LongShot

When we came through this atoll one year ago, we were not very impressed with the greedy individuals we met in the Omaka Village.  After one week we pulled out of here very disappointed.  Later on, good friends of ours on Pacific Bliss advised that we needed to visit the other side of the atoll at Te Tautua Village where we would find the best people in all of Polynesia.  Hard to believe given these are people only seven boat miles apart….

We arrived at 4pm last night, challenging the NE pass where we had little information for.  We didn’t want to go through the pass we had transitted one year ago as we wouldn’t have enough light to make it across the atoll (to clear all of the coral heads). All our chart showed breakers at the pass – now that’s a little disconcerting!  Sure enough, there were breakers!  We knew locals have identified the shallows with sticks and we had a lat/long position of the one coral head in the middle of the pass  – this was on land on our digital charts.  We started to enter and I turned around just North and said, “I don’t like this!”  There were breakers to the left of us and what looked like shallows ahead and to the right of us.  Doug was sure he could see the path through so we made another loop and I white knuckled my way through.  We surfed one breaker that rolled us rail to rail but Long Shot II responded to my requests beautifully.  I wouldn’t let Saylor come on deck as I figured if we hit the beach, she wouldn’t end up being flung overboard!  As the depth sounder read 22 ft then 11ft as the wave passed, Doug found us a path through.  The light was too low to maneuver safely but we figured we would just anchor and wait.  Off in the distance was the village boat coming to guide us to our anchorage – thank goodness!  Thanks to Sarah Jean II who had told them of our arrival and request for a guide.

We are anchored two cables off a beautiful little palm tree lined village, in 10ft of turquoise water with a sandy bottom.  The breeze is just enough to keep things cool for us and there are children laughing and playing in the water all around.  Our guide who brought us here was the very good friend Pacific Bliss told us about.  We offered Rio fresh Barracuda that we had just caught and he said, “No, that’s for you to enjoy.  You are a guest to our island.”  This is definitely not the same reception we had one year ago.  Today we spent the day ashore and it was overwhelming how different it is here.  Even the locals here complain about their neighbours across the way.  Riley spent hours swimming the sharks all around us while we de-salted the INSIDE of the boat (a bit of a wet passage).  The only thing blocking us from paradise is that Customs (from the other side of the atoll) want us to pay the $350 again to clear into Penrhyn, even though we have already done this in Rarotonga.  Guess they still want their piece of the money pie, and we are hardly surprised by this.  Stay tuned as this is bound to get more interesting.

We have quite enjoyed looking at the magnificent backdrop we have before us here in Avatiu: massive big mountain tops covered in dense trees.  Makes you think that this is what NZ would have looked like before the sheep arrived.  There are many similarities to NZ as the people who left Rarotonga settled in NZ hundreds of years ago.  The language spoken here is the same as Maori, at least the two words we know are. We spend half the day working on the boat and the other half touring.  It’s definitely a tourist town and riding the bus is not the cultural experience you get on other Polynesian islands – it’s all tourists.  You can either go clockwise or counter-clockwise and before you know it, you’ve been all the way around the island.  There are 3 or 4 mopeds for every person on the island so our boys are beside themselves with envy as they aren’t old enough to drive.  There is a reef ringing the island which creates a lagoon all the way around where the fish are in abundance.  It reminds us of Barbados on the south coast.  The kids ask us why everything reminds us of Barbados – funny.

We were wandering past a veterans cemetery when Riley noticed Tom Neale’s grave.  He lived on the tiny atoll of Suwarrow NW of here.  He lived there a couple of times for many years, all by himself, and wrote a book about it (An Island to Oneself).  What I found interesting is he looks a great deal like Charles James Neale, my grandfather.  Sounds like a research job for Owen and Uncle Ted!

There are five metre seas coming our way so I’m ready to get going and Doug’s digging in his heels.  Not sure who is going to win.  He bought his first case of beer yesterday so maybe I’ll be able to convince him to let go the lines.  The sailing tall ship Picton Castle is coming in so we have to move over.  She sounds like she’s a beauty.  Just so Long Shot II isn’t outdone, I’ll have to get going on the varnish replacing all that ended up ripping off on the last passage!

We are stern tied to the wharf alongside fellow Canucks on Sarah Jean II, enjoying the hot sticky heat that we have missed since leaving the tropics.  The laid back and super friendly Cook Island hospitality is strong and evident at every turn.  We wandered the main town, drinking 750ml Steinlagers/kids eating ice cream, as we cruised the streets and then realized we were out of town after five minutes.  Long Shot II is in a tiny little harbour exposed to the North but with no winds in the forecast from that direction we should be good.  We had a long list of choirs to accomplish today before we start being tourists.  We began with laundry.  Shouldn’t be a big deal and normally it isn’t but thanks to a new leak, the boy’s entire closest of clean clothes was soaked with salt water.  We were told that the local laundry was expensive and definitely not worth it so we had a laundry brigade ashore with all five of us involved.  Once the boat was looking like a garage sale with clothes strung every which way (no pesty Marina rules here!) Doug’s only concern was that we would have a knock down if the wind came up with all the cloth we were flying.

Fuel truck arrived and the fuel Nazi vetoed the fuel hose they wanted to use.  “No Problem,” they said and went to wash the hose and come back.  They are very good natured people and always happy to please.  We loaded our Duty Free fuel ($1.80NZ/litre) and carried onto the next task.  With half the crew cleaning out the inside of the boat, the other half took on the task of finding this new leak.  Any boat owner is familiar with leaks – you can’t get away from it.  If your boat doesn’t leak, it’s never been offshore.  The problem is tracking the leak.  For example we never had this darn leak before but we never had 40 degrees of heel with 20 cm of standing water on our side decks for hours on end.  Doug tracked the leak back to our fairlead (hole in the side of the boat where we pass the ropes to tie to the dock) and it looks like we just may have it licked.  Amazing that water can go up under the bronze fitting, down between two layers of fibreglass, cruise down along these layers of fibreglass until the water finds an opening into the interior of the boat.  There was a fair amount of Farmer Ingenuity at work today as I watched Fatboy attack a water fill fitting to seal it.  He’s definitely not afraid of ripping things apart and getting it all done.  It all looked really good when he was finished and we’ll have to go after the remaining fairleads just to be sure, but sounds like we have time.

Big low pressure (that’s an understatement actually) down south which will cause 5.5m seas a couple days after we want to leave.  Fatboy says, “NO!” It’s easy to get him to go through that when we don’t know they are coming but when you do?  Nope – Steinlagers on the beach win everytime.

We find ourselves in a lovely pool side 2 bedroom suite in … Fiji!  It’s almost like we are taking a vacation from our vacation.  We were up at the crack of dawn to drive the 1.5hrs to the nearest Immigration Office to beg for mercy.  The Kiwi at the front desk was fantastic and really wanted to help us out.  We explained that we were officially 3 days in NZ illegally but we are really nice people so PLEEEASE can we stay?  The poor girl went into the back room at least three times trying to find out from “people who know” if there were any work arounds for the bone head family from Canada.  There was!  We fall under Section 61 (and all this time I thought we were Section 8).  Illegal aliens can apply for visa extension.  There is no guarantee it will be accepted, no guarantee how long it will take, and for a mere $520 NZ per person, it will all get sorted out…maybe.  Actually it was only $360 for the penalty and $160 for the visa extension.   We even looked into sailing 12 miles offshore and re-entering but no doubt some other Canadian found that loop hole and now it’s closed.  So we jumped back in the car, bag already packed and in the trunk, and we drove to Auckland airport and jumped on the the flight to Fiji.  We actually breathed a sigh of relief when Customs cleared us out and now here we sit in 30C weather thinking, “This is alright!”  Believe it or not, after this two night get-away, it’ll only be half what we would have paid to Immigration NZ, and only slightly more than what a visa renewal would have been, had we remembered to do it on time!  You know it’s true, nothing goes to windward like a Boeing 737!Small world story but when we were at the McDonalds near the airport in Auckland (free wifi) we ran into some cruisers (Rankin & Sandy on Gypsea Heart) we had met in Samoa.  We explained that we were flying off to avoid jail time.  They said that they too had forgot that they had to renew their visa and it was thanks to fellow cruisers that reminded them…thankfully in time.  It’s been a long day but it was kinda neat to hear the kids say they missed flying cause it  had been AGES since they flew a year ago and now they are glued to a television, the first time since Hawaii.  We’ve had a great experience and I only wish Long Shot II was here to enjoy Fiji with us.  Her port side deck is completed so we’ll make it up to her by completing the starboard side when we return in two days.  It all makes for a good Blog right?

We had a wonderful evening last night saying goodbye to friends until they return in a couple months, and welcoming aboard an old friend of Long Shot II’s.  The previous owner came aboard with his beautiful family and there was quite an interesting look on his face:  kinda like a painful smile.  You could tell he absolutely loved this boat and you could tell he was taking it all in with his own memories flashing back.  He loved the improvements we have made and he was thankful she was back on the water again.  He said that he was always saddened at the fact that he had wrecked a Hans Christian.  He had sailed Free Alfin for two months and loved everything about her, finally agreeing with his persistent broker that he should get insurance at least until he was comfortable sailing offshore.  He said that the entire marina docks floated up and over the tops of the pilings during the storm surge.  All the boats were still tied to the docks and they ended up 4 and 5 deep on the shore, just a pile of sticks in the end.  Only Free Alfin floated free of them all and ended on the beach alone.  The owner was so elated when he saw her looking quite good, until he opened the companionway and saw her completely awash inside.  As he told us the history of Long Shot II, his wife gasped when she heard he could have bought this boat for $5K from the insurance company.  All of the boatyards were full of wrecked boats so the only way work would get done is if you did the work yourself.  He had nowhere to put the boat and no time to do the work so he let her go – his loss was our opportunity…and a lot of work!  Doug has offered him the chance to own this boat again, with a guaranteed buy back price (that’s the car salesman’s motto), but I don’t know if I could let her go as she truly is like no other boat out here.

