Samoa
August 6 - 20,
2001
Written by Karen
The Best Sailing of the Trip
The journey from Suwarrow to Samoa was the best sailing of the trip. We had perfect weather; winds 15-20 mph wind and 3-6 foot waves from the stern. It was gorgeous. It reminded me of how much I enjoy sailing. What a refreshing change after the rough rides we had between Raiatea and Rarotonga and Rarotonga and Suwarrow.
Everyone
onboard did night watches so each of us only had 4 hours of helm time a day.
Pete had 2-4 PM and AM and I had 4-6 PM and AM. One day we flew the spinnaker
in the afternoon. This was especially fun for Pete. We averaged 8 knots for
those hours. Without the spinnaker and just the 80% jib, we were going between
6.5 and 7.5 knots. We made it to Samoa in record time; only 82 hours for 550
miles.We arrived in Samoa at 10 PM on August 6. We knew that Sir Swagman was already here since they left Suwarrow 30 hours ahead of us. Pete hailed them on the VHF and got more information about the approach to the harbor, since we would be coming in at dark. We had no problems entering the harbor. Pete actually was behind the helm because Dario's eyesight is so bad he could barely see the anchored boats. He had laser surgery done a few years ago to correct his eyesight but they were unable to make it perfect and he is supposed to wear glasses. He said he was unable to find glasses that actually helped him see better so he just goes around squinting at everything.
Samoa
Until 1997, Samoa was officially know as Western Samoa, the old Polynesian lifestyle know as fa'a Samoa-The Samoan Way-remains very much alive and well. One part of the Samoan Way is communal property. My guidebook warned us not to leave anything unattended because it would disappear. The Samoans will take anything because everything belongs to everybody in their culture. Evelyn learned this the hard way. One day she decided to climb a tree along the main road in town and watch people go by and write in her journal. She left her flip-flops at the base of the tree. When she climbed back down, her shoes were gone and in their place was an old, worn pair of flip-flops. At least they were the same size as her old shoes.About 110,000 people live in Samoa, the vast majority of them full-blooded Samoans. They are the second-largest group of pure Polynesians in the world, behind only the Maoris of New Zealand. The island that we visited is Upolu which is the main island and 75% of Samoa's population lives on it.
When white people first discovered Samoa, the Samoans thought the great ships with their white sails came through the slit that separated the sky from the sea, and they named the strange people sailing them papalagi, "sky busters." Shortened to palagi, the name now means any Westerner with white skin. We were called palagi a couple of times. It was hard to tell if they were being derogatory or not.
Samoan History
The first European to see the Samoas was Dutchman Jacob Roggeveen in 1722. The Rev. John Williams who roamed the South Pacific discovering islands and preaching the Gospel, landed the first missionaries in Samoa in 1830. Shortly afterward came traders. By the late 1850s German businessmen had established large copra (dried coconut) plantations on Upolu. When steamships started plying the route between San Francisco and Sydney in the 1870s, American businessmen cast an eye on Pago Pago. The US Navy negotiated a treaty with the Chiefs in 1872 to permit the US to use Pago Pago as a coaling station. The US Congress never ratified this document, but it served to keep the Germans from penetrating into Eastern Samoa, as present-day American Samoa was then known.Meanwhile, German, British, and American jockeyed for position among the rival Samoan chiefs on Upolu. Continuing unrest turned into a major international incident-fiasco is a better word-when the US, Britain, and Germany all sent warships to Apia, the small capital. Seven vessels arrived, anchored in the small and relatively unprotected harbor, and proceeded to stare down each other's gun barrels. It was March 16, 1889, near the end of the hurricane season, when one of the monster storms blew up unexpectedly. In all, four ships were sunk, two others were washed ashore, and 146 lives were lost despite heroic efforts by the Samoans on Upolu, who stopped their feuding long enough to pull the survivors through the roaring surf. Of the three American warships present, two were sunk and one was beached. We saw two memorials to this event in Apia; one was German and the other was American and British.
