 AM before they arrive here. We are meeting them at Aggie Grey’s and will probably be bringing them back to the boat to crash. They flew straight through from Boston with only one change of planes in Los Angeles, so unless they both are good airplane sleepers, they will be exhausted. We spent the day aboard Windbird getting ready for their arrival and we really can’t wait to see them.
We went out to dinner with Bette Lee and Tom tonight and heard all about their experiences in Penrhyn in the Northern Cook Islands. Tomorrow night many of us in the anchorage will be going to Aggie Grey’s for the Wednesday night Fiafia. This will be a great introduction to the South Pacific for Lynn and Justin.
by Judy Handley | Sep 11, 2006 | Sailing Logs Year 1, Samoa |
Day 329, Year 1: First Day Ashore in Apia
Date: Monday, September 11, 2006
Weather: Another Beautiful, Sunny Day with Rain Showers Here and There
Location: Apia Harbor, Upolu Island, Samoa
We went ashore early today to check in and to get our first view of Apia. It is very, very different from being in American Samoa. In Pago Pago, we could hop ashore and get an aiga bus to take us anywhere. Here, we had to get a taxi to take us into town, and town is more of a city than I was expecting. It is a little like Papeete in Tahiti. Lots of shops, modern buildings – some six to eight stories high – mixed with the old with little attention to how the architecture matches, and sidewalk cafes and bars. The people here dress much more conservatively than they did in American Samoa, much more formal. But I’m sure once we get out into the countryside we will see another side of life here.
Check in here was easy but it did require that we visit Customs in the harbor area and then take a taxi across town to Immigration. I decided, however, that I wanted to walk back from Immigration and see the town. It was a long walk but I made it just fine except for a couple of blisters. I wore a different pair of sandals today, struggling to find something that will support my right foot (the broken leg), but I obviously made the wrong choice. We searched for a machine shop where we could get our broken gooseneck from the boom repaired, but we had no luck. We stopped by car rental agencies and internet cafes along the way to check prices and facilities. We got back to the boat, had a late lunch, and then I noticed a dinghy floating through the anchorage. Mark headed out to retrieve the dinghy before it hit the reef. When he got it, he saw that it belonged to the boat Splashes that we had met in Pago Pago. Now, this is where fate enters the picture. He returned the dinghy and found out that Splashes has the except same gooseneck attachment on their boom as we do, AND that they found their gooseneck broken when they arrived in this harbor. They have been here a couple of weeks now, and have done all of the research to find a new gooseneck. Unbelievable. All Mark had to do was go to the closest internet café and get online using the info from Splashes. Tomorrow we will order the broken part and it should be here within a week. I guess being a good Samaritan and retrieving lost dinghies pays off!
Patrick and Margaret from Aqua Magic are coming over for sundowners in a few minutes and then we are going ashore for dinner. Evidently Aqua Magic has had a string of bad luck since we saw them last, so we will catch up on that when we get together.
