Day 327: Quarantined in Apia
Day and Time: Sunday, September 10, 2006
Weather: Another Beautiful, Sunny Day

We had a beautiful sail from one Samoa to the other-from Pago Pago, Tutuila, to Apia, Upolu. But when we got here Harbor Control informed us that because it is Sunday we could not check in. They told us we would have to anchor away from other boats and stay onboard until we can check in tomorrow morning. This is technically the case in many places, but this is the first time we have been told to stay onboard. It is just as well as we had many things to do, but it is a strange feeling to be sitting here with our yellow quarantine flag flying and not being able to get in the dinghy and visit friends. Aqua Magic is here and we haven’t seen Margaret and Patrick since the Marquesas. We talked on the radio and will visit tomorrow.

My first impression of Upolu as we approached is that it is not as lush as Tutuila. It looks a little drier. It is mountainous, but the mountains are not as high. Tutuila is stunning and it looks like Upolu will be beautiful, but it won’t have the dramatic mountain peaks. On the other hand, the harbor here in Apia is very clean. That is definitely a change from Pago Pago. The harbor there was full of plastic bags and bottles and Styrofoam. Now that we are here and see once again how beautiful a clean harbor can be we realize just how desperately American Samoa needs to do something about their harbor problem. Another difference is that the city of Apia has multi-story hotels and modern buildings. That was not the case in American Samoa. The now defunct Rainmaker Hotel was the tallest building there and it had only two stories. The buildings here appear to be about six stories high. Tutuila was only 18.6 miles long and never more than 3.7 miles wide. Upolu is at least two to three times that size and has twice as many people. It will be fascinating to get on land and make more comparisons in the next few days.

Soon after we arrived today, we discovered that we were very lucky to have made it in here with our main sail still flying. The aluminum gooseneck that connects the main sail boom to the main mast had broken sometime during the passage, but the halyard holding up the main sail had kept things aloft. Mark was successful in getting gooseneck and the fitting on the boom removed, so our first job here will be to find a way to get this repaired. That could be tricky here as this is not a working port like Pago Pago. We’ll see if we can find someone here who can weld aluminum, and if not, we’ll have to get the part back to Pago Pago for repair. A cruising boat really keeps you busy with minor and major repairs. It is just a fact of the cruising life.

I spent the day cleaning the bottom of the dinghy. After being in the water in Pago Pago Harbor for a full month, it had a nice layer of hairy algae and lots of little barnacles. The stainless steel boarding ladder had the same, and it took all afternoon to get these things looking half-way decent once again.

We’re looking forward to going ashore tomorrow. Mark visited here when he lived in Samoa, but none of the modern buildings existed then. Aggie Grey’s Hotel is a landmark in the harbor and officially one of “The Most Famous Hotels in the World” along with the Ritz in Paris, the Plaza in New York, and Raffles in Singapore. We have read that it has the prices to go along with the title, but not the accommodations. The Aggie’s that Mark knew is long gone and a new building has taken its place. We will definitely go there for their Wednesday night Fiafia (island night) but we’ll have to check prices to see if we can afford to partake in the buffet.

Tomorrow and Tuesday we will get familiar with Apia and prepare for the arrival of our son Justin and my niece Lynn. They arrive at 5:30 AM on Wednesday morning. I guess we’ll get an early start on that day!

Day 328: First Day Ashore in Apia
Day and Time: Monday, September 11, 2006
Weather: Another Beautiful, Sunny Day with Rain Showers Here and There

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.

Day 329: Getting Ready for Justin and Lynn to Arrive
Day and Time: Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Weather: Another Beautiful, Sunny Day-No Rain

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.

Day 330: Justin and Lynn Arrive Safely in Apia
Day and Time: Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Weather: Beautiful Morning; Rainy, Rainy Afternoon

See Pictures Here

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 café 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.

Day 331: Happy Birthday to Justin
Day and Time: Thursday, September 14, 2006 (log posted on Friday)
Weather: Beautiful Weather with Some Intermittent Showers

See Pictures of Life in Apia Harbor

See Pictures of Music Night on Quantum Leap

See Pictures of Apia, Upolu

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.

Day 332: A Visit to Vailima-Home of Robert Louis Stevenson
Day and Time: Friday, September 15, 2006
Weather: Beautiful Weather with Some Intermittent Showers

See Pictures Here

Today we had a relaxed breakfast aboard, and then we headed into the town. As always, our first stop was at the internet café. 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 café. 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.

Day 333: Website Overload
Day and Time: Saturday, September 16, 2006
Weather: Beautiful Day; Rain in the Evening

See Pictures of Upolu East Tour

See Pictures of Sopoaga Falls Garden

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.

