Sweet Samoa
01 October 2012 | Apia, Western Samoa
Lisa Anderson
One of many beautiful waterfalls in Western Samoa
Sept. 27, 2012
Sweet Samoa
Lying halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand is Samoa, made up of ten islands. Western Samoa became the first Pacific nation to gain independence and is celebrating its 50 year anniversary this year. Having its own unique culture – known as fa’a- Samoa, the Samoan way of life, we have truly felt the warmth in the people here making this stop in our journey a real treat. This devout Christian nation is so peaceful , and being closely tied with New Zealand most people speak very good English as well, which certainly enhances our experience – being able to communicate! Samoa has been the most used location for the American TV show “Survivor”, four times, and there are rumors of the German version filming here next month. We opted to pass the island of American Samoa and check into the country of Western Samoa on the island of Upolu and our first marina since January of this year. Woo hoo!!! A dock to step off on whenever I want! Unlimited water! Shore power for air conditioning 24/7…not so much, and it is HOT here, let me tell you – like dripping, sweating, boiling hot! But alas the land of 110 volts is over for us, which is something we are going to have to figure out how to overcome as everything here on out is 220 volts. Perhaps purchasing a super duper transformer is in our future?
We really had a rough trip here from Suwarrow, meaning the highest winds and seas we have been in as of yet. We knew it was going to be boisterous so we were prepared and we handled it very well. I had lots of food prepared ahead of time, easy to throw in the microwave. We all three took anti-nausea pills before we even pulled out of Suwarrow, and we had our genoa sail all set to go – poled out on our spinnaker pole so we could finally sail downwind successfully and not be trying to mess with it in the rolling ocean! We were escorted out of the pass into the ocean by a pod of dolphins, and at one point during the three day trip we literally sailed under a perfect rainbow as if we were going under a bridge. You can’t help but feel Gods love then! Again can I just say, we feel very lucky that even in 15 foot waves we are able to stay snugly dry in our cockpit. And in sustained 38 knot winds, it doesn’t seem so scary when you are all enclosed, but for several of our friends who were traveling close by – they were not quite so comfortable with cockpits open to the weather and closer to the seas. But everyone here are troopers and we all pulled in with our stories to tell, a helping hand to catch a line or lend support in a repair, or just a pat on the back to say, “Well done mate!”
Our second night out, after some particularly high winds and rough seas, we had been thrown around a bit and not realizing it, Larry’s tool box which we thought we had safely stowed in the v-berth had slid across the floor getting a tad bit too close to the compass in the hull that controls our auto-pilot. Around midnight it was my turn to take over the watch. It was a moonless, pitch black night in squally conditions. We only had our main sail up at the time with one reef in it and the boat seemed to be happy for the conditions, and although we would have liked to put a second reef in we felt it was too dangerous to go out on deck. The auto pilot started failing on me several times, which it does occasionally if it feels it is being overwhelmed by the seas so I didn’t think too much of it. But my problem is my night vision. To put it nicely, it sucks. And without a moon it is hard for me to see what the seas and wind are doing therefore when the autopilot failed for good I over corrected the wrong direction doing an accidental gybe. That got Larry up in a hurry because it sounds like you’ve broken the boat in two! Needless to say, after two more accidental gybes, Larry and Ben went out on deck (despite the less than desirable conditions) dropped the main sail completely and we motored through the rest of the night, then discovering what had happened with the toolbox and the autopilot. Did I break the boat? Yes. Badly? No. Our preventer we had on the main did its job nicely and there is not much my amazing husband cannot fix.
The highlights of Western Samoa for us, besides some amazing wines from New Zealand for me(!), have been the really nice people, a few pretty good restaurants, decent provisioning, beautiful church choirs, and a road trip arranged by our friends on Gypsy Blues. Fifteen of us from seven different boats loaded into a tiny van and off we went exploring waterfalls (gorgeous), lava tubes, swimming holes(stunning), ancient lush volcano craters now known for the bats that hang from the trees, and more waterfalls, ending up staying the night at a Samoan hotel sleeping in fales, pronounced “foul-ehs”. A fale is a traditional Samoan home – a concrete pad, or sometimes a wood floor raised on stilts, with posts every few feet around the perimeter that holds up the roof – which is sometimes thatch or sometimes something more permanent. There are no walls on the exterior or interior, only a pad on the floor to sleep on…the extended families all live together. Their loved ones are buried in the front yard – usually with beautiful headstones. We are used to seeing these burial sites in front of the homes since our arrival in the Marquesas and have continued to see this through all of the South Pacific. Guess people don’t move very often here? Anyway, we have been pleasantly surprised with the beauty and the tropical lush rainforests on this island. When you get away from the capital of Apia it truly is gorgeous.
For those of you who know me, this hotel was a stretch for me as I have a lower tolerance in the “eww” factor than most, and this was pretty much glorified camping. I have improved greatly though and can pee with the best of ‘em in the bush now even burying my toilet paper. In this particular case there was a bathroom across the road and it even had soap in it part of the time. The three of us lucked out and got a private fale with walls on it and Larry’s and my bed was even raised off the floor. Tucked under the mosquito net we slept like babies despite the thundering surf nearby. By breakfast the next morning, our second family style meal there, I even commented that maybe I could do this for about a week…well maybe.
This past Saturday was the anniversary of the tsunami that hit here in 2009. Sixty or so people died that day, on this island alone - the devastation still evident on the south side of the island where we stayed in the fale/hotel. We have met numerous survivors here, all with their unique story of how they survived, how fast the three waves came in, how high they were, and their sad stories of the loved ones they lost. We felt honored to stay at the family owned hotel, which had been rebuilt after being wiped out in the tsunami losing eleven family members.
Well, the clock is ticking, the seasonal cyclone clock that is, and we are feeling the pull to Tonga, wanting to spend a good month there in their famous cruising grounds before making the leap to New Zealand. About eight of us came back from our little road trip with a case of the flu, or as I like to call it, the “Samoan sniffles”. After several days of fever, aching joints, colds, coughing, and diarrhea for Ben and Larry (I’m too mean, I don’t get this stuff!) we are ready to depart. Now has come the painful time to say “goodbye” to our good friends on Sea Wings, Brian and Juliette. This truly is the worst part of cruising, worse than any storm, worse than any deprivation. We all dread the goodbyes. But, we look forward to seeing them in Australia next year when we make our way to them at that time!
We are hearing internet in Tonga is sketchy at best so if there are no new posts that is why.