We headed to the Bay of Islands to see this beautiful country up close.  As we sat at anchor we were scared to leave the deck as these Kiwis are absolutely scary to watch.  We had a guy drop his anchor right on top of ours and he was about to back down onto us.  Another came in at full speed and let the anchor go as they were barreling ahead.  Stopped them dead when it finally caught though I don’t know what will happen when he swings.  It must be a common practice as another boat did the exact same thing a few moments later.  Gone are the days of being the only boat in an anchorage so we’ll have to figure out how to stay clear of them all.  We have a 10 L pail of mussels that Doug scooped off the rocks so it’s definitely time to go eat!

What a great week we have had even though we’ve been incredibly busy with school, boat stuff and general housekeeping.  We spent the first few days loading the boat with fresh produce and…. you guessed it…beer.  Lots of Farmer’s Markets or farms selling produce at the side of the road.  Loved the 10kg bag of oranges for $5.  I have to say those kind of deals are few and far between.  It’s an expensive island by Canada’s standards but it sure is beautiful here and the Kiwis are super friendly and most importantly, they are happy!

We received many thanks and hugs from the family on Wondertime and agreed to an interview with Pacific Yachting regarding our tow job.  Amazing really as it was just a basic tow job and the guys at JRCC and the crews on our CCG vessels do far more herotic things and you rarely hear a word about it.  C’est la vie.  This marina is beautiful and it’s full of boats, many who we have met before so it tends to be hard to get around without stopping and chatting for hours.  The kids are in heaven here!  There are easily 25 kids running around with the youngest being Saylor and the oldest being the 14 yr old on Water Musick.  They all do homework until noon and then they never stop until the wee hours when the parents are begging them to go to bed.

We are getting a new mizzen sail built for us here in Opua.  Our old one has been repaired enough times to grant it a final resting place.  Most impressive was the fact that we could get a sail made here for the same price as one from China.  Excellent!  We are also getting them to reshape our mainsail.  It was poorly made (before our time) and it’s basically a brand new sail as it probably wasn’t used much due to the weird cut.  It’s a cheap fix compared to a whole new sail.  Next on our list is ordering new shrouds.  We had replaced half of our rig before we left as the remainder looked pretty good.  Now that we have 7,000 miles on them, we have discovered tiny hairline cracks forming in five of the ten turnbuckles.  Time to change them out before our return trip.  I was lamenting that it’s too bad we didn’t have the spare $4K at the time to replace them before we left Canada but Doug said if we had lost our boat getting here, we would have wasted that money.  Always the optimist eh?

I’m getting marina fever as it’s time to let go the lines.  All the $2 hot showers must be getting to me.  Many of our friends are flying off to their homelands so it’ll get too lonely to stay here.  Time to go explore these beautiful islands and relocate to a better excursion port.  We’ve heard good things about Whungerai so we’ll go try that area for awhile.  I’m having a heck of a time pronouncing the names as Wh is F.  Guess that would make a which is fich and what is fat… getting silly, time to go.   Sweet As…

It was a weird and difficult final 24 hours encountering dense fog, no wind, too much wind, lots of traffic and tonnes of rain (and “NO FISH!! Charlie says ).  We started off using the engine again with Wondertime off on their own without us.  Then we were given the heads up that there was lots of wind ahead so we reefed early and sure enough we were doing 6.5kts with triple reefed everything.  Lots of shipping with ESL operators (“You go starboard now….Yes?!).  Doug and I were changing out shifts in the cockpit regularly as you couldn’t leave the position for too long.  In no time we were in the down home stretch to Opua, just when our electronic charts failed.  Not to worry as we purchased one paper chart for the area.  It didn’t cover the entire entrance to Opua but hopefully far enough…great!  A little nerve racking but we did it.  Turns out it was the easiest passage into a harbour ever.  Many people were chatting at how bad the conditions were but once you have experienced Oregon/Washington coast – this was pretty good.

We pulled into a beautiful marina with one of the nicest Q docks (quarantine berths) ever that made a sleepy arrival too easy.  With no way ashore this is an excellent way to keep you put.  While we waited for Customs, Immigration, & Biosecurity, the Marina gal made her way to each boat delivering a hand made woven handbag with paperwork, info, candy AND RUM to each boat.  We like NZ already!!!  Clearance was a breeze and the drug dog India was a hit with the kids.  No hits on our boat so we were cleared to enter.  We received a berth and within no time our friend caught our lines then joined us at the local cafe for coffee and laughs.  The Kindergarten fleet was back together again.  These people had amazing stories of their harried sail here during the cyclone 10 days sooner versus our no-wind sail adventure.  They all faired amazingly well but would never want to duplicate those conditions again.

While Liz took me to town to grocery shop, Doug went car shopping!  Yes – we have been here 1 hour and he is already looking for wheels.  He found a 2004 Toyota Avenis station wagon for $6K and they will give us $4k back when we leave in 4 months…so we bought it.  How can you not?  While he waited for the paperwork to be completed, Doug and the dealer were talking sailboats.  Would you believe this guy used to own a Hans Christian too?!  It was a 43 ft Traditional just like ours.  This guy boat his boat in Florida, but he only owned it for a couple of months.  It was going to be the boat he would sail around the world in but Hurricane Frances came and wrecked his boat.  It had a Spanish name, “…can’t remember..” he said.  Doug said, “I know the name of the boat.  It was Free Alfin.”  “Yah!!  That’s it!  That was my boat!”  “That is my boat now,” Doug said.  We are 10,000 miles from home and can you believe the guy we are buying a car from, one hour after arriving in NZ, is the same guy who owned our boat when it was wrecked eight years ago!  Not just a story as we compared the names on the bill of sale for the car and it’s the same name on the bill of sale for our boat.  As we sit here and write this blog, we still can’t believe it’s true.  And to think he could have bought it from the insurance company for $5K.  We are certainly glad he didn’t!!  This just couldn’t be true and yet it is – we are still in shock

You would think that after 74kts the next 24 hours would have been a piece of cake … but it wasn’t!  We had a brief period where the winds lightened and then they hit full force again as of 4 am this morning.  It blew 40 kts all day hitting Long Shot II broadside with little itty bitty shorelines holding onto us.  Six hours into this brutal part of the storm, Doug was getting antsy to get ashore and spend money so off he went and within an hour we had dragged a rock down the embankment and into the water.  Thankfully Bill on Water Musick was able to come over and help me secure the line once again.  By the time Doug arrived back we had dragged another rock down.  There isn’t anything else to tie to so we re secured onto another shady rock and crossed our fingers.  The boats on the far side of the harbour were quite fearful given they were steps to the beach hanging precariously on two anchors if they were lucky.  It just continued to blow and blow all day without letting up and if anything it started picking up at times.  It would have been easy to feel sorry for ourselves but we were all aware of two sailboats in distress in our area.  One sailboat had rolled, dismasted and was taking on water while the other had launched their EPIRB and sent a distress call.  They were in 50 kts and 10 m seas.  Makes our little discomfort seem ridiculous in comparison.

We hope to depart on Monday but if the weather is at all suspect, we are quite happy to hang tight.  Saylor says she doesn’t want it to be bumpy and I think I agree with her!  Besides, we still have a fridge and freezer FULL of fish to eat before the boys go and catch more.

Sitting here in Nuku’alofa with enough mooring lines ashore to hold the Queen Mary.  The boat will be fine but can’t speak to the tree Doug tied us off to.  I’m amazed at the number of boats sitting out at anchor with no protection from the wind or the sea.  A fellow family boat we met up in Ha’api group is tied up beside us.  He said he didn’t even consider coming in here until we did.  If the height of the storm hits at low water we’ll really be lucky as this breakwater will provide us some decent shelter.  The low is intensifying but they haven’t called it a cyclone …yet.  The Tongan marine broadcast called the seas “rough to very rough.”  Wonder what the official wave height designation is for “very rough” as that’s a new one to me.  The winds haven’t started to blow yet and some are thinking it’s not going to start.  I think that’s foolish thinking as I’ve seen the pressure chart and it’s going to be a full on hit.

Doug is in his element running around half naked on deck connecting hoses to fill our water tanks.  When it rains here, it really comes down which makes him a very happy boy.  We are using these next two days of house arrest, I mean boat arrest, to stow all of our crap that has been slowly migrating out into the main cabin over the last 5 months.  We are expecting an 8 day trip to NZ with wind and waves similar to the Washington/Oregon coast.  HANG ON!

When we were up in Vavau’u we met a woman running a shop selling the highest quality Tongan handicrafts.  She said the best carver in Tonga was in Nuku’alofa so we checked out the stall where his sister sells his items at the market.  You could tell immediately which wood carvings were his though we didn’t buy anything.  There was another carver working in front of his house we had seen on our walk from the boat to town so we stopped there on the way back.  His work was amazing and even Doug was drooling over his carvings.  It certainly didn’t take me long to figure out this was the same guy!  It was his work that the woman sells up north.  He showed us around to his massive wood pile where he cures the wood and he was preparing a piece that (Doug called a coffee table base) has carvings of humpback whales, turtles, shells, octopus, sting ray and fish.  It’s going to be incredible and if we had $3000 Pa’anga ($1800 Cdn) and a catamaran to carry it, we would be all over it!

We are eager to head ashore with some of Charlie’s Mahi Mahi as a local has offered to cook it up for us Tongan style.  We heard horror stories about how terrible this town is from other boats but we’ve been thrilled.  Time to batten down the hatches – wish us luck.

Our last few days have been very interesting.  Just like when we’ve been at a party at the Zastres’ and we turn around and wonder, “Where did everyone go?!”  That’s kinda what it’s been like here.  We have been dragging our heels leaving Ha’api Group before heading to our final port before NZ.  We were with a large group of boats and we didn’t want to leave them as we were having so much fun.  Parties were planned and Saylor’s birthday was a huge success.  Then, without much notice, they were all gone.  Doug was left wondering if it was either something he said, or not enough deodorant.  We had shifted one anchorage south and the remaining boats high-tailed it to NZ.  A big storm was coming and they didn’t want to be here for it.  Truth be known they radioed an hour before in case we wanted to join the exodus.  We were ill-prepared and we don’t operate that way so we bade them farewell.  The last two nights have been sleepless as then we wonder if we have made a wrong decision.  Regardless, as my father always told me, you make a decision then you better make it the right decision.  Sure enough, a low pressure cell is going to hit right smack square above us in two days.  We made a run for Nukolofa where we plan to check out of the country.  It’s a good spot to sit while you wait for a weather window to head south.  It does NOT have very many options to hide for a big low pressure.  There is a tiny marina where you can stern tie so we took off early to try to get one of the few slots and if at all possible, one of the end slots to limit how much damage fellow yachties can do crashing into you.  We arrived here 36 hrs before the blow and scored the pole position!  We have numerous lines ashore and we’ll double it the day of the storm.  Hopefully it will all work out for us but we were amazed at the number of boats at anchor when we arrived, not seeking the shelter of this marina.  They are forecasting 40 kts and we were very thankful we will be here in port.  As for all boats that left already?  They emailed to advise that they have forecasted to expect 5m seas and 45kt winds.

