Author: cruisingrunner

It looked like we had a weather window to depart on a Saturday, so we spent Friday taking care of formalities and last-minute provisioning of fresh items.

We spent the evening, until almost midnight, hanging out with Fred and Emelie on Exodus. We had a sad good-bye, since by that time they were very dear friends even though we had only known them 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 are gone or both. So, at midnight we started getting the boat ready for a morning departure to Tonga.

The last several days we were in Apia we had to leave the marina and go anchor in the harbor to make room for a bunch of power boats, since there was a big sport fishing tournament, and the marina was booked. It was sort of a pain to have to move, but I think it was a good thing we were out there and not in the marina since it became 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.

A cargo ship brought some of the boats that were participating in the fishing tournament

I’m pretty sure the sunsets were prettier while anchored in the harbor

I made the boys go with me to a “cultural show.” They grumbled a lot, but when I told them it could count as school for the day, they were a little more agreeable, although nowhere near enthusiastic. Tim and Emelie and Fred weren’t interested in doing something so touristy. When you’ve already spent so much more authentic time in the island culture something like this geared towards regular tourists can seem pretty lame. But 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 at this show they gave us 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 tattoo artistry (where they tap tap tap the cutting tool on your skin). We also learned that Samoa has their own version of a Kava ceremony (like in Fiji). Similar but different.

The host was knowledgeable and charismatic, and it was pretty classic when he was talking about “Samoa Time” and that if you have an appointment with a Samoan, they will most likely be late and Brenden pipes up that, “it’s like that in all the islands.” I thought the guy was going to give B a hard time about what makes him such an expert, but he let it slide. He talked proudly about how Samoa was the first of the Pacific Islands to achieve independence and that they helped pave the way for other island nations to follow. I didn’t bother to point out that since Tonga was never colonized and they were always independent that technically they should be considered first.

The boys were so happy to be there! They taught us how to make the plates out of palm fronds, but of course we knew how to do that already. Brenden told me, “Victoria taught me that a long time ago…”

The men preparing the Umu

Tapa making… here she is using water and a shell to thin and flatten the bark (of a paper mulberry tree).

Getting ready to demonstrate the Samoan “Ava ceremony” The purpose of the ritual is similar as to Fiji, to formally welcome visitors, but many of the details are different.

We got a little bit of the tourist bug, so we ended up doing some land touring, which is something we hadn’t done since we were in New Zealand. We paid a taxi driver a couple hundred bucks to take us around the island of Upolu to see some of the popular sights. There were many options, but we ended up narrowing it down to the following itinerary:

Our island tour itinerary

1. Villa Vailima – The Robert Louis Stevenson Museum
2. The Baha’i Temple
3. Papapapatai Waterfall
4. Coconut Beach Club
5. Togitogiga Waterfall
6. Saletoga Sands Beach
7. Resort (for lunch)
8. To Sua Ocean TrenchVailima = carry water in your hands

Taula, our taxi driver and tour guide, was talkative and friendly, and clearly knew his way around. He must not have been used to taking cruisers around though, because we told him we were more interested in seeing villages than resorts, but he took us to resorts anyway.

Villa Vailima is The Robert Louis Stevenson Museum, but it’s actually much more than that. It’s actually the preserved house that he and his family lived in during their time in Samoa. With this stop we could count the day as a school outing, since Brenden was reading RLS poetry and was about to start a non-fiction book about his travels across America on an immigrant train. RLS had a stepson named Austin who here when he was 8, and he was homeschooled and then he returned back to the U.S. when he was 12. So, I suspect he and Brenden would relate about a few things.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s house

The bedrom of RLS’s step-son, Austin

There are two fireplaces in RLS’s house, and these are the only two in all of Samoa. Of course they are, it’s freaking hot here! But it turns out these are just facades anyway to give them the feel of home. There aren’t even chimneys

Since there are only 8 Baha’i Temples in the world and it was on our way anyway, we decided to take a peek. To me Baha’i seems to be an interesting alternative to the other monotheistic faiths, but it still has all the trappings of a religious organization. The monk inside who talked with us was gentle and courteous.

The Baha’i Temple near Apia

When we stopped at Papapapatai Waterfall and got out and walked around, the lush green scenery reminded me of being in Hawai’i, and to be honest it was every bit as beautiful. It was damp and foggy, but we were still able to enjoy the view.