In December 1889, an agreement was signed in Berlin under which Germany was given Samoa, the US was handed the seven islands to the east, and Britain was left to do what it pleased in Tonga. German rule came to an abrupt end with the outbreak of World War I in 1914 when New Zealand sent an expeditionary force to Apia and the German governor surrendered without a fight. The Germans in Samoa were interned for the duration of the war, and their huge land holdings were confiscated.
New Zealand remained in charge until 1962, first as warlord, then after World War I as trustee, initially under the League of Nations and then under the United Nations. On January 1, 1962, Samoa became the first South Pacific colony to regain its independence from the Western powers.
Island Tour with Sir Swagman's Crew and Joan
On Thursday, August 9, Pete and I rented a GEO Tracker with Don and Gera from Sir Swagman and Joan. We drove around the island, stopping at all the places of interest marked on the tourist map.There are numerous villages on the island. Their grass carefully trimmed and their borders marked with small rocks painted white, expansive village lawns make the entire route seem like an unending park.
We noticed that many of the Samoans have traditional style houses or fales, their big turtle-shaped roofs resting on poles, their sides open to the breeze and to the view of passersby. The fales only have woven blinds that can be lowered to block out the sun and rain. Since you can see right into the houses, we noticed that most had mattresses and pillows and a few chairs. We also noticed that many of the people were lounging around in the traditional houses. Some of them also have western style houses. The western style houses were normally one level with a door and two windows in front. Most of them had electrical lines running to them. I suspect that the
people
have modern kitchens and bathrooms in these homes. During the whole ride around
we notice that there are no restaurants and only tiny stores where you could
buy minimal food supplies. Very, very traditional all the way
around.The east coast of the island has beautiful beaches. Visitors can stay right on the beach in fales. These fales were miniature versions of the traditional Samoan homes. They are small platforms about 10 feet long by about 6 feet wide with thatched roofs.
We saw Sopo'aga waterfall which plunges
175 feet! It was the most dramatic waterfall we have seen so far.We also stopped at O Le Pupu-Pue National Park where we saw Togitogigi Falls. Pete actually went swimming in the falls. He says it was cold.
The next stop was Return to Paradise Beach, where the movie of the same name was filmed in 1951. According to my guidebook this was "one of the most gorgeous coves in the South Pacific." Along the main road we saw a sign that had "Return to Paradise at Matereva Beach" on it so we turned in. A man came out to the car from the covered area where he had been playing cards with friends. We gave him 5 tala (1.66 USD) as requested and drove on. Throughout Samoa, we had to pay some money every place we stopped. The Samoans have figured out how to make money from the tourists without doing anything. We noticed we were on a dirt road rather than a paved road as indicated on the map. However, Matareva Beach is right next to Return to Paradise beach so there must be a road connecting them. We get to the beach; it's not paradise, it's Matareva and there is no road connecting them. When we leave, we take a closer look at the sign and notice it read "Return to Paradise AT Matareva." Oops.
About 5 miles further down the road we find the road to Return to Paradise Beach. When we reach the beach, we park. A man appears and asks us for 10 talas for visiting the beach. We pay him. The beach didn't look that great and I suggest that we drive further along the beach and see if it looks better around the corner. Well, we drive around the corner and there is a gate with a woman next to it. Here is the real entrance to Return to Paradise Beach and she wants 5 tala. We refuse to pay and explain that the guy at the end of the road has her money. Finally we are at the right beach and it is not that great. What an adventure.
Police Brass Band Parade
On August 10, we got up early and went
into town by 7:30 AM so we could see the police brass band perform. Every
morning they march along Beach Road to Government House, where they raise the
national flag exactly at 8 AM. They wear white helmets, light blue shirts and
dark blue lavalavas. Lavalavas are wrap around skirts that all the men in Samoa
wear. At first it was surprising to see a man in a skirt but after awhile we
got use to it. In fact Dario bought himself one and wears it around. They march
about two blocks to and from the flagpole. Traffic is halted during this time.