Most cruisers sail through the night to arrive here but we generally prefer a day sail.  We proved that in Hawaii and the same goes here – in Tonga.  The “kids” (including Doug) love the fishing.  Our 9 hour cruise here started like this:  weigh anchor at 5:45am to a red sky in the east; boys on deck at 6:05am with Capt Al’s rod in hand; 7:10 first fish – 10kg Barracuda; 9:00 second fish – 2kg Bonito; 10:30 third fish – 7kg Mahi Mahi; 12:00 fourth fish – 11kg Mahi; 12:01 fifth fish – a HUGE Mahi hits and breaks the teaser line and we watch it jump three times with the lure in its mouth; 12:02 Mom yells to stop fishing as the fridge and freezer are full!  The three kids piled into Little Squirt and went boat to boat here in the marina giving away fish.  Not only did they offer free fish, they offered a menu!  Mahi is a general favourite but have to say the Giant Truvalle is very good.

Time to batten down the hatches and prepare for the most wind we have had since the hurricane winds funnelled down the big island of Hawaii.  We’ll let you know how we fared.

We left the social scene today and headed to a tiny island nearby.  We could take the direct route or go a little further through a high current pass where we were sure there would be fish.  Of course we went for the fishing and five minutes in we got a hit.  Charlie saw the temperature line where the ocean water meets the island water and he forecasted a strike.  Doug was “helping” Charlie reel in this big fish that was bending our rod and bumped some lever that caused a big bird’s nest.  We had fishing line everywhere and a very big fish on the line that, thankfully, wasn’t fighting.  The current was ripping so I was looking after the boat but then our GPS kicked out so I was really watching the reefs close by.  Saylor was worrying about sharks and Riley was trying to help hand-bomb this fish in.  When it came to the surface we all freaked – this thing was huge!  Charlie yells it’s a GT which means nothing to me – and how the heck does this kid know given it’s not in any book we have?  Doug’s wondering how the heck you gaff something that big and Riley is jumping up and down he’s so excited.  This fish was a Giant Trevally (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_trevally). It was 1.2m long with a head like a moose but uglier.  It was all Doug could do to get it aboard weighing over 30kg.  What an ugly fish but will feed us for weeks!  We were told that you can kill fish by pouring alcohol in the gills.  I never thought I’d see the day when Doug would give up any of his booze for a fish but he just bought some (hurting) Lime Vodka made in Tonga.  He poured a cup full in the monster and all that did was make the sucker throw up!  The fish is so big it barely sits in the well of our boat and we thought for sure it was going to fall out.  We let our fellow cruisers know of our catch and it didn’t take Pacific Bliss long to throw in the dinghy to roar over and see the fish.  The kids were on cloud nine showing their catch.  They confirmed for us it was indeed a GT and the biggest they had every seen.

Giant Trevally – source: http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/htmls/reef0678.htm

We had such fun for Halloween this year.  The kid numbers in our anchorage kept increasing and by dinnertime there were 12 kids out of six boats.  Face painting started on one boat then the kids set out in two dinghies and one paddle board.  They cruised from one boat to the next yelling Trick or Treat.  They had such a good time you could hear them throughout the bay.  The six boys ended up on our boat and the six girls went to Santa Pas for dinners and movies.  Us big kids all went to the big catamaran for an incredible Brazilian meal with the Grouper we spear fished earlier that day.  It was a fun night to remember.  Saylor heard Happy Birthday in so many languages and she was in awe each time.  The highlight for her was having a sleep over with all these girls.

Our quiet little island has a bit of a rock and roll anchorage but it’s the first time we have been able to have a South Pacific island all to ourselves!!  We ventured ashore and Doug was quick to find coconuts for us all while the boys had a sword fight as usual and the girls bathed in the nude.  It might be the only time we get this opportunity to have paradise all to ourselves and it was definitely worth it: we know the other boats are coming tomorrow.

We had a wickedly wet trip to Pangai with a nice steady wind but I was definitely envious of Liz staying back with half the kids at our wonderful little spot.  We were soaked when we arrived in town with not a boat around as the winds were from the North and there is no where to hide.  Doug & Colin headed ashore and worked like machines buying groceries and ferrying them back to Long Shot.  I didn’t dare leave our boat given the winds and a lee shore – not to mention I am still hobbling around and walking is difficult.  Two hours later we were underway and we flew back in record time catching a Mahi Mahi enroute.  We pulled into our oasis, anchored and off loaded the supplies seconds before the skies opened up.  The rain came down hard and Doug was running around trying to fill our water tanks.  Once he had all his hoses and tarps in place he just needed a bar of soap.  The VHF radio was quite busy with yachties talking about the wind storm they were getting hit with.  These boats were south of us in less than ideal anchorages with no protection.  56kts was recorded at the height of the storm however we were only getting 25kts as most of the wind was traveling up and over the tree tops.  We were ready for the wind from that direction, but certainly not that much.  The wind eventually swung right around causing our anchor chains to be wrapped around the coral heads.  Now we were on a lee shore – not much sleep … again.

Doug and Colin had made several trips ashore at our pretty island, meeting locals, fixing chain saws and trying to help out as best they can.  One fellow had a terribly infected dog bite that certainly needed more medical care than what we could offer but at least we tried.  This same fellow has solar power at home but he must go to the local church to charge his mobile.  Doug rumaged through our gear and managed to come up with an inverter that he can connect to his own system at home.  This man thought Santa had just arrived!  Not only that, Doug set it up that they could charge up to three phones at a time.  He’s going to be the most popular guy on the island.

Today we celebrated Saylor’s birthday and Pacific Bliss offered to create a Treasure Hunt.  With Doug’s assistance Colin drew up an incredible map complete with clues and tasks.  Once the Brazillian boat arrived, the 7 kids hit the beach and the games commenced.  It was so much fun and it was all I could do to keep up with them.  Both teams were victorious and with chocolate in hand we headed back to our boats as we had to weigh anchor and head to a different anchorage due to the shifting winds.  It wasn’t until we were arriving at this new island an hour and a half later that I realized Saylor was on the Brazillian boat!  We built a great bonfire on the new beach and ate cake.  It was a perfect ending to a perfect day.  Our new found friends certainly made this a birthday to remember.

We are just about back to normal as Susan’s leg is still very sore but she hobbles around like an old lady.  We sailed to a new island and Susan was able to come ashore and go for a walk through the little village: we found the little shop but there was no beer!  We are anchored in a little bay,  just Pacific Bliss and ourselves and it is very nice and quiet.  Long Shot is going to take a run to the main Village today to buy beer and clear out of this set of islands and be ready to go farther south to the capital Nukolofa which will be the last stop in the Tonga groups of islands.  The next leg from there will be the 1000 mile passage to New Zealand.  Colin from Pacific Bliss is coming shopping with us today and hopefully give us a sailing lesson.  You would think that after 7000 miles we would know what we are doing but we are actually just winging it.  It’s a lot of, “What do you think, does that look good? What’s our speed now?”

We had a fishing derby between 4  boats as we headed to another island.  Only two boats caught a fish and thankfully we were one of them.  Charlie edged out our competitor by 10cm. We were trawling a line 3 metres behind our boat as that is where we saw a fish following us the day before.  Weird but it worked.  When we got to our next anchorage Charlie jumped into the dinghy to go see his fishing friend on Victory.  This Dutch man is an avid fisher and loved swapping stories – his most recent was the big sailfish.  He gave Charlie a pile of lures that are good for less than 5 kts.  Charlie returned back to the boat, dug into his tackle box and returned to Victory with some lures he thought would be equally good.  Charlie’s been good for that – if he hears the boat hasn’t had any luck fishing, he’ll make up a ‘daisy chain’ for them to try out.  He’s the resident fish guy now.  Yesterday he and Zinnia were sailing in the little Oppie and he was pulling a fishing line behind with the hooks from Victory.  He had 6 hits and managed to keep one of them, a 70cm Alligator Needle Fish.

We’ve been here at this tiny island for 3 days with the 3 other family boats enjoying playtime on the beach having hermit crab races in the sand, baths in the tidal pools, coconut collecting and husking along with haircuts on the beach.  While hunting coconuts someone found one wasp (and it’s tiny dime sized nest) on the whole entire island.  Guess who it was that got stung?  Riley.  He can’t go in the water with his fresh foot wound but he can hunt coconuts and can’t believe he would manage to find that wasp.  No reaction though we had to send Charlie to go find him to make sure he was still breathing.  Charlie caught a beautiful 3lb Mullet with his throwing net – we thought the kids were going to go hoarse from all the screaming.

Last night was to be a special treat as all the six girls were having a sleep over on Pacific Bliss and the three boys were doing the same on Long Shot II.  The 10 adults were getting together on Seal for a wee bit of fun.  We had all been aboard Pacific Bliss finishing off some craft projects and it was time to shuttle the boys off to our boat for dinner and a movie.  With the seas a bit choppy I stretched to jump in with the kids from the stern of the catamaran.  The boat shifted away and my tired old body made an attempt to do the splits – I failed but at least I didn’t hit the water.  I felt excruciating pain and yelled for Doug to come with us back to the boat.  My hamstring on my left leg felt completely ripped and I leaned into Doug during the ride as I was sure I was going to pass out.  We made it back and I hung onto the ladder while the kids jumped aboard and that’s the last thing I remember.

