To be fair, David on Gulf Harbour Radio had suggested that it might be a few days before an ideal weather-window arose for the passage from Niuatoputapu to Samoa. Thus, we knew that despite the optimistic wind forecast on our GRIB files, there was a chance that our trip might not be the easy motor-east-then-sail-north-passage that we had hoped.

In the end, optimism lost and David won that battle of predictions and we motor-sailed all 210 nm. The first night, as we ploughed east in light winds and swells of up to 3 m (10 feet) from several directions, we had to dodge or tolerate several squalls with gusty winds and rain. Luckily, although we heard distant rumbles of thunder, the only lightning we saw was cloud-to-cloud flashes on the horizon.

The following day and night, the wind had picked-up nicely but instead of being from the southeast, with which we could have sailed north, it was distinctly east to east-northeast. Rather than add another day of tacking to the three-day passage, we continued motor-sailing because we knew that the winds were only going to get stronger and more northerly the next day.

Although this use of fuel was a bit disappointing, we were very happy when we spied the east end of ´Upolu Island, one of the two main island of Samoa. There are four smaller islands off the east end of ´Upolu and these steeply sided, lushly vegetated crescents are unmistakably the remnants of volcanic craters that have been worn down on one side.



The northeast coast of ´Upolu Island with cloud-topped mountains and steep valleys

Moving west along the north coast of ´Upolu, we were immediately reminded of the Hawaiian island of Kauai´i. Dark green vegetation covered the steep slopes of the mountains that initially fringed the island, and then receded inland as we moved further west and could see villages and the coastal road clinging to the flat, narrow shoreline.



Approaching Apia Harbour which is overlooked by Mount Vaea (475 m or 1,560 feet)

Arriving in Apia Harbour, the bay look just like Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawai´i, with the backdrop of forested mountains, rainclouds and rainbows, a black volcanic-rock seawall (for tsunami and cyclone storm-surge protection) and dark-sand beaches. Several large buildings line the harbor including government offices, the white Sheraton Aggie Grey’s Hotel and Bungalows, and the most ornate and striking Catholic cathedral.



Inside the Catholic cathedral with ornately painted walls and intricate woodwork on the ceiling

Because it was Sunday afternoon, the Port Control Officer advised us on the VHF radio to anchor for the night and move to the marina to check-in the next day. Luckily for us, there were only a couple of other anchored vessels, the bay is fairly large (0.5 nm diameter), and the bottom is flat with good anchor-holding in sand. Looking at the harbor on a road-map, it looks very open to the north so I had wondered about the anchorage being rather exposed to waves, but reefs line either side of the entrance. This narrows the channel enough that not much of the easterly swell was entering the harbor, so we were grateful for a calm night at anchor while enjoying the sights and sounds of the city around us.