Samoa

We had a great sail to Samoa, there was lots of wind and we covered a lot of distance each day. The swell was uncomfortable but we didn't mind as long as we got to Samoa quickly. It took us just over 3 days to cover the 500 miles. Unfortunately the rivets which hold our vang (aka Kicking strap, which holds the boom down) pulled out of the mast. All the downwind sailing across the Pacific has put a lot of strain on it and it gave up! We have rigged something to get us to NZ where we can get it repaired. Our list of jobs for NZ is getting longer as we cross the Pacific!

We arrived in Apia the capital of Samoa and lost a day! Samoa are the other side of the date line so instead of being 11 hours behind GMT we are now 13 hours ahead. Boats have to moor in the marina which is the first time we have been in a marina since Mexico. Once we were tied up at the dock the officials started to arrive. We were not allowed to leave the boat until we were cleared. We had visits from quarantine, health, customs and the marina. They were very friendly but there was lots of paperwork and we had to supply them all with cans of drinks and snacks! Other than the refreshments clearing in was free! The Samoans are very officious, we can only go to other parts of the islands by writing to the Prime ministers office and having a letter to take with us and we need to write a letter to the head of customs to get duty free fuel and alcohol. That said they are very friendly and welcoming people.

We have been taking advantage of having water and have given the boat a good clean in between enjoying ourselves. Our first week we walked Apia and the water front to see the historic sites. There are also lots of big new government offices which have been paid for by Japanese and Chinese money. They look completely out of place amongst the old buildings and it is sad that they have probably sold their fishing rights in order to get the funding. The Japanese tuna boats are moored 4 abreast in the harbour and apparently a larger ship comes to transfer the catch to Japan from here while the smaller ships go back out fishing again. The Samoans are very religious people and do not see the danger in all their fish being caught, they just say 'God will provide'!

Robert Louis Stevenson lived on the island for 4 years and is buried here. We had a tour of his house though did not do the steep walk to his grave as it was raining and the trail is rough and slippery. The house is out of town and we tried to get there by bus. After waiting over an hour at the bus station with no success we hitched a ride there and back from locals! The same day we also went to see the police parade. Each morning the police march with a band from the police station to Government house where they stand to attention while the Samoan flag is raised to the national anthem. Its strange seeing police, both male and female, in skirts, locally know as Lava lava's. All the locals wear Lava lava's and in the more remote areas we are expected to keep our legs covered so we have both had lava lava's made.

 The last 3 days we have visited the other large island called Savai'i. We got a taxi to the bus station at 5.30am on Wednesday in time to get the local bus to the ferry. The bus ride took an hour and cost about £1 each. The car ferry from Upolu to Savaii left at 8am and again was very cheap costing less than £4 each for a journey of over an hour! We had arranged to hire a car on Savai'i which we collected from a hotel near the ferry owned by a man who grew up near Birmingham and then lived in Croydon! Savaii is much more traditional than Upolu though some of the resident live in houses rather than the traditional open Fales. They are very proud of their land and the gardens are amazing. They are incredibly poor financially but have a plentiful supply of food which they grow. Even though they are poor the island is covered with huge churches. There is a church every few hundred yards and all of them are very grand and very big. Most of the building work on the island is new churches. We visited a number of interesting sites. Blowholes which spout water about 40ft into the air, and that is when the sea is calm! Waterfalls where we went swimming in crystal clear water and lava fields with part buried churches from an eruption in the early 20C. Just driving through the villages was interesting, one village had bananas just hanging under shelters and you could help yourself to as many as you wanted. Also the Samoans bury their dead on their property so most houses had large tomb stones in their front garden.

On our trip back to Upolu we met a Kiwi couple on holiday here. They visited the boat and we had a pleasant evening with them. They live in Auckland and we have an invite to visit when we get to NZ. We are really enjoying Samoa and plan to stay for their annual festival which starts 2 September and lasts for 1 week. We still have to tour Upolu island and visit one of the very small island called Manono which has no cars and will be very traditional. So that is this week taken care of!

Suwarrow

We arrived in Suwarrow on 31 July after our slow sail of 7 days! The final night the wind picked up and we had a good breeze blowing in morning. We had a great sail and arrived early afternoon. As the passage had been fairly relaxing we were well rested and ready to enjoy ourselves. Not long after we had anchored we met up with Anne and Mark from Blue Rodeo and we spent a pleasant evening on their boat hearing all about the atoll over a few drinks!

The following morning the 2 rangers (Harry and Anthony) who live on the atoll came to the boat to clear us into the Cook Islands. It was very relaxed and informal with only a few forms to fill in. The anchorage is quite tricky to anchor in with lots of coral and we were not happy with where we had anchored yesterday so decided to move. This was a mistake!! First our chain was wrapped around coral which Tucker on Convivia very nicely helped us to untangle and then we anchored 4 times and each time were unhappy with our location. Finally we set the anchor in an OK spot which was lucky as by this stage our anchor windlass decided to go on strike. It was soon OK after a rest and a bit of cleaning!

After providing the mornings entertainment to the other boats in the anchorage we went snorkelling with Blue Rodeo. They took us to a lovely coral garden about 2 miles from the anchorage. It was a bumpy ride in the dinghy but worth it. The coral was very pretty and we saw turtles, sharks and hundreds of fish. On the way back we also went to another spot to see manta's.

The rangers were checking for rats on one of the Motus at the south end of the atoll. They laid traps and then returned to the motu over 3 days to see if they had caught any rats. On the second day the assistant ranger, Anthony, let us and Nicki and Dennis from Knotty Lady go with him to the motu. Most of the traps had been destroyed by Coconut crabs and no rats had been caught. We all had a picnic on the beach and a good wander around. We were allowed to catch one coconut crab which Dennis dug out of its den. That evening we had a BBQ on the beach and all tried the crab. It was tasty but there is not a lot of meat for such a big animal. It was a lovely location, at one point there were only 4 boats there and the 2 rangers. Towards the end of our stay more boats were arriving and there were 10 when we left.

We had a relaxing time walking around the motu near the anchorage (this is the only place we were allowed to go ashore without the rangers), snorkelling and having beach BBQ's in the evening. Anthony took the guys out fishing and we all provided a dish to accompany the fish barbeque. Just before we left Barbara and Michael arrived on Astarte. Barbara had caught a lovely tuna which they shared with us on our last evening. Barbara had also made us mini chocolate cakes for our sail to Samoa. Barbara is becoming famous among the cruisers for her chocolate cake! It was sad to leave such an idyllic location but time is marching on and we needed to continue west.