According to Doug…The three boys were on the boat just then Susan’s body went limp falling backwards and almost overboard, arms hanging back, head and eyes rolled back.  I tried to hold her up and hold the boat against Long Shot II thinking, “Now what the hell do I do?”  I always said that if you pass out on me I’ll have my way with you. That was the last thing on my mind … but it did cross my mind.  In the few minutes it took me to figure out how I was going to lift her from Little Squirt onto the boat, she woke up.  And I spent no time chasing her ass up that ladder, arm between her legs lifting her the entire way.  The last thing I wanted was for her to be unconscious again in that little boat bouncing all over the place.  Couple hours laid out in the cockpit with a bag of ice cold wine under her leg, and one beer at the back of her knee. I had a wine glass filled to keep tabs on the wine temperature.  We slowly made our way hobbling to the berth and into bed.  An hour later I got the, “I gotta go pee!”  Are hobble to and from the head showed a vast improvement.  A couple of days we should be back to dancing.

Today we have had all four boats in the anchorage call to see how we are doing and three came to visit.  They really do reach out to help in any way possible.  We were suppose to leave today but that will have to wait for now.  Saylor is doing the countdown until her birthday – 9 more days!

We’ve had quite the time at our isolated little island enjoying the company of some really nice cruisers.  Pacific Bliss was solely responsible for bringing us all together and we’ve proven to be extremely compatible. Each day we find out something new about the boats and people beside us making for such an enjoyable time.  Saylor has shown her charms making her loved by all, even when she strikes the pose and yells, “Let me show my moto,” in her sing-song voice.  I’m hoping I’m able to hang onto her when we leave as a number of boats have asked to adopt.

It didn’t take long for everyone to be aware of Charlie’s fishing exploits.  A common occurrence is you hail someone on channel 16 and then tell them what channel to switch to.  Because we are all nosey (not just me!) everyone switches to that channel to listen in.  Only Pacific Bliss is aware of our secret channel which is a CCG working frequency – we just say “switch.”  After these cruisers finally meet Charlie they usually respond, “Oh, you’re the fisherman!”  They pepper him with questions and sure enough these people were not only taking the advice but immediately implementing the changes to their fishing practices and reaping the benefits.   This morning we received a call from a vessel asking for Charlie’s opinion on what the heck they had caught.  Charlie listened to the description and decided it was a Dog Tooth Tuna and assured them it was good eating according to the locals in American Samoa.

Riley was getting his own unique form of attention from the adults.  He was ashore yesterday carving coconuts and everyone begged him to be careful.  Thankfully – No blood! That’s an absolute miracle given Riley’s track record of 3 hospitals in 3 countries and 3 stitches.  Well today everyone in the anchorage was able to hear more about Riley as of course everyone switched frequencies to hear me ask for a suture kit and the best suture king or queen.  Riley was ashore preparing a project for school, un-supervised (my bad!) and he ended up cutting his foot with an axe.  It really doesn’t matter how he did it, just safe to say that if it’s going to happen to anyone, it’ll be Riley.  We have the anaesthesia but no suture kit – couldn’t find one at the stores in Victoria before we left.  With such great neighbours we reached out for help, and asked for a stitcher as well given that I DON”T DO FIRST AID and Doug nearly ended up on the deck the last time he watched.  Colin and Liz responded, commenting they had only practiced on foam and never done the real thing.  Doug put in the freezing, practicing on a green pepper first like my teacher showed me, then Colin put in the three stitches.  Liz shined the light, looking a little green at times, and I sat back making sure I didn’t pass out!  Riley was amazing through this.  Sitting up, watching everything, and full of positive reinforcement with a big smile on his face.  What a kid – I’m so proud of him.  The stitches turned out beautiful and a job well done!

4 hospitals (kinda), 4 countries, 6 stitches

We checked into Ha’api Group arriving in Pangai with 14 other boats.  They were all anchored a quarter mile from shore, waaay too far for Little Squirt so we nestled in close to the shore and reef near the main wharf.  Didn’t take long for 3 other boats to follow our lead and anchor near us.  That’s pretty common we’ve found; people won’t go where others aren’t already.  It could be the nicest anchorage but if they don’t see any boats there, they don’t stop.  Here we are trying to find those places but we tend to draw a crowd in a very short period of time.  The town was a pleasant surprise as it was clean and the people friendly.  Only one palangi business which was nice to see (aside from the Chinese supermarket and liquor store) as the local Tongans then have a chance.  The houses and businesses are quite nice and much fancier than Niuatoputapu and everyone looks to have power and water.  We stopped in to see the ladies weaving and it was very fine weave: nice to see they are not giving up on their traditions.  The beer and wine was pretty expensive but Doug still gave it a go.  We took off in the morning with 2 other boats, all of us within shouting distance and under sail.  We were thrilled to see that Long Shot II pulled away from them – whoohoo!!

Charlie had a long and involved conversation with one of the boats sailing beside us.  He’s an avid Fisher and had just caught a 100lb sailfish the day before. They swapped ideas and suggestions given we were only making 4.5kts at the time (Charlie is always yelling at us to go at least 7 knot Tuna speed!).  Charlie was quick to follow up with his suggestions to catch fish  and they headed to another anchorage while we carried on to a kid’s retreat at an island further south.  Charlie was throwing up sails all over trying to increase our speed.  When we finally made a course change we picked up speed running with full sails all around and Charlie ran around changing the 3 lines he had in the water, back to his old favourites.  In no time we had a hit and Riley reeled in a nice fish.  I ended up covered in blood again – there has to be an easier way! – and we were all thrilled as this little Tuna will feed the group we were joining.  We are looking forward to finding out what the fish was as it looks like a Skip Jack but it had swirly lines on the back and three dots on the belly.  Anyhow, Charlie put the line back in and was estimating where to put it based on his teaser he had out, but the teaser was gone.  That’s because he had another fish on it!  It was a 4 ft long Wahoo with something big and black chasing it.  Doug and Charlie were working hard to get the hand line in.  Ten minutes later we were anchored with the rest of the group: four boats with families all meeting together so the kid could have some playtime.  There was UK based Pacific Bliss, Brazilian Santa Pas, American (Antarctic Charter sailing vessel) Sear and us.  The nine kids were hooting it up!  We had a wonderful fire on the beach and we celebrated Charlie and Riley’s catch thanks to Liz’ culinary talents.

Today was breakfast on the beach, lots of sun, sand, snorkeling and fun.  Another 5 boats have arrived so I think it’s time to move on!

We’ve had some really nice spots since we checked out of Vavau Group.  You are supposed to leave right away but we figure we are on Tongan time so we can leave in 4 or 5 days.  We stopped at the remote anchorages and without surprise there were 8 boats there.  Lots of kids though so we had a hoot and we were quite happy to stay one extra day to celebrate one of the kid’s birthday.  The boys were bored given all of the kids were younger than them.  Don’t leave them alone too long as they definitely come up with their own entertainment!  On their way back to the beach from the boat, Riley is in the bow of the boat, ‘Little Squirt’ is full throttle with no one driving, and Charlie is being towed behind on his surf board….no wait, he’s surfing on the surf board!  It didn’t take them long to convince the lone Auzzie in the anchorage to use his boat to tow them as his boat has an eight Hp motor.  Auzzies are just big kids at heart so sure enough he was towing them for the next hour.  We had lots of laughs then set off the next day.  It was tight going through the reef so we wanted to follow our track out but the satellites weren’t working in our favor so we had no GPS.  Back to good ol DR estimating sans paper charts, dividers, parallel rules, etc.  It was more like, “What do you think?  Turn about now?”

We sailed on to the furthest southerly anchorage in Vavau so our sail to Ha’api would be easy.  It was something else!  The path through the reef was about 20 ft wide and given we are 14′, not much to spare.  There was already one boat inside the reef and with a 2 boat maximum limit, we were quite relieved.  Thankfully they were more than willing to help us find a spot in this tight spot and assured us they wouldn’t mind if we swung so close, we would just fender up together!!  We were in 10ft of water and the reef was 30ft off our stern.  We dropped our anchor between coral heads at the far side of this patch.  Needless to say, Doug didn’t get much sleep that night.  It’s a picturesque South Pacific Island so it was worth it.  Up at 6am to follow our track out with the other boat.  They missed the pass but with a 4′ draft they didn’t have to worry.  Luckily with Doug up the main mast he was able to see the path out.  We made 55 miles to Ha’api in 8 hours with Charlie fishing like a demon the entire way.  To read more on his exploits you can check out www.longshot2.com

We just made our first batch of Poke with Seared Yellow Tail salad!   Vivian will be so proud that the Pickrells are eating raw fish!  It’s much quieter here (fewer boats) with lots of villages to explore – we are back in our element again!

We departed after our water top up and sailed out of the harbor. Was a bright sunny day and perfect conditions for a visit to Swallows Cave, there is no close anchorage so we launched Little Squirt and the kids and I went to check it out. You can motor your tender right inside the cave, the water is about 5 meters deep and with the sun shining in it lights up the inside of the cave, it’s like a natural cathedral.  We returned to Long Shot so Sue and the kids went for a look.  Next stop was an anchorage at the far east side of the island group. It’s a heart stopping zigzag though the coral reefs to get into this anchorage our  electronic charts are about 200 meters off so it shows us going over land quite often, so very little use in a 50 meter wide path through the coral for about 2 kilometers. we dropped our anchor and within fifteen minutes there was a dinghy along side inviting us to join them rock climbing.  We had lunch and headed ashore to do some rock climbing, we all gave it a go, even Saylor.  Susan and I were successful at making it to the the top, the boys and Saylor did great but didn’t have the reach to get up the last 2 meters.

We spent two days in Neifu getting ready for our departure to the next group of islands.  It’s quite remote there so we are supposed to load up on everything.  Hitting the market, it’s hard to get through there quickly as all of the Tongans love to shower Saylor with attention.  A local carver gave her a seahorse necklace, the ladies gave her a couple of mangoes and a pow-pow (papaya) and then at a t-shirt shop she was given a small backpack with a Tongan design on it.  It’s been pretty overwhelming to see their generosity.  Good thing the boys weren’t with us as no doubt they would have been given something too.  We had the Pickrell Boys’ taxi service running hard the last two days, running back and forth to the boat in Little Squirt, delivering all of the goods we have bought.  When they had run out of goods, we had them run to shore with empty bottles to fill with fresh water for our tanks.  That worked well until they got busted so we tied up to the wharf for $15 Pa’anga ($10 Cdn) to take on fresh water.  Had to get our money’s worth so we doused ourselves on deck with the garden hose, right in plain view of the popular local restaurant!

