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Other more important things take precedence over doing the blog PLUS we only brought one computer along so Sandy has first dibs on it (she bought this minicomputer just before leaving PDX-land). Anyway, we haven't had much internet access for the last month. Who knew that Western Samoa would have this wicked fast internet... our theory is that they plugged into some fiber optic cable from American Samoa. Anyway, it's great to be back in the land of internet, if only for a few days. We still want to get to Tonga in about a week or so. All of the longer passage making is behind us for this visit. Tonga is only about three days away and then we will have the jump to Fiji when Dietmar gets back from a trip to the States. Right now we are just happy as clams at the one and only dock in Apia (or Western Samoa for that matter)!!
There is a developing storm here by way of something that will drive these people crazy. It seems that their elected officials have decided to change which side of the street they will be driving on!! The big change will come September 7th and we would love to be here for this event. Well, sort of. When you look at the cars on the streets they are split pretty evenly between Left Hand Drive (LHD) and Right Hand Drive (RHD) versions. There is a connection with New Zealand/Australia and Japan here so there is an argument to be made for RHD. The big BUT in this is that ALL of the busses are LHD and the passenger doors open to the sidewalk side which will be the traffic side when the change comes. Of course the government mandated that all the buses put doors on the opposite side for safety but the bus owners aren't going along with any of it!! This will surely result in lots of accidents and an article in the local paper mentioned that insurance costs for LHD vehicles is going to go up... and the costs for RHD's will go down. This is will all be something to watch. We hope that nobody is seriously injured in the process but it is not looking good. Just ask anyone on the street. As an ex-insurance guy this is a sideshow that I am interested in.
[Update: We have more information on the switch due to a conversation with a Kiwi woman that Sandy & Suzanne met. Apparently there was a practice road set up for trying out the switch. Things don't look good for this however, in the one month it has been set up there have been seven accidents and one fatality!!! This does not bode well at all. The Prime Minister had been rumored to have said that God told him to do this and that statement shakes up this overly missionaried country. There is real fear here about the change. Additionally, the courts are going to make a ruling on Friday (it is Wednesday as I write) and this may settle the issue but I am not counting on it.]
Separately, we are getting provisioned for the next hop to "New Potato", as the cruisers call it. It is actually Niuatoputapu and it will be the stop that lets us check into the kingdom of Tonga. The great thing here is the island hopping we are doing... it adds some great stamps to our passports!! We have collected some coins and small bills too for the grandchildren. The money here is very fun and colorful so they should like this stuff even more than the Pesos we brought back for them last time we visited. There is not opportunity to collect shells here as it is forbidden but if we could we haven't found much in any case.
This is such a wonderful place in so many ways. We have a place across the street from the marina that we like for breakfast (Wildfire) and the people there are fantastically friendly. We have been chatting and kidding around with one lady there and a good friendship is developing. She said today, "I don't want to ask the wrong question here but are you Dietmar's father?" This produced a bit of a laugh, while am technically old enough to be his father, his Austrian accent alone should be a clue on that. We then asked all sorts of questions about her family and got a view of life here. It was a fun conversation like so many we have had. Another aspect is that we are still collecting CD's of local music wherever we go and Western Samoa has some of the best we have heard!!
What an experience!! We have about a thousand miles under the keels (this being a catamaran and all) since our arrival in Papeete, Tahiti. This is a very comfortable boat to begin with and the location is spectacular. We only spent a little time in Tahiti before getting off for Morea where spent a few days then off to Ta'aha for some days then Hauhine (my favorite) then Bora Bora (might also be the most Boring Boring) covering about 225 miles in the process. Truly though none of French Polynesia is awful or anything... there were highlights at each place and lots to discover. We did some provisioning along the way but it turned out not quite enough in some instances.
The jump from FP to the Cook Island group covered about 600 miles and we made the incredible stop at Suwarrow. My hat is off to this unbelievable atoll with Anchorage Island; it's a National Park for the Cooks. The caretakers there, John and Veronica Samuela, are amazing and their four sons live on the island for six months out of the year. The island has a history of hurricanes and its highest point might be ten feet above the water so it is not safe to stay there during big storms. There are tons of sharks there, mostly black tips but with a number of grays in evidence. Our first day there was fairly warm so with boat chores done I jumped in the water for a quick cool down; we are talking a very quick in and out here. By the time I came up the swim ladder three black tip sharks were swimming by the transom!! We walked to the other side of the island at sunset that night when we went in for a party the caretaker's hut and they fed the sharks on the side where the pass through the reef is (away from all the boats). The sharks came to the shore and everyone was clicking away on the cameras like crazy. The sharks were there within seconds of the first "chum" hitting the water.
This is where you should jump over to Sandy's blog if you haven't already and catch up on the wedding, first ever on Suwarrow, and all that. When we came in through the pass this island looked like the ideal of what you think a desert island should be. We were looking for a place to hold a wedding and this so perfectly fit the bill that we announced our intentions at the party that first night after checking with John to be sure it was possible. What a commotion this caused immediately. At that point we we also thought that the wedding would be in about two day’s time. The weather changed that plan the next several days however... we only managed a bachelor/bachelorette party the next night then the wind kicked up with 45 knots gusts and all the boats lost any semblance of sleep for a couple of days as we had anchor watches and a sort of Chinese Fire Drill going on as boats tried to be made more secure. It was a lot of work for some because they had gotten wrapped on coral heads and such. All this also gave people more time to plan things when they weren't half crazed from lack of sleep. The whole community jumped in as more boats arrived. John commented that by the time the wedding did take place it was the most boats ever at the anchorage at one time to be recorded (25). This combined with the fact that the first ever wedding was to take place made both he and Veronica exceedingly happy.
Finally the wedding happened and all but the crew from one boat participated.
The next day we had to hustle to get going to make a weather window work for us. We still managed to get thank you cards distributed and such before leaving but it was a challenge.
At the moment we another 350 miles down our track in the port of Apia in Western Samoa. We have done a bit of exploring so far and expect to do more in the next few days. There are lots of blog entries to follow while we have internet but some of mine may have to wait until we get back to Portland around the first of October (we booked a flight this morning). This is a little earlier than we had planned originally but it helps calm us in thinking about all that HAS to be done on Faith when we get back to Mexico!!
Okay... so this will be really, really quick!!!! We have a few minutes of internet and not a French keyboard!!! As we are at the mooring ball outside the Bloody Mary Yacht Club and headed to dinner soon I will just say that I don't expect much connectivity for a very long time and forget about pictures for a bit!!! Every few seconds this will all go astray anyway and shut down while I try to post SOMETHING!!! Anyway, lots of pictures are being taken and lots of stories collected about this cruise!!! See you all soon I think!!! It's really beautiful here and the people are great.
Be good until we get back to the internet zone. Lots of scooters here BTW.
