Pacific Ocean
Well, we made it here safe & sound. The last two days we motor sailed with the main & mizzen, as the spinnaker had fouled up the forstay. Well you won't believe it, but the spinnaker decided to unravel itself, but not at the top where the sock was still fouled really bad, so Sandy & I ran forward when we saw it come unravelled & twisted it up so it wouldn't refill with air & get out of control again. We came all the way into the check-in wharf & the rest of it finally came loose, so we have our spinnaker back with just a few scratches & a whole lot of new experience.
Boy was that fun at sea - with rolly seas & squalls, must be becoming a sailor I guess, boy ain't that a scary thought. Our new position in western Samoa is 13 degrees 49 minutes south- 171 degrees 45 minutes west at anchor. It's really nice not to be rolling for a while, we will sleep good tonight.
The people here are the nicest we have met so far, they really like Americans, believe it or not. The place is very clean & things are very cheap compared to French Polynesia. They even have a Mcdonalds here, which we will find tomorrow & check out to make sure they are up to par. Already have gotten a case of coke on board, we have been out for over three weeks, thats a long time for us Coke-Aholics. We'll sleep, as we will & we're doing fine, looking forward to heading out to Tonga in a week or so & hopefully with less eventfulness sailing - ha.
Tomorrow is boat work day, as the engine oil needs changing & the outboard needs changing too. Also broke the lazy jack lines & lost a blade off the wind generator. Oh well, we were due - we have had trouble free running up till now, just wish it would come in smaller lumps. Love Dan & Sandy
SANDY'S ENTRY:
Dear friends we arrived at Samoa on August 18th about 12:00 13.49S 171.45W. I think we are going to like it here. Prices are cheap - 3 Talas to one US dollar. Three times as much to spend.
Samoa has no markers or lights or anything to enter the coral. We didn't have a chart either. There were two markers on shore to line up but we had a hard time finding one of them. We finally entered with no problems. We had to raft up to a Big tugboat for several hours waiting for 5 officials to come to our boat. A French single hander 50' boat had to moore up to us also. That was quite a scene - he was going by us so fast throwing ropes at us and Dan caught one and kinda stopped the boat. I caught one and then he powered back and up and back, finally it came to a stop.
Immigration and Quarantine came first, they looked like they were only 21 and 22 years old - looked at the girls pictures and said how old - oh pretty girls. We said they where married and they frowned. Then Port captain and customs and Health. They let me go to the bank before it closed. So I got some money and Coca cola and back to the boat. Oh - getting off our boat was quite a thing. I had to climb off ours to the tug off our rail and onto a big tire that hung on the side of them and up their rail and down inside then up and over their rail and up 3 feet onto the dock on the other side with these great big buoys in between. Then back again with the big bag of soda.
8-19 Dan did a lot of work on the boat. Changed the engine oil, out board oil, and up the mast to change the fins on the wind generator that broke. Glad we weren't under those blades when they came off. Dan was so sweaty it looked like he was raining. We then went out to dinner with Francis ( Lisa and David) to what we thought was a place that had steak, Seaview. We got seated and they told us it was a seafood buffet which turned out to be quite nice. They had lobster, shrimp in curry sauce, octopus, calamari (squid), oysters in the shells, rice, stir fry, salads, raw fish and more. Dan asked if dessert was extra or if it came with the meal. I don't know but we had some chocolate cake and cheese cake. I had a drink and he had coke at the end our bill was $125 - now divide by 3 not too bad for all that. Had a great time. There is a revival going on at the hotel right next to our anchorage, some nice singing in Samoan and a couple of bars are playing music loud too and we watched a movie to drown it all out. So it is off to bed for another good night sleep.We are going to try to go to church if we can get up in time. There is a Methodist one close by and a catholic one too. Till Later, Dan and Sandy
Back Next