Most of our day was spent at the t-shirt shop where they design shirts for the yachties with a Tongan flare and American pricing.  Loved the work and no cookie cutter sweat shop so we decided our line of credit had to be extended even further!  It’s really the only thing we have spent much money on so what the heck.  Doug then had to struggle with spending money on …. beer!  It’s really expensive here but he finally caved and loaded his liquid gold aboard the boat.  We also bought some “red wine” that’s only slightly better than Riley’s sugar-filled Kool-aid.  We are sure glad that our ol’ girl was so loaded with groceries when we left Canada as we are still living off of them and you either can’t get it here, or it’s way too expensive.

We met a very nice man last night by losing Little Squirt and conveniently letting it float past a multi-million dollar yacht Hale Kai II.  Doug was getting his 3 month head shave on the push pit when the owner yelled out he would go get our dinghy.  We didn’t even know it was missing!  Very nice man and he even went back to his yacht to get Doug some ice!  He owns Challenge Yachts Ltd and has encouraged us to look him up in Auckland if we need anything.  He figures our Hans Christian will look after us for the upcoming (Hell) transit to NZ: we think so too.

After our wonderful time with Pacific Bliss, the UK family, we discussed where best we could head to hide from the crowds.  There was a nice looking anchorage a short distance away so we left the 15 boats around us and headed to the tiny island.  As usual there are men and boys fishing on the pier and in the village the women and girls are inside weaving. A group of young girls led us to the far side of the island where they said there was a garden.  Sure enough, we were in a beautiful glade full of amazing flowers.  Past the garden they led us to the front of a man’s home – a palangi!  We spent the next few hours with an American couple who were so interesting.  They have lived here for 9 years and through a Foundation, they have been trying to make the island of Ovaka a better place.  They have only been mildly successful due to village politics but they have certainly transformed their little piece of paradise into a garden mecca.  All I could think about was how my sister and father should have been there.  Hundreds of little seedlings (all purchased on Ebay) and a huge abundance of flowers everywhere.  The island kids love it there obviously because that’s where they wanted to take us straight away. While we were visiting, the kids kept picking more and more flowers for Saylor and Zinnia.  Soon they had bouquets so large they were swamped in blossoms!  What was so interesting was to hear that the island only gets one or two boats a year, yet an island 1 mile away is chock full of cruisers because they advertise for business.  It was a wonderful visit and we were certainly glad we had stopped.  I don’t think I will ever forget seeing those magnificent mango trees, with fruit the size of grapefruits.

We took the kids to a reef enroute to the next island, called Coral Gardens.  It was some of the most impressive snorkeling we have ever done.  On to the island of Hunga we braved a tiny little pass to get into a lake-like lagoon.  After being in Smuggler’s Cove in BC, this pass was a piece of cake!  There were no boats when we got there – fantastic!  We rafted up to Pacific Bliss (increasing the play area of our boat by 200%) then headed ashore to this steep and hilly village.  The people here are wonderful and we were immediately made to feel welcome.  There is a fishing lodge nearby so we carried on through the bush to see more.   A palangi couple were on the beach fishing and within minutes Charlie had their rod in his hands.  Very interesting place but I’m certainly glad we don’t have to pay the high prices to enjoy this area.  Back on our boats, the kids launched a little sailboat the UK family had and away Zinnia and Charlie went.  They spent at least 3 hours cruising the lagoon and checking out various little landing sites on the shores.  It was quite impressive that these kids could spend everyday aboard our sailboats and still want to sail when we were stopped.

We had invited two palangi couples out to the boat and I was quite happy to become a galley slave as we prepared a meal for them.  Liz (Pacific Bliss) is absolutely brilliant in the kitchen and has even cooked for the queen!  We sure enjoyed hearing about what life in a Tongan village is like: what is yours is mine; handing out your children to be raised; and teacher smacking in school.  It’s not for me however they seem very happy here.

We certainly have not seen much rain in the last 4 months but we have made up for it this week.  I don’t mind a quick rain shower but the deluge that came down was absolutely brutal.  Doug was scampering around filling every bucket in sight after our water tanks were full while Saylor had several “tubbies” in Little Squirt on deck.  When the rain lessened to the point where we could see land, we ventured ashore to have a look.  We found the Tongans were few and far between compared to the number of palangis and all of the businesses are run by palangis.  They certainly don’t have the friendly and pleasing manner of the Tongans, and it wasn’t long before we were ready to move on.  Yesterday we saw some blue sky and we headed for our UK friends Zinnia and Cosmo for some kids play time.  We let go our anchor alongside them in a quiet little bay and immediately set to building the most impressive rope swing ever!  With our giant 20′ spinnaker pole hoisted, we hailed our friends over and had a ball.  Time to shake off the rain blues and have some laughs.  It was so much fun being with them again and even the adults had a turn on the rope swing once the kids were in bed asleep.  We’ll have to move on from this anchorage as there are far too many boats now, and no doubt they could hear us hooting and hollering late in the night.

It’s been a bleak and rainy few days in remote and exotic Vava’u.  Hasn’t bothered us much as Riley has been pretty sick with sky rocketing fever.  Thank goodness for drugs!  We are waiting to meet up with the Doc to find out what’s up.  Good thing Ladybug gave us the Lost episodes for us to watch or things would feel a little too cramped onboard.  We are currently in the main town with a gazillion boats all on mooring buoys.  We tried out a few (4 to be exact) as one was close but privately owned, one was too far away, one was reserved by someone else, one had tractor parts as a mooring and finally, the last one was just right. We pulled into the “dinghy” wharf where the super yachts had their 700hp tenders and I couldn’t help but ask if they had a tender for their tenders …. they do.  We enjoyed the painfully slow internet forcing us to drink several beer watching one picture download so please make sure you look at the Tongan pics knowing we suffered (at $5/beer).  Doug says for $5/beer someone should be taking their clothes off – guess that’s why he’s naked right now.

Ran into a Canadian boat that sounded so familiar I had to ask if the CCG had rescued him before.  Turns out I was right!  We had great discussions regarding whale watching in Tonga.  Many of the yachties urged us to book our “swim with the Humpback whales” tour that they have here.  Nowhere in the world do they allow this except for Tonga – boats get within 10 m of the whales dropping off swimmers who swim with mother and calf.  As Canadians we abide by rules governing how close we can come to the whales in our waters which I think is 300 m.  I struggled with how Tonga can allow you to be within touching distance of these whales and it be alright, yet … this opportunity would be amazing!  In the end we just couldn’t do it.  We would only be encouraging these operators to come too close to these beautiful creatures, allowing palangi operators to exploit what the government has failed to control.  One couple that went had the most wonderful pictures and spoke of what a positive experience it was.  They were the only boat around and the mother and calf were quite comfortable with them near.  We then spoke to another couple with the complete opposite experience; boats jockeying for position and whales being trapped by circling boats.  The Tongan gov’t has just announced they will be increasing the number of licenses for these whale watching companies.  If the Humpback whale population continues to decline I wonder if Tonga will take some ownership of this?

Forecast is for more rain.  Water tanks are full.  Please shut off the taps and let the sun come back.

We start out each day around 7am looking out to see the fishermen on the reef for the day’s catch.  At 8 you hear the “bell” (it’s a welding tank cylinder that they suspend and rap on – same on every island we’ve been to) which signals the kids to school and the adults to work.  Our kids work on theirs, with varying degrees of success.  Finally we head to shore to look around.  One day we explored with the Mormon missionaries on their day off so Elder Jenkins became Taylor and Elder Mafi became Muffin (because we can’t pronounce his first name).  Really nice young guys who are lots of fun.  The kids were hanging on one of them nearly the entire day – good thing they are patient.  Since Mormon’s don’t drink Doug spent the day trying to convert them as you don’t have a chance of it being the other way around.  We went to the windy side of the island where there is white sand for as far as you can see and not one person or house.  Back into the village Taylor asked the locals for the path up to the hilltop.  The women were sitting together weaving and they all wanted Saylor to stay.  We noticed Mafi had disappeared inside one house – he was playing a guitar for an 80 yr old woman while she sang.  She was weaving a very intricate mat with a pattern: a travalla (worn over a skirt) that would probably be worn on Sunday.  She gave us all the mangos she had and the kids scooped them up quickly as it’s our new favorite fruit.  Carrying on we headed up the hillside with Taylor carrying Saylor on his shoulders, in flipflops, in dense brush.  Good thing he’s young and strong!  It was tough going as the path doesn’t get much use but the view was worth it.  On the way down we stopped at the little hospital for a band-aid for guess who?  NO!  It wasn’t Riley for a change, but Saylor.  The guys had a weigh-in while we were there and Doug was thrilled to see he’s holding at 183lbs (40 lbs lighter than when we left Canada).

Back in the village we let fate decide our next move: car comes we go to the spring; no car we go to the boat.  15 minutes later the Pickrells were splashing in fresh water!  We found out the guys weren’t allowed to swim while they were Missionaries.  We were brainstorming work-arounds on THAT rule!  As we are on the far side of the island we started the hour long walk back to the boat.  Along the way we passed a group of men lifting a house onto footings.  They were trying to carry it across the footings and into place.  Taylor translated them saying, “OK the palangis are here so let’s show them how strong we are.”  In a flash Doug was in there grabbing a corner along with Mafi and Taylor and these 30 men carried a 12′x20′ house! I noticed the Tongans were quick to grab on close to where Doug was so the palangi wouldn’t get hurt.  Back onto the road the kids walked backwards as they are always looking for a vehicle to come however there are only 10 vehicles on the island so it’s not exactly a thoroughfare.  One came by but it didn’t go anywhere after stopping as the clutch slave cylinder was leaking.  We managed to get it going after pushing it in second gear and once it was rolling, only Charlie was able to hang on and away he went!

