April 29 – May 6, 2016
Logbook – April 29, 2016 (Apia)
Daily Notes
- B/T – sick
- D – Fish market, flea market, evening run
Logbook – April 30, 2016 (Apia)
Daily Notes
- D/T – walk to the east sea wall
- Tuna & wine w/ Nefertiti
- Concert at Gov’t building (Marina Davis?)
Logbook – May 1, 2016 (Apia)
Daily Notes
- Changed propane (1 left)
- Lazy rainy Sunday
Email to Family and Friends Dated May 1, 2016
Subject: Exodus – Enjoying Apia
Apia has turned out to be the right place at the right time for us. After the more remote cruising of Tuvalu, Kiribati, Marshalls, Apia is a nice change of pace, and we’ve gotten to do some land touristy stuff the likes we haven’t done since NZ. We are in the marina, so it’s easy for me to step off the dock and go for a run, and the people here are so friendly it’s fun to just walk around town and explore. We went on a tour of the island and visited the Robert Louis Stevenson museum, swam in waterfall pool and an ocean trench, and had lunch at one of the premier resorts. Also the other day I made the boys go with me to a “cultural show” the other day. Tim and our neighbors on the next boat weren’t interested… doing something so touristy when you’ve already spent so much more authentic time in the island culture seemed lame to them. But to me, I was thinking, well it’s free, and maybe I’ll learn something I didn’t know. And wow, it was great. It’s funny because we’ve done/seen all of the these things already… cooking in an Umu, tapa making, wood carving, Polynesian dancing, but this show was actually a very detailed step by step demonstration of these things, and it was an opportunity to bring together in one linear flow all of the individual tidbits we’ve learned piecemeal along the way. And it was a forum to ask all of those lingering stupid questions. However, the highlight was something we haven’t seen before… traditional tatoo artistry. I’m trying to get Tim to get a tatoo, but so far he’s not convinced. We also learned that Samoa has their own version of a Kava ceremony (like in Fiji). Similar but different. Pretty cool.
Love and miss you all,
-D.
Logbook – May 2, 2016 (Apia)
Daily Notes
- D – Provisioning Frankie Mall
- Boys – Internet day
- D- run
- Dinner @ Edge
Logbook – May 3, 2016 (Apia)
Passage Log Highlights
- 1313 Engines on
- 1401 Engines off, anchor in harbor
Daily Notes
- Hike to RLS grave, swim in the pool, walk in the rain
- Pizza place closed
- Move out of marina to make room for the fishing boat fleet
- Pizza dinner at Giordanos w/ Nefertiti
Logbook – May 4, 2016 (Apia)
Daily Notes
- T/B spearfish, Alex dinghy driver – no fish here
- Movie night at theater “Allegiant”
Email to Family and Friends Dated May 4, 2016
Subject: Exodus – muddy hike
We are still enjoying Apia, but yesterday we had to leave the marina and go anchor in the harbor to make room for a bunch of power boats, since today starts a big sport fishing tournament. It was sort of a pain to have to move, but I think we will be glad we are out here since the marina is now over-run with beer-chugging, foul-mouthed, fishermen. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with beer chugging, foul mouths, and/or fishermen, but so many in one place might be a little much.
Yesterday we hiked up to the top of a hill to visit Robert Louis Stevenson’s grave. It wasn’t a long hike, but it was basically straight up, and because of all the rain it was muddy and slippery. That didn’t slow down Brenden, though. He made it to the top in 10 minutes. Barefoot. I brought up the rear and it took me 25 minutes. In my running shoes. At the bottom of the trail is a waterfall and swimming hole, so we all had a chance to cool off for awhile.
We are starting to look for a weather window to head down to Tonga and it’s looking like this weekend or early next week the trades fill back in and we should be able to move on.
Love and miss you all,
-D.
Logbook – May 5, 2016 (Apia)
Daily Notes
- Finish provisioning
- Drinks on Exodus w/ Nefertiti
Logbook – May 6, 2016 (Apia)
Daily Notes
- Cleared out (Immigration, customs), final shopping
- SV Lilo arrived
- Late night drinking and hanging out with Nefertiti
Email to Family and Friends Dated May 6, 2016
Subject: Exodus – cleared out and ready to go
Today I visited the various government offices in order to clear out of Samoa and we are poised for an early morning departure to Tonga. However, it is almost midnight and we just had a sad good-bye with our very dear friends whom we’ve only known for two weeks. It took me awhile to learn that in this lifestyle you have to put yourself out there quickly in order to make friends because everyone is moving at a different pace in different directions and if you hold back you will miss out on knowing really special people because before you know it they are gone, or you or gone. So, it’s almost midnight and we still need to get the boat ready, but I still have 1GB left on my internet plan so here I am…
Love and miss you all,
-D.
Gresham Family Exodus 