Photo shows Saraoni as one of the small blobs in Pago Pago Harbour, taken from the peak on the ridge above the harbour.

The strong easterly wind has eased in Samoa, caused by a large high pressure system to the south. The winds lasted for 5 days and meant uncomfortable conditions inside the harbour but it was still easy to get ashore and do the things we needed and wanted to do.

To the South, a lone American yachtie lost his boat on the rocks while negotiating the Northern route into Vava'u in Tonga. It appears he was feeling sick and fell asleep after a long and rough passage from Bora Bora just at the worst possible moment.

A few days ago, we were alerted to a strong earthquake off the coast of Chile and the possibility that a tsunami wave could reach across the Pacific and affect us in the harbour. 6 years ago, a tsunami killed over 40 people including yachties in Pago Pago and that was because the earthquake centre was in the Tonga trench only a few miles away with no time to warn anyone. We did keep our VHF radio on until the wave was supposed to have reached us. Nothing much happened and in fact we did not notice anything at all.

In the Marquesas, yachts upped anchor and went out to sea on advice that the wave would be greater. It was reported to have been a metre and a half in Nuku Hiva and 40 centimetres in Pago Pago.

We have been busy doing the things that this place makes easy: replenishing gas cylinders and pipes, food stocks, fuel and water. It's not all been work as we have been able to complete two of the islands walking trails. Yesterday, we hiked along an easy dirt track along the main ridge above the harbour to Mount Alava. Not so long ago there was a cable car that reached the peak and its communication tower from a hill just above the city's main administration building, but it blew down in a cyclone and has never been rebuilt. The views of the harbour and the beautiful north coast were stunning.



Pago Pago's harbour



Samoa's colourful converted US school buses

Much of the North Coast where we walked is now national park and the forest is being regenerated with the help from park staff. The forest looked much like, superficially at least, rainforest in Panama and we almost expected to hear howler monkeys and see toucans or hummingbirds! No such luck, but we have seen several small colonies of Samoan fruit bats - squealing and cavorting in the trees near the city centre which are the first endemic land mammals we have encountered across the Pacific and a reminder that we are now getting closer to large land masses in the west. The bird and reptile diversity has also increased with many more species here than French Polynesia, although introduced Indian mynahs are still dominant around human habitation.

We took the "challenging" route down from Mt. Alava, which meant negotiating over 700 steps made of timber attached to cable ladders strung along steep bits along the hummocky knife like ridge. Faced with a decision at a junction whether to continue up or go down to a remote bay on the north coast we went down and emerged at pretty Vatia village. Here we met Pili, who offered us a drink and something to eat and even drove us back to the boat - a 10 km trip which we probably would have had to have walked as there were no buses to the village on this day. Pili turned out to be the wearer of several different hats. He was the Director of the island nation's national parks and the Minister of Sport, a chaplain for the Church of Samoa as well as being very well travelled. He has made trips to PNG and NZ in the last few months on official business and gave us an interesting insight into Samoa's unique social fabric and way of life: Fa'a Samoa.

We are off to Vava'u in Tonga in a day or two: a 2 to 3 day trip in expected light winds.