We invited the boys back to the boat knowing Doug wouldn’t have to share his beer! We produced a gourmet meal of spaghetti and meat sauce for the guys.  It had been 14 months since Taylor has had western food so he was quite appreciative. More importantly we had emails from his parents.  It’s sure nice to have been able to make the Jenkins family so happy.  We asked them to put in a good word with the big guy for us – can’t hurt.  The highlight of the night was learning Tongan checkers.  You wouldn’t think there could be a different way to play the game but there is, and it’s much more difficult and strategic.  Ending the late evening we ran the guys back to the dock and fortunately the moon was out as there is no light on the island – only a couple homes have solar panels.  Saylor yelled out her good-byes into the dark and the guys called out back.  It’s going to be hard to leave them as they sure have made an impression.

We are now one of four sailboats anchored in the bay of Niuatupotapu.  Our Victoria friends only just arrived after encountering calm winds out at sea delaying their arrival.  Every time Doug saw a mast on the horizon he began calling out on the radio.  When the third boat arrived it was near closing time on Friday so Doug sent a runner to tell Customs that one more boat needed to clear.  All three government officials arrived at the wharf to see a very meek and humble Doug who started apologizing as this sailboat was arriving from another Tongan port and didn’t need to clear.  Ooops!  That’s what we get for trying to be super helpful.

We spent the evening with Seea and Nico, who befriend the various yachties that arrive, sharing Riley’s beautiful Wahoo.  Word was out that Seea needed fabric for her son’s graduation so we brought a bolt to give.  She in turn made Saylor and I earrings, bracelets and necklaces out of woven pandanus leaves.  Their home is very simple and the yard is chock full of dogs and pigs.  Turns out they eat dogs here so that might explain why there are so many.  They told us what they used to have pre-tsunami (2009) which was quite considerable: store, refrigerators, freezers, solar panels, generator, boat, 40hp motor, etc.  It’s all gone.  They had insurance but when they went to claim they were told it didn’t cover earthquakes/tsunamis.  They have to start all over again.  Nico has started goig away to Australia for >6month to work at the vineyards.  It takes him over a month to hitch a ride to the capital city to fly out and the same on the return.  He signed a 15 year agreement and already he is seeing it’s too long.  Doug ran back to the boat to grab them some items to make life more comfortable including LED bulbs dropping their power consumption by 1000%.

We met a couple of men in traditional dress with white shirts and ties, and one of them was white! He’s a young Morman from Utah working as a missionary and we shared many laughs hearing of his education over the last 14 months.  He hasn’t been able to get word to his family as internet has been down since he arrived 2 months ago so he’s coming out to the boat to send a message.  I offered to send an email on his behalf but I guess I scared him when I said, “Dear Mom, I attended a brothel….”  This poor kid had only one flip flop (aka thong, flipper, jangle) and the supply boat isn’t expected for another two weeks.  Doug gave him his set so hopefully it’ll last him till he can get new ones.

We have had such a wonderful time here on Niua and feel so good that we’ve been able to help out in small ways.  Charlie bought a fish net in American Samoa but was not able to connect with any locals to really get the hang of it.  Seea & Nico’s son is quite good at it so he agreed to walk out on the reef and show Charlie how it is done.  They caught a handful of minnows, much to Charlie’s delight, and they cooked them up on a fire for us.  Charlie even ate one raw with the local boys.  This family had invited all four boats of ‘palangis’ (foreigners) to their house for a luncheon after Sunday service.  The men were going out fishing Saturday morning to get the food for this gathering.  Charlie requested to go, even though they were going out at 5:30am!!  Doug heard their boat coming so he got up to come on deck to tell them that they could go on without Charlie as he was sure Charlie would be sound asleep.  When he came up on deck, there was Charlie putting his shoes on.  Off they went and 3 hours later they were back with a boatload of sea weed but no fish.  They asked if Charlie could come out again in the afternoon when they would try again, but they would need Charlie’s net and our dinghy as well.  This time they went to a small island where the reef is shallow.  They made a big C for the fish, scared the fish in then threw Charlie’s net over the top.  They came back with enough fish to feed the whole village!

While Charlie was working his butt off, we were touring the island with the Mormon elders (one Tongan and one palangi).  It’s quite a rustic island with very little development.  We made our way to the fresh water spring where we had a swim.  Carrying on there are beautiful horses everywhere but they are quite skittish as I’m sure they think we are going to eat them!  There are three main villages with nothing in between but coconut trees and dense bush.  The Gov’t has cleared some land and built really strong little houses to relocate the people who lost their homes to the tsunami.  They are trying to get them out of the danger zone.  Many, many won’t go so the Gov’t made them sign agreements that they were waiving their rights to any further support.  The Red Cross built them the houses instead so I don’t know if the new village homes in the bush will ever get lived in.  No matter where you walk, everyone waves, calls out and comes to greet you.  Someone gets brave enough to talk to us and then everyone else laughs and chastises them cause they are speaking that funny English language!  Super friendly and extremely gentle souls – it’s been a pleasure.

We went to church today and even though there were thunderstorms in the area, Doug didn’t get struck!  Saylor was so impressed with the singing and so was the rest of us.  There really is no way to explain how beautiful it is.  Absolutely loved seeing all of the outfits which all had a tradition flavour to them.  Some have abandoned the use of weaving pandanus leaves to make the woven skirts, and they wear machine made mat that is produced in China.  Seea remarked that they are losing their culture, and unfortunately she’s right. We made our way to Seea and Nicos to enjoy the fish, taro, oysters, papaya in coconut milk and fresh made mango juice.  The meal was finished off with their sons playing ukeleles and singing some church music for us – outstanding!

We had an excellent two night sail to Niuatoputapu with some of the nicest winds and seas of our entire journey: 1.5m beam seas and 15kts of wind.  Doug couldn’t believe that he could actually sit in the cockpit without freight trains rushing at the boat and rain pouring down his neck.  On the second night you could tell we are heading south as it’s starting to get cool.  Can’t be naked at midnight any longer!  Riley caught a beautiful 15lb 46in Ono or Wahoo – that’s a first for the boys.  We had an excellent dolphin show with them spinning in the air.  Just as we approached this island, Doug let out a yelp as there was a Humpback whale right in front of us surfacing and then spy hopping only 100 m ahead of us.  We proceeded in through the reef, actually over the reef according to both of our charting programs, and we arrived at a beautiful little village.  It had been wiped out by a tsunami and a local said the new homes were paid for by the Royal Bank.  Doug got a ride thru the village in the back of a truck to the next village where Customs is, but not before they gave him a tour of all the hotspots.  Once we cleared in we went for a short tour and it wasn’t long before we were being offered part of a pig and taro.  We politely accepted and down the next group of houses on a different street a little guy asked me for the pig.  I handed it all over and he quickly shared it with his mother and grandmother.  They laughed like crazy.  The men here are all building and the women are preparing leaves to weave.  We better find a job quick to help them.

Now I asked Doug to write this blog as we’ve received emails asking for the Black Bucket writer to continue.  What you don’t know is that all our blogs are a team effort.  Black Bucket blogs are when Doug has a rant and he’s venting.  So here is what Doug came up with….

Two days and one week, no, two weeks and one day tied to the dock.  It’s time to throw the lines and sail on to Tonga.  It’s a 180 mile sail southwest; one day, 2 nights. We got a good taste of Samoa and the culture.  Wish we could stay longer but Tonga has 157 islands I have to be through there in a month!  Going to start with New Potatoe; we call it that cause we can’t pronounce Niuatopotapu.

This is when he turns to me and says, he wants my input cause he isn’t ranting.  Probably cause he’s on the patch!  Colin & Liz, our UK friends, gave us some sea sick patches – hopefully they are anti-sea sick medicine.  He’s getting that glazed mellow look – time to let go the lines. He hasn’t had any patches since Hawaii so this should sail should be a piece of cake.

Riley is smoking hot probably cause we had one too many slides down the rocks at Sliding Rock.  It was lots of fun and neat to see the locals joining us.  A Fafefetai was there as well: that’s a man in drag.  The community supports it as they fill an important role in the village helping out with the elderly and the sick.  I’m told they are not homosexual but if they have a relationship with a man, that’s ok.  You fafefetai on a daily basis and they are treated equal in Samoan society.  We said goodbye to our NZ friends who took us to the rocks yesterday.  Time for them to head home but we’ll see them again in a couple months.

The next island is a just a boat ride away and we had planned on sailing over however several yachties told us that we shouldn’t.  Many spoke of the terrible anchorages and lack of shelter.  It didn’t seem to make sense to me as the charts looked good but you would hate to get over there and find out they were right.  We changed our plans and headed over taking all available modes of transportation: taxi, bus, ferry, and rental car.  Doug whined more than the kids when we rose at 5:30 to start our adventure.  The harbour where the ferry docked was beautiful: flat calm and loads of places to tuck a sailboat in …. bummer.

We headed around the island making our first stop a beautiful waterfall.  We all had a great swim then headed onto the Blowholes.  Very cool and well worth it to stop and see.  An older man throws coconuts into the hole then demands $20 tala after the coconut comes down from outer space.  Carrying on we made it to the far side of the island passing beautifully kept yards – the scenery is truly stunning.  Eventually we made it to the rainforest preserve where we had plans to stay the night atop a 230 yr old Banyan tree.  The men at the village entrance encouraged us to go have a look before we committed to staying the night.  It proved to be valuable advice as I forgot that Nervous Nellie was with us.  We climbed an aluminum spiral staircase (apparently a Canadian built it) then we traversed a suspension bridge.  The deck of the bridge is actually aluminum ladders strung to hanging cables.  Boards are strapped to the ladders and the whole thing is encased with fish netting.  What did Doug see?  A tall wiggly 4 legged aluminum tower with spindles holding a railing 14 inches apart, large enough for a 5 year old to fall through.  Then you have to deal with a 60ft long suspension bridge with rope hand rails so high that a 5 year old could barely grab them and rotten old netting that would just show the hole where a 5 year old has fallen through.  We survived the crossing and headed up the wooden stairs (narrow and crooked according to Doug) to the top deck.  It’s about 100 ft above the ground with views of the rainforest, ocean and lava fields.  It was very cool and for $60 tala (including meals) we could stay the night!  Great, let’s do it.  Doug was halfway down the stairs before I could even finish my sentence.  “Not on your life!” was pretty much his response so we piled back into the car and headed to the only hotel in the area.  It turned out to be an old classic, definitely NOT to Gigi’s standards but it was somewhere to bed down.  There was one other family staying there and that was it.  The meal was great and the cats milling around us loved the scraps.  We made our way back towards the ferry and we found a beautiful hotel along the way called Stevenson’s.  We couldn’t afford it but it definitely is one to put on your list when you come next year.  We stopped to watch a men’s cricket match that was quite interesting as half the field carried over across the main road.  Just like road hockey they would have to suspend the game when a car came.  When the game ball was hit into the ocean, Charlie and a local ran in to fetch it.  The man found it seconds before Charlie did and he gave it to Charlie so he would have a Samoan cricket ball.  Charlie ran up to show us as he was thrilled.  I noticed the locals all talking as we headed for the car to carry on.  The same man came running up and demanded $5 tala for the ball.  You can buy a new one for $2 tala so Charlie handed it back.