A foggy view of Papapapatai (that’s two papas) Waterfall

Coconut Beach Club. All we did there was walk around.

The Togitogiga Waterfall was *way* more our style. Brenden was the first in the water, big surprise, but the time we left even I had jumped in.

The Togitogiga Waterfall -Brenden was the first one in

The Togitogiga Waterfall

Saletoga Sands Beach Resort – where we stopped for lunch

The last stop of the day was the To Sua Ocean Trench, and it was definitely the highlight. The entire property is beautiful, and the market it for weddings and such. But the main attraction is a 30m deep swimming hole that is fed from the ocean through a cave.

Tim and Brenden made their way down first, but eventually I made my way down too. Alex was a bit grouchy, at least at the time I thought it was grouchiness, and he just hung out in one of the fales above. I chose to swim around the area you see in this photo below while Tim and Brenden went through the underwater tunnel leading out to the ocean. Of course they did.

Brenden had a lot of fun, but more than once he wished out loud that his boat kid friends were with us. “Then it would be really fun!”

Tim and Brenden climbing down into the trench

The view from the To Sua grounds

The drive back to Apia was a couple hours long, and sometimes quite winding. This was how we found out that Alex wasn’t grouchy, he was actually sick. Taula made an emergency roadside stop and just barely missed a huge mess in the back of his car. We weren’t sure if it was something Alex ate or if he was just carsick, but he was fortunately pretty much fine after that.

A few days after our tour we took a taxi back up to Villa Vailima in order to hike up to RLS’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 a while.

The grave of Robert Louis Stevenson

We made it to the top! The view from the gravesite of RLS.

Playing in the swimming hole at Villa Vailima

We decided to walk home, but that ended up being a poor choice because we got caught in the rain. We pressed on with our sights set on a yummy pizza launch at Giordanos. When we finally made there all soaking wet we hung our heads to find out they were closed until dinner. So, we caught a taxi back to the marina and foraged on Exodus.

We returned to Giordanos that evening for dinner with Emelie and Fred from s/v Nefertiti and had a great evening with great food and company.

Staying in a marina has its pros and cons, but since we so seldom stay in marinas when we do we have a tendency to focus more on the pros than the cons. It’s nice to have access to dock water for cleaning and showering and it’s even nicer to be able to just step off the boat when you need to go somewhere rather than having to dinghy to shore or get a ride.

The marina was small, and Exodus took up an entire slip. Since we were there well in advance of the cruising season rush, it was sparsely populated and rather quiet. There were two other sailboats there with liveaboard cruisers and two pretty much abandoned vessels.

Nefertiti and Exodus snug in their slips after Cyclone Amos

Giving the dinghy a good scrubbing at the dock in Apia

Apia turned out to be the right place at the right time for us. After the much more remote cruising we did in Tuvalu, Kiribati, and Marshalls, Apia was a wonderful change of pace. It is a large enough town to have the best amenities since New Zealand but not so big to be industrial and dirty. It’s bigger than Savusavu, but smaller than Suva. Bigger than Neiafu but smaller than Nuku’alofa. The people are very friendly, which made it fun to just walk around town and explore.

The marina is on the opposite side of the harbor from the downtown area, and it was a good mile walk around the edge. Usually when running errands, I would walk down there and then take a taxi back, especially if I was loaded down with provisions. Taxis were plentiful and reasonably cheap, although there was a standard fare and you had to be careful not to get overcharged by making sure you had an agreed to price before taking the ride. Provisioning was excellent. Here are my notes from the small notebook I carried about with me: “Red mall (Chan Mow) – good cheese, coffee beans. Frankie – tortillas, roti, old-fashioned oats, chocolate. Lucky Foodtown – best meat and produce. Farmer Joe – Capt morgan, good wine selection.” It was rare to be in a place where there was a single store that met all your needs, and Samoa was no different. There was also a fish market near the water and a huge open-air market for fresh produce in and handicrafts in the middle of town. I bought the boys their own woven fans here, because they kept taking mine that I bought in Tarawa. There was a hardware store, a library, and even a movie theater where Tim took the boys to see Allegiant one evening. A real treat was not having to handwash all the clothes! There was a laundry place within walking distance of the marina, a little far to carry a bunch of bags, but I would usually take one of my big strong pack mules with me.