Day 334: Care Package Arrived Today!!
Day and Time: Sunday, September 17, 2006
Weather: Beautiful Day with One Rain Shower

See Pictures Here

What we had anticipated would be a quiet Sunday just didn’t turn out that way. Late yesterday evening Justin was going to go into town to hear a local music group but the dinghy motor wouldn’t start. So Mark and Justin started their day today working on the dinghy motor. While they were working on this problem, we heard on the radio that a boat named Fluid Motion and our friends aboard Jade had their dinghies stolen during the night. To a cruiser, your dinghy is like your car or truck. It is your only method of traveling from boat to shore and having one stolen out here is a huge problem. There is no place to go to buy a new one. Both Fluid Motion and Jade started advertising a $250 reward for anyone helping them recover their dinghy. So far, they have heard nothing. All of us in the anchorage can only hope that tomorrow will bring better news.

Sometime mid-morning, I saw the catamaran Bamboo coming into the anchorage. I had heard from Penny on Long Tall Sally just last night that Herbert on Bamboo would be bringing me the “care package” I had been waiting for in American Samoa. Shortly after Bamboo anchored, Aqua Magic stopped by to pick up the package and bring it to us. They had been into shore for a church service and had heard on their mobile VHF that we were looking from someone to pick up the package and bring it to us. Channel 16 on our VHF radio is a cruiser’s news station and it works really well. Just like the old party-line telephone system, everyone knows what everyone else is doing and needing. It’s great. And opening the package was even greater. It had the aircast and splint I had been waiting for but finally received when Justin arrived. It had lost of special food treats from the Stuarts who had send the package, and a few special surprises from people I had worked with at the Concord School District. It was great fun unpacking it. Thank you to the Stuarts for sending this to me.

It took about three hours, but Mark and Justin finally got our dinghy motor going. At that point, Mark went to Splashes to help them install the boom attachment to their mainmast. Splashes is the boat that has the same broken boom attachment as us, so it was good practice for Mark to help them with their installation. Hopefully our part will be in mid-week. Splashes will be gone by then, but we will have had the experience of helping them. That should make our installment easier. Justin and Lynn dropped Mark off at Splashes and then headed into the internet café at the Green Turtle. Most things are closed on Sunday, but the Green Turtle is a traveler friendly place that stays open. I stayed on the boat to finish the laundry that Lynn and I had been working on during the morning. Laundry for four takes a little longer than laundry for two!

I had just finished getting all of the laundry hung when I saw Lynn , Justin, and Kathleen from Quantum Leap being towed home. They couldn’t get the dinghy motor started and with headwinds were having a tough row home, so another cruiser gave them a lift. We had lunch, and then Kathleen and Justin played their ukulele’s most of the afternoon. Lynn joined in for a bit, and when Mark returned home, he played harmonica. I worked on the computer transferring pictures from one computer to another and really enjoyed the music. Mark had to make one more “house call”. Margaret on Aqua Magic called for some computer help in the late afternoon and Mark went over to help.

We had dinner aboard Windbird tonight, listened to music, and just enjoyed the evening. We have no set plans for tomorrow, so we will just see how the day evolves.

Day 335: It’s Back (the CZ) . . . Ugh!
Day and Time: Monday, September 18, 2006
Weather: Yucky Rain with Periods of Relief

See Pictures Here

Here we are again with the Convergence Zone sitting on top of us. We can hope it moves either north or south soon, but until it does, we have to put up with the rainy, rainy weather. We chose to do in-town activities today. We visited local art museums, went back to the the Maketi Fou vegetable market, and then on to the local arts and crafts flea market. We made it back to the harbor area in time to drop off our purchases on Windbird and get back to shore for a dinner with Quantum Leap and Aqua Magic. Both of them are heading to Tonga in the next couple of days, so we needed to say a proper farewell.

Even with the bad weather, we had a great day. We hope that the CZ will move either north or south , and that tomorrow we will have sunny weather.

Day 336: The web site is back up and running!
Day and Time: Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Weather: Improving-Sunshine with Short Periods of Rain

The Convergence Zone which was sitting on top of us yesterday has already moved south. This is a good thing. So now you see it, now you don’t. And I hope we don’t see it again for quite a while.

We started our day by going into The Green Turtle Traveler’s Lounge. First we did some work on the website, which should be back up and running again. Yeah! Mark went into town to get our permit to sail to Asau on the island of Savai’ once we leave here. While he was doing that we were talking to the people at the Green Turtle about traveling options on Savaii. But Mark came back without a cruising permit because the Prime Minister’s office (and in fact the entire six-story government building) was without electricity so they couldn’t photocopy our passports. So we will have to pursue this another day.

We then headed back to Windbird for a little lunch and went to the Palolo Reserve which is right around the corner to swim and snorkel. Once we did this, it was time to head back to the dock. Justin and Lynn went into town to participate in fire dancing lessons (Justin to participate and Lynn to video tape the presentations) and Mark and I headed back to the Green Turtle to make final reservations for our two day trip to Savai’i.. We kept hitting a brick wall in terms of making our reservations for Savai’i, and because of the delays we have decided not to go to Savai’i until early Thursday morning.

So we came back to the boat and cooked up a great curry while Justin went back to town to watch a show by the fire dancers he had met earlier. Tomorrow we have to get serious about getting reservations in order for our trip to Savai’i.

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