There are few tourists on this island and it is less populated than Upolu.  The villages have found ways to make money by charging tourists to access their waterfalls, or view the blowholes which is completely understandable.  But they even charge you $2 tala to read a sign that tells of a legend and our friends were charged $20 tala as they stopped at the side of the road to have a picnic.  Savaii has left a sour taste in my mouth purely for this reason.

We slept in a hut on the beach for one night.  When we slept it was really nice because there was a hanging down thing that was a mosquito net.  In the morning I slept in and Mommy was still there but everyone else was gone.  It was a white sand beach.  It had lots of little rocks but down at the other side there weren’t so many.  It was really calm and no waves.  When it was low tide, there was no big waves, just small waves.  When it was high tide there was big waves.  We had supper and breakfast with them.  Now I know why it was so expensive cause it was so nice.  They made supper and breakfast like a big buffet.  Actually I think it was a buffet cause we sat at long tables together. Then we left, we had to get back to the boat cause we didn’t want to be away from it too long.

We went to a black sand beach and we had to walk really far – 4km.  It was really worth it I think cause it was so beautiful.  We wouldn’t have seen it cause I kept saying, “Let’s go back, it’s too far!” But Mom & Dad said keep going and we never would have seen it if they didn’t say that cause we would have went back.  It was nice.  We thought that we would have to walk 4 km back cause we thought there was no trucks, vans, cars but we saw a truck coming.  It had a little front and a long back.  They were coming to get sand.  They had 9 bags and they filled them with sand then they piled the sand on top of the bags. Me and Mommy sat in the front and the man drived it.  They needed sand to make cement to make a side walk.  When we got out of the black sand beach we had an ice cream and a pop.  Buses went the other way and one came the right way and we waved but it didn’t stop.  We took a taxi to a corner then we jumped out and got in a van.  He said he wasn’t supposed to be carrying in the back.  I meant in the van, not on his back cause that would be impossible.  It was bumpy riding in the back.  He took us to a waterfall, he hopped out too then we hopped back in.  He took us to Apia and back to the boat.

I had to tear Doug away from the fibreglass work that was proceeding on ‘C’est la vie’ and we headed on the bus to tour the eastern half of the island.  We climbed aboard a crowded bus and the local women were quick to order some young teens out of their seats in order for Saylor, Riley and I to have a spot.  Charlie squeezed into the front near the driver and Doug wedged in at the back.  We were off 20 min after scheduled departure (Samoan time) and quick to make stops as directed by an elder woman at the front.  Stops such as the fish market so she could direct someone to get her a tuna, then a tire shop to get her two mystery bags, then finally a gas station so everyone could fill their 5 gal jugs.  Doug & I wandered into the store while this was taking place and you should have seen Charlie’s wide eyes filled with panic when the driver moved the bus with just him on it.  The people here are wonderful and one woman bought doughnuts for our kids.  The ride was a long one on a wooden bench.  My butt isn’t seasoned like most Christian church goers so I was hurting after 1.5 hrs.  We passed two pre-schools and a beach restoration project all donated by Canada.  Who would have known?!

The scenery is amazing and when we came to the end of the line the local women asked me where we were going.  “No where,” I replied.  Our plan was to ride to the end, spend some time then get back on the last bus of the day.  Newsflash, this WAS the last bus!  So we wandered across the street to the most beautiful white sand beach and plunked ourselves down.  Now what?  Do we pay 5x the price to take a taxi back or….lookey here.  This “hotel” is in my travel book!  Taufua Beach Fales are right on the beach and it’s really quite amazing.  Thatch huts with mattress and mosquito netting, breakfast and dinner and a fiafia (cultural show) for the five of us all for $280 tala which works out to $130 Cdn.  Of course a domestic arose when Doug wanted the enclosed huts with a door, walls and a balcony but I wanted the open fale with no walls, no balcony.  Rock, paper, scissors, and I lost, I pouted and got my way   And in the morning Doug agreed it was the right choice, (not because I made it worth his while!) because it gets so hot here we would have cooked inside closed walls.  So for this first time in 4 months we spent the night ashore.  It was fantastic and the loads of Kiwis we met guarantees that we are going to have so much fun there.  We had big hugs, addresses and requests to visit when we left.  And strange the way things work out, Kiwis Tracey and Steve recognized us from being on the stage at the festival.  Steve works for the media here and he was the one who took all the photos and posted the video on YouTube.  Gigi had emailed me the link earlier: search Teuila festival 2012 variety show and Ailao Afi – fire knife dance

We took the same bus back to Apia and I loved how a full sized elder Samoan woman sat down beside Saylor, put her arm around and pulled Saylor into her bosom then gently stroked her hair.  She was loving my child as if she were her own!

We set out on the local bus and quickly met a lovely family with 4 children all under 5.  Very friendly and they acted as semi-tour guides as we traveled.  Saylor had an extra dress with her that she gave them and their eyes lit up – they were very thankful.  We were dropped off at the turn off to a black sand beach.  When we asked how far to walk they said 400m.  Well it turned out they were missing one digit as it took us an hour.  It was worth it as we had the gorgeous place all to ourselves.  We were dreading the walk back but fortunately a truck arrived to pick up sand to make concrete.  They filled the truck then we piled on.  The driver was one of the Matai for the village.  He told me of how he lost 4 people from his family in a Tsunami and he pointed to where their house was. We couldn’t get a bus on the return  leg so we ended up hitching a ride.  The guy wanted to show us some waterfalls so he went out of his way just to please us.  What fantastic hospitality these Samoans have.

We were trying to do some homework yesterday when Doug tells me a boat just arrived after being on a reef for the last two days.  “Come on kids, come get a real education!”  The guy had a small electric pump running but it wasn’t keeping up.  He looked completely defeated.  I asked what he had done so far and it was all good: tarp on the outside, dunnage on the inside, etc.  He wasn’t running the big 5hp pump on deck as the pull cord ripped out.  Well let’s get that one down on the dock and start pumping.  He didn’t see the point until I told him it pumps 1000L/min.  Apparently the Samoan Police pulled him off the reef and it took them a really long time to get it pumping.  Doug started it first pull and it took us a little while to get suction but we were pumping in 5 min.  The CCG guys will be disappointed with me.  We could see the damage was amidships just below the waterline.  I told him I wanted to do a halyard pull.  Again this guy said he didn’t see the point as he had tried it before and could only get a couple of degrees.  Some more cruisers showed up and I had agreement so we told him we were doing it.  He was so tired he couldn’t think straight.  While the guys were rigging it up, I made he and his wife some food as they hadn’t had much for the last 2 days.  Back to work we parbuckled him to the piling on the dock and used two masthead halyards to yard him over about 20 degrees.  It was enough to expose the gaping hole (our own memories came back!). We dug out the chunks of coral in the hole then had the guys hammer the fibreglass back out.  We finished our involvement but the cruisers kept working and by supper the hole was fared and ready for glass.  The outpouring of support on these docks was fantastic: beds were offered up, meals were provided, repair supplies were purchased and even the task of rinsing their gear on the boat to try to prevent salt water damage.  He will have to be hauled out in Tonga or Fiji but at least he won’t sink getting there.

It’s been quite some time since we were tied up and never with this many cruisers.  It’s quite fascinating to hear all of their stories and it highlights the fact that we are really quite new to this all.  The average cruiser here has been sailing for 4 years!  It’s a melting pot of different cultures and backgrounds all with cruising in common.   As large and vast our oceans may be the people out here enjoying it are a small and seemingly tight knit group.  A boat arrives and there are plenty of hand waves welcoming an old friend.  Most respectable is the fact that everyone here has made quite the sailing accomplishment just to have made it here.  The boats are beautiful and mostly all larger than ours.  There is one small red steel boat which hides amongst the others.  You don’t really notice it and the couple aboard aren’t seen very often.  We had pulled our mizzen sail onto the dock to repair…again.  The small Polish fellow comes up and looks at it, nods and says, “I have sewing machine.”  He dragged out an old steel beast, he and Doug on the blistering hot docks with Riley holding an umbrella for shade.  He did a fantastic job, complained that our sail was too old, but now we are good to go.  Doug gave him an 40oz of rum as thanks and he said, “You come drink with me.”  Doug wandered over at 9 and there was nothing but a heel left.  They asked me to join them so I put the kids to bed and wandered over.  Booze is expensive here and it wasn’t long before he was asking if he could buy another bottle.  He and his wife have been cruising the Pacific for 10 years.  This small boat is well built and loaded with sailing gear as I toured it below decks.  It was interesting discussions, “What do you think about our green hull?” I asked. “That’s a stupid question,” he’d say.  Pretty much everything was a stupid question so I figure all that rum must make you really smart!  One drink into the second bottle we got the heck outta dodge.

The German couple left that were beside us as the evening music was too loud – it was probably the Pickrells.  The Japanese couple have moved on but not before I learned of their trip so far.  Their worst water they experienced was in Dixon Entrance (North of Hadai Gwaii) which didn’t surprise me.  Interesting to hear we have a mutual friend on Silk Purse.  They gave Saylor a beautiful Japanese fan.  Our UK friends have left so our kids have lost their buddies.  Everyone is bound for Tonga – I bet it’s going to be crowded there.

Charlie’s favourite friend here is the Aussie crewman on the Fishing Charter boat – was there any surprise there?  We mentioned that Ono is the only fish we haven’t caught and he said he would fix that and produced a “diving” lure for Charlie.  He said it’s caught a thousand fish and it’ll catch a thousand more.  Charlie & Riley spent a few hours with him fishing off the breakwater here.  There are 40lb fish just outside the marina!