One of my favorite parts about being in Apia was running. It is easily my favorite place for a run in the whole South Pacific (excepting obviously New Zealand, since it’s not so hot there). The walkway around the edge of the harbor is perfect for running, and the best part was that there were always locals out running too, both men and women. So, instead of the strange looks I usually get when I’m out for a run, I’m getting smiles and greetings from all my fellow Samoan runners.

Walking to town along the edge of the harbor

The Catholic Cathedral in Apia.

Italiano’s is neither an internet cafe nor a coffee bar, but the pizza and beer were good

A shot of the open air market in the rain

The Fish Market. They are keeping the flies off the fish.

We arrived well after dark on Wed April 20 and spent the first night anchored in the harbor near a big cargo ship. In the morning after several radio calls to Port Control, we were given permission to proceed to the marina, where there were two other boats and plenty of hands to catch dock lines.

All of the officials came to the boat to process us except immigration. We had a slight hiccup with Customs, though. Upon reviewing our outbound clearance from The Marshalls and after making a phone call back to the office, the customs official informed us that we would need to go to the office for an interview, because Tarawa, Kiribati was listed as the next port on our paperwork. We had no idea how big or small an issue this could be, but figured it must happen all the time to cruisers when plans change en route. So, we left the boys on board, and Tim and I walked down to the office. The interview was painless, but Tim was a little too chatty for my taste. In situations like this you need to just answer the questions that are asked and not offer any extraneous information, because you never know what could come back to bite you in a foreign country. Tim tends to believe that if you are just nice to people nothing can go wrong. Anyway, they let us stay without any fine or penalty.

Next was a taxi ride downtown to the immigration office. We had a short wait and our taxi driver waited for us and then gave us a tour of the town making sure to point out the popular shopping spots. He also took us to the telecom store to get hooked up with 3G internet access. We relaxed briefly at The Edge Cafe having snacks and drinks before becoming completely consumed for the next two days with monitoring and preparing for Tropical Cyclone Amos. My last post was all about that drama, and you can catch up with it here: Link.

20 April – 7 May 2016

Two years ago, when we were dragging anchor all around Pago Pago (American Samoa) our friends in Apia were having a great time. So, we are glad to get a second chance in this corner of the world in order to get our turn in this beautiful country.

First things first. It’s “Samoa” not “Western Samoa.” They dropped the “Western” back in 1997, but many charts and maps still reference the old name. It’s a beautiful young reef fringed volcanic island nation with a lush green landscape and a rich history. The two largest islands are Savi’i to the west and Upolu to the east.

We spent two weeks on the island of Upolu, and one thing that really stood out to me was this: The Samoans have got to be the friendliest of all the Polynesians! And we’ve been to Hawaii, French Polynesia, Tonga, Atearoa (New Zealand), and Tuvalu. Seriously, they rival the Fijians for their friendliness!

Map of Samoa

Samoa is part of the larger Samoan Island chain, and today it’s proudly referred to by the locals as “Independent Samoa.” While it’s sister Samoan nation of American Samoa remains a U.S. territory, Samoa (still Western Samoa at the time) achieved independence from New Zealand back in 1962. Western Samoa was first colonized by Germany near the turn of the century but during WWI it was occupied by New Zealand without German resistance. After the war it stayed in the hands of New Zealand until eventual independence.

The superficial differences between American Samoa and Samoa are easily spotted in that one has an American influence (so they drive on the right side and write their dates month/day/year) and the other has a Commonwealth influence (so they use A4 size paper and call trash cans rubbish bins). However, there are deeper differences, of course, due to the divergence of their histories and the way they are being governed today. American Samoa has become basically a welfare state while the people of Samoa must work harder for what they have, but I think there’s something to be said for hard work and independence, no? Of course, things like infant mortality rates are much better in American Samoa, and it’s hard to complain about something like that.

In any case, they are all Samoans, and even though they are politically divided they still share a kinship and rich history and culture.

The capital “city” of Apia on the north side of Upolu is one of the nicest in the Pacific, and the country has a developing tourism industry. It would make a great alternative to the standard Hawaiian holiday for anyone looking for a bit more ruggedness and a bit more access to traditional culture.

If you are interested in reading about our previous adventures in Pago Pago, American Samoa, including massive anchor dragging drama, here’s a link.

The greater Samoan Island chain including Samoa and American Samoa