Robert Louis Stevenson's House
On Saturday, August 11, we hiked to Robert Louis Stevenson's house. His more famous books are Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Dr. Jekell and Mr. Hyde. The sign in town stated that the house was 3 kilometers from town but we both think it was more like 3 miles and it was all up hill. It took us 1.5 hours to get there.
The house is
on 314 acres on Mount Vaea. The name of the house is Vailima- "Five Waters" -
because five streams crossed the property. (The name of Samoa's popular locally
produced beer is also Vailima.) We got a guided tour of the house, which was
restored to look just like it did when he lived here. Stevenson's wife, Fanny,
was from California. She had most of the house paneled in redwood to remind her
of home. It was gorgeous. The house had 5 bedrooms. The main living area was
large enough to accommodate 100 dancers. They shipped 72 tons of furniture out
from England. They lived there from 1889 until 1894 when he died. He was buried
on the top of the mountain next to the house. Fanny and her family moved to
California after Robert's death. She died in 1914 and her ashes were brought
back to Vailima and buried at the foot of his grave.After touring the house we climbed/hiked up the mountain. There were 2 trails; the short trail (35 minutes) and the long trail (45 minutes). We took the short trail up. We were sweating like pigs when we reached the top. It was extremely steep. In many places there were steps cut into the side of the mountain. We met two 75 year olds from New Zealand at the top. Boy do we feel out of shape. We took the long trail down.
Cross Island Road Trek
On Wednesday, August 15, we took a local bus to Papapai-tai waterfall, which plunges 300 feet. It is very dramatic. The waterfall is about 3/4 of the way across the island from Apia on the Cross Island Road. We decided to keep walking to the other side of the island.
The walk was all down hill so it was easy. As we were walking
along, a woman came out of her house and invited us to come in and visit awhile
so we did. Her house has 3 rooms. We were only in the main room which had 2 old
worn out upholstered chairs, a bed, a kitchen table and chair, guitar, and some
pictures of family hanging on the walls. She told us she was 44 years old and
had 4 children. She lived in New Zealand for years but returned to Samoa so her
children could be raised in the Samoan way. She played the guitar and sang
Samoan and Maori songs for us. We took her picture and told her we would mail
her a copy. It was a fun time.We had walked about 15 minutes from her house when a truck stopped and asked us if we wanted a ride. Sure, why not. He gave us a ride the rest of the way across the island. We walked to the beach and had a picnic on the beach, then caught the bus back to town.
Other Cruisers
Besides Sir Swagman, we also hung out with some other cruisers. One evening, John and Colleen who sail on Bow Bells invited us over for drinks and snacks. Joan and Andy from Silver Heels were also there. All four of them are from South Africa and we had first met them in Suwarrow.The next night, Silver Heels invited us to dinner and a movie on their boat. John and Colleen were there. We had a great meal then watched "Something About Mary." It was so funny. It was great to be sitting in the cockpit at anchorage watching a movie. My stomach hurt I laughed so much.
Bow Bells and Silver Heels are both going to New Zealand to immigrate. We are planning on visiting them there.
We met an American couple named Paul and Julia from Anchorage, Alaska and spent an evening on their boat, Sabina. At 6 PM, Dario gave us a ride to their boat in the dinghy. Paul invited him on board for one drink but he never left even though he was supposed to pick Evelyn up from the dinghy dock at 7 PM. I reminded him that he needed to get Evelyn. He said she'll find a ride, no problem. Paul and Julia are in their mid 40s and have been cruising on and off for the past 10 years. He is a lawyer and she taught voice at the University of Alaska. She also appeared in operas and musicals in theaters in Anchorage. One of the most amazing things about Julia is that she looks remarkably like Pete's mom and his sister, Julie. They are heading to New Zealand. We plan to visit them there too.
