Day 346, Year 1: Fia Fia Night at the Hotel Kitano
Date: Thursday, September 28, 2006
Weather: Beautiful Weather Returns
Location: Apia Harbor, Upolu Island, Samoa

Note to all our friends and family: We are so very behind on sending e-mails. If you have written us in the past week, please forgive us if we haven’t answered. We’re trying hard to catch up.

We have been in the Samoas for almost two months but as we get ready to leave there are just so many things we still want to do. We have set Saturday as our departure day if we can possibly be ready to go by then. Today Mark worked on filling the fuel and water tanks, but we still need to do grocery shopping and last minute souvenir shopping. I also need to finish labeling pictures and get them sent to the website. I am almost finished with American Samoa, but I haven’t even begun to organize the photos from here. We probably won’t have internet access in Tonga, so if I don’t get things sent from here, it could be quite a while before pictures are posted. I’ll just have to do the best that I can.

I did work on pictures all day today while Mark ran in and out with fuel and water. We then went into town to the duty-free liquor store to put in our order. Here you can buy duty-free and have it delivered the day before you are leaving. We stopped by the Flea Market to pick up a few odds and ends, and then took a taxi out to the Kitano Hotel to make reservations for dinner for tonight’s Fia Fia and traditional buffet. They were totally booked, but they made room for Penny, Greg, Mark, and myself. It was then back to the boat to get ready and then back to shore. We arrived a little early and were almost the first people in line to get dinner. This was great as there was wonderful sashimi, oka, roasted pig, roasted fish, palusami, and on and on. And we were almost the first in line, so we certainly got our pick of foods. The show was after dinner and it was also spectacular. I love watching the Samoan women dance. It is really all about hand movements and subtle foot movements and it is delightful to watch.

We have decided to leave here and go to Tonga. If we love it, we will stay and leave from there for New Zealand. If we don’t love it, we will head on to Fiji. In either case, I’m sure we will have a wonderful time.

060928 Day 346 Samoa–Fiafia at Hotel Kitano