We left their boat at 10 PM. When we got to Tilikum Triton, Evelyn was there and very mad. She had been standing on the dinghy dock for 1.5 hours. She even tried yelling to get Dario's attention. Finally one of the harbor policemen gave her a ride to the boat. That's just typical Dario reliability for you.
Crew Changes, Including Us
Joan and Gabi joined Xena in Samoa. The boat left for Fiji on August 10. Hopefully we will see both of them again.Pete and I have decided that we can't take Tilikum Triton or Dario anymore. We have decided to fly to Fiji where we will look for another boat to get us to Australia. If we don't find a boat, then we will just fly to Australia.
The main reason we are leaving is that things on the boat are still breaking and not being repaired properly or maintained correctly. There are many examples. For instance, Dario let the batteries die down so often without simply charging them using the engine that one night we had to use candles and our headlamps because we had no power. The next day he actually bought new batteries and installed them. Then he left the old batteries in the cockpit for a week. Why he couldn't dispose of them immediately, who knows.
The Last Straw
Sunday morning, August 12, the second toilet broke. (If you remember the first toilet was never working properly.) Great. Dario said that this had happened before and he knew how to fix it. He said he would fix it that evening. I knew I had been on the boat too long because I actually didn't question why he wouldn't fix the toilet immediately so we could use it for the rest of the day but I didn't. I guess if you stay in a dysfunctional situation long enough you start to think it's normal. Anyway Pete and I stayed on the boat and just had to take the dinghy to shore and use the shore bathrooms all day. In the evening we decided to go out to dinner. Dario finally came back to the boat drunk around 10 PM. Guess what, he didn't fixed the toilet; he just went straight to bed.Monday morning, Dario asks Pete what we are doing for the day. Pete tells him that we filled up the water tanks and filtered drinking water yesterday so that today we can do our own errands and we will be gone all day. Of course Dario was looking for Pete to help him with the toilet. Past experience has shown that Dario would have tried to get Pete to do the whole job after they got started. Pete realized this and did not offer to help. We returned to the boat in the middle of the day and Dario was there. He hadn't even looked at the toilet pump yet because he couldn't figure out how to get the hose off. Pete told him what to do. Then we left. That evening we were on Bow Bells and they gave us a ride back to Tilikum later in the evening. Dario was out drinking again. We went to bed before he got home but could tell the head wasn't fixed. In fact Dario had the dinghy so we couldn't get to shore to use the toilet so we had to use the "bucket and chuck it" method again.
On Tuesday morning, Dario got up and took the dinghy. All the other days when we go to leave the boat we always made a point of waking up Dario or Evelyn and have them drive us in so they could have the dinghy. Not in this case, Dario just took off without letting anyone know. I was furious. When he got back about 1.5 hours later, I immediately said to him that in the future he should wake one of us up so that we can have the dinghy because all of us needed to use the toilets on land this morning. He said "but you were sleeping". I said wake us up.
Later when Pete was in the cockpit, Dario went and talked to him. I had a funny feeling that he was talking about me. I was right. Dario talked to Pete about leaving the boat early. At this point we had already informed Dario that we were planning on leaving the boat, but he has been nice enough to let us stay on the boat until our flight to Fiji comes up in a week. He said I was like an Army sergeant. Pete told Dario if he had a problem with me that he should talk to me directly. Dario said that he didn't want to talk to me directly because I scared him because I was so direct. Can you believe it? So then Pete told me what Dario said and told me that if I apologized that we would be able to stay on the boat still. If you can believe it staying on the boat is easier and cheaper than trying to find a hotel in Apia. There are not many choices here. So I apologized for speaking so harshly to him but that we all need to use the toilet in the morning and it was very inconvenient this morning. He said that he had to get to the marine store this morning at 830 AM to meet some guy and order some part. He said he was just focused on that. I said that I was just focused on being able to use a toilet. So that was the end of the conversation. He worked on the head all morning. Pete and I went snorkeling. We came back to the boat for lunch. I had made some corn chowder that morning while waiting for the dinghy to return. After lunch Dario finished fixing the head. So about 60 hours after breaking it was finally fixed. Again I can't believe this guy. Of course I'm too cheap to leave and get a hotel room for the next few days so we'll stay on the boat until Saturday.
Samoa to Fiji via Aggie Grey's Hotel
Our flight was scheduled to depart at 6 AM, Saturday, August 18. We woke up at 3 AM and got to Aggie Grey's Hotel by 3:45 AM. Yes, Dario had to give us the ride in on the dinghy. Our good-byes were short and polite. Aggie Grey's is one of the best hotels in Samoa. It is right on the waterfront near the harbor. We had pre-arranged to have a taxi pick us up at 4 AM there. When we got there a shuttle bus was loading passengers for the airport, they asked us if we wanted to take the shuttle and we said OK. Of course, this was cheaper than a taxi.We checked in, then I went to pay the departure tax. It turns out the departure tax is 30 tala per person not 20 like my guidebook said. Guidebooks are always about 2 years behind due to slow publishing. We are finding that prices are always higher than the guide indicates. I only have 52 tala and some change. I pull out some US dollars and hope they will take that. When I get to the window, I give the guy our boarding passes and the 52 tala. He stamps the passes, says thanks and gives them back to me. He puts the money away without counting it. I walk away. Looks like it's my lucky day.
Around 6 AM when we should be taking off, there is an announcement-the flight is delayed due to mechanical difficulties and we will be updated every 40 minutes. Did he say every 40 minutes!?! Oh no, this could be a long day. About 10 minutes later there is another announcement-the flight is canceled. We have to walk out the door to go to the plane then back in the arrival door which takes us to the luggage area. We pick up our luggage and go to the airline counter. They did not re-open immigration to officially check us back into the country so everyone on the plane was technically in passport limbo. We are given vouchers to stay at Aggie Grey's hotel until the next flight. The voucher includes all meals and non-alcoholic drinks. We get free transportation via a van to Aggie Grey's. This IS our lucky day. What do we care if we are delayed a few days. We do not even have hotel reservations in Fiji.
After checking in at Aggie's, we go to the Polynesian Air office in town to get new tickets. Everyone in the waiting area looks really familiar from this morning at the airport. We find out that Polynesian Air only has one 737 which we were supposed to be on and it is grounded until some computer part is flown in from the States. Oh boy, Intel must be making it from scratch. There is an Air Pacific flight this evening at 9 PM but we tell them we don't want that flight because we don't want to arrive in Fiji at night. In Fiji, we plan to go to the Visitor's Bureau in the airport, then use public buses to travel 2 hours to the Coral Coast and a backpacker hotel. We want a flight that will arrive in Fiji during daylight hours. The next flight that meets that need is on Monday (two days away) so we're booked for that flight. Besides since they put us up at Aggie's we thought a few days of R&R after the Dario problems would be nice.
We spent the next two days at Aggie Grey's relaxing and enjoying the pool. We also enjoyed the hot water showers which we haven't had since March and the fact that we can leave the water on when we brush our teeth. In fact, we invited our South African friends from Bow Bells and Silver Heels to a happy hour in our room on Saturday night. We all really enjoyed the air conditioning in the room. AC is something you really begin to have an appreciation for out here.
Flight to Fiji
On Monday, August 20, we actually made it to Fiji. The Polynesian Air plane was still not fixed so we actually flew on Air Pacific which is based in Fiji. We crossed the international dateline and lost a day which is a really unusual concept. One moment it's Monday; the next it's Tuesday. I do not even feel that much older. We have airline tickets to Brisbane, Australia for September 8 but we are hoping to find a boat here and sail to Australia instead. Wish us luck.