The festival is coming to a close and I am somewhat relieved as now we will finally be able to tour this beautiful island.  We attended the Miss Samoan Pagent last night.  Saylor was in her element getting ready for this girls outing and she scurried back and forth between our boat and a catamaran where her friend lives aboard. Zinnia is a beautiful 10 year old from the UK and is extremely patient with Saylor.  They started getting ready 2 hours before it was time to go and the finished product was absolutely outstanding.  They headed off down the dock and then I heard a blood curdling scream.  I sprinted as fast as I could up on deck and found Saylor standing on the dock soaking wet with Zinnia beside her still dry.  Saylor had walked off the side of the dock and fell in.  The docks are quite raised and there is extensive coral below.  I really don’t know if she has the water skills to stay afloat and there is nowhere for her to hang on.  Without question Zinnia saved her life.  It took us quite sometime to calm Saylor down as she was terrified and rightly so.  Zinnia’s mom turned things around by saying that now they would have to find her a new dress from Zinnia’s locker!  Our evening at the pagent ended up being quite enjoyable and interesting with my favorite being the traditional dresses.  Saylor is currently out on the dock by herself (sans phobias) so I think we’ll just take this as a good lesson and move on.

The five of us took in the second night of Variety Talent which were quite top notch and fun to watch.  An especially notable performance was the men in drag, lip synching and the crowd went crazy.  The fire knife dancers were back along with the same cheeky celebrity I had met previously.  Turns out he is a Matai (Chief) and a world champion fire dancer.  He walked down into the crowd as he wanted to bring someone up onto the stage (to poke fun at) and I was the lucky one.  It was slightly embarrassing when he asked how long I’ve been married and I didn’t know.  Doug was asked to come on stage and my attention-adverse husband sprinted up.  He was quite the crowd pleaser when he neighed like a horse!  My favorite parts were getting kissed by everyone in the band and being picked up and thrown around like I was a rag doll.  In the morning when we headed back into town and there wasn’t one person who didn’t stop Doug to comment that they had seen him on TV.  Oh yes, it was televised Nation wide!  Doug’s been working his celebrity status to his advantage getting discounts at the shops.  Lifestyles of the rich and famous – that’s us!

When we arrived in Apia there were a few boats anchored in the harbour.  An absolutely stunning 150ft-ish sailing vessel called the Christopher.  I was so impressed by this boat I barely noticed the Batman-type boat in the distance.  What the heck is that?  The dark grey trimaran hull looked military but written on the side of the pontoon was Sea Shepard.  “Oh great! I wonder who they are screwing with in these waters?” Of course the boys were thrilled to see this funky machine and couldn’t understand why I wasn’t quite as excited.  A couple years ago the Canadian Coast Guard intercepted a Sea Shepard vessel that was trying to run over two men standing on an ice flow.  Yes the men were clubbing seals at the time but that’s because it’s a legal fishery.  Watch the YouTube footage of this huge red icebreaker (CCGS Des Groseilles – those crazy francaphones) striking the Sea Shepard boat – it’s awesome.  The RCMP seized the vessel and it was secured in Sydney, NS until the Cdn Gov’t disposed of it.

The following night we were chatting with some yachties when their friends arrived – three crew from the Bridget Bardot, the Sea Shepard vessel.  I’ve always been outspoken and I definitely don’t pretend to be someone I’m not so it didn’t take long for me to tell them who I work for.  There was some lull in the conversation but then a very fulsome discussion continued.  I do agree that more conservation efforts need to happen world wide and perhaps environmental terrorism is making an impact?  I know the cod fishery is decimated on our East Coast and there are few predators for the seals as their numbers continue to rise.  We’ve messed with Mother Nature so badly, it’s clearly evident as we saw sailing the Pacific – there is not much life out there on the open ocean.  So where do we draw the line allowing these various fisheries to happen?  I feel for these small countries who are being invaded by foreign fishing fleets.  The Bridget Bardot was recently working for the Kiribati Gov’t with one of their Conservation Officers aboard.   Sea Shepard have a gorgeous PR rep who Charlie had a keenness for!  She has quite the campaign underway regarding the protection of sharks and trying to change their image and improve public support for their efforts.

We happily accepted the invitation to come for a tour.  Simon is the lone Canadian on board and you can tell he must of been a handful for his mother growing up. He gets that twinkle in the eye when we asked what the pneumatic spud launcher was for.  He gets a certain amount of enjoyment messing with the fishing boats and it sounds like they are pretty successful.  The boat was fascinating as it was built in ’96 to race around the world in 76 days!  Quite straight forward inside with standard electronics, propulsion, etc.  I gave him a CCG hat which he agreed to wear if I would put a Sea Shepard patch on my uniform.  Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

We attended the variety show last night which proved to be entertaining and even surprising.  The Polynesians are spiritual people who sing like the angels every Sunday – you can hear them all over the islands.  It wasn’t a disappointment to hear the four soloists who could belt it out like no other and I certainly did enjoy their performances.  Next up were dancers similar to the performances from previous evenings with the same quality and precision however they used taped music this time.  There are 24 or 27 men on the stage in rows and it’s like they are dancing as one.  It’s so impressive to watch them and how proud they are to be representing their village or church group.  Most appealing is to see these glistening toned bodies of these shirtless young men ….. oh I digress….to be 16 again.  My favorite performance was from a group who combined their traditional dancing to very modern music.  Hopefully when I get internet one day I’ll be able to upload it.  Then there were the white boys.  Just standing on the stage they didn’t have the same presence, all the different tones and colours of their skin not to mention the assortment of heights and sizes.  These Samoans are fit and lean and they blend together as a team.  These school boys looked a little out of sorts. We were puzzled and said, “What’s with the white guys?”  The locals told us it was Coral Reef Academy.  These were boys who have been brought to the island (not sure if it’s from Australia, US or where) because their parents can’t handle them.  They are out of control and they have been sent to (paradise) Boot Camp.  The local girls said that after their term is done, they generally want to stay for another.  They performed a warrior dance similar to that of the others.  There were arms and legs all over the place, one sarong fell off (unlike the Scots there were shorts underneath – darn) and some forgot a step or two however, by the look on their faces you could tell how hard they were focusing.  This was definitely not a half-assed effort and they were giving it their all.  There was not laughing and jeering from the crowd either.  These boys had the full support from the Samoans and they cheered them on.  When the dance was over, the boys relaxed their posture, looked at each other with pure joy and gave fist pumps to the crowd.  In their minds they just gave a rock band performance and they were proud of it.

The evening ended with the fire knife competition between 8 contestants with the youngest being 11.  It was really good.  Interesting that you dance until your fire goes out and if it does, you are done.  One kid was doing really well and twirling so fast his fire went out on one end.  Well at least there are two parts to the competition: single and double  baton.  You could see he was disappointed but he grabbed the two fire knives to continue.  Not his day as one of these goes out as well.  He fired them off the stage – good thing those guys at the side of the stage are used to catching flaming missiles!

I am so impressed with this place I’ll be your travel agent.  Book a week at Aggie Gray’s Hotel in Apia the first week of September 2013.  It’s a beautiful iconic hotel on the harbour front that will take you back to the 1950s.  Your week will be filled with the most incredible cultural experiences all part of the Teuila Festival.  We spent most of the day being so well treated by these people.  The men showed how to start a fire (not like they do on Survivor!) then prepare the umu which is an outdoor stone pit which serves as the oven.  The main spokesperson is quite the character, a celebrity and comedian.  He loves to flirt and of course I was more than willing to encourage him to continue.  He explained how they prepare all of the meals and at the end, we sat down to eat what they made for everyone.  All the people around us were cruisers though there were a few tourists and locals including a matai (chief).  The food was fantastic and it didn’t even faze me when I found the pig jaw bone (including teeth) at the bottom of my “plate” (woven coconut leaves).  It must be extra fortunate to have that as part of your meal.  There was so much food we couldn’t eat it all.

We headed over to the other huts where there were different demonstrations taking place.  I was taught to weave mats with a bunch of crazy elderly women who were so much fun you heard nothing but giggles.  I had to keep on my toes as she would show me once then expect me to complete the maneuver.  Even I was impressed with the finish product.  Next hut they were carving bowls they use for the kava ceremony.  The tools they use are still the primitive knives and axes from earlier days and you can watch them start with a raw log and turn it into a beautiful bowl that you can purchase.  The tattooing hut was rather painful to watch.  Two people were getting their tattoos at the time. This is the traditional method which apparently is excruciating.  The men are inked from their waist to the knees and it takes two weeks to complete, 8 hrs a day.  It’s a huge coming of age achievement that is said will change their lives.  The tattoo designs are unchanged from their ancestors.  The final hut was the Elai hut – Samoan massage!  For $50ST ($23 Cdn) you can sign up for a two week course where they will train you in massage.  I wish we had more time as I would be signing Doug up.

We have a variety show and fire knife dancing to take in so we’ll have to head out.  What wonderful people we have met – it’s been a blessing to be so welcomed by absolutely everyone.

This island has shown us the most loving and culturally solid family that makes me wish I had Samoan roots too!  I joined the yachting Moms on a girls trip to a Plantation House and found such beautiful locally made gifts – the quality is incredible.  We took in various parts of the festival including the dancing competition last night.  The biggest surprise for me was that these Samoan men are NOT the incredible hulk size but more like the hunky firefighter size – I know all the women will understand that!  To watch them sing and dance was a wonderful treat.  Unique to Samoa is to see that the men and women sit cross legged, knees pulsing up and down to the beat, and they stamp the ground, clap and slap to a choreographed performance.  I haven’t seen them sit and perform like this before. The thundering sound of the beat when they slap the ground is fantastic.  Absolutely everyone has been friendly and are inquisitive as to our roots.  There are many white men/women here, unlike all the islands we have been to since Hawaii – it’s only a 3.5hr flight from NZ so a nice get-away for them. This is definitely a tourist friendly island yet the locals are not inundated by them.  They are proud of their island, their people and their culture.  The festival has so much to take in it’s a scramble to see it all.  From carving, traditional tattooing, flower arranging, weaving, rowing, canoeing and dance – it’s going to be a fantastic week.  Tomorrow they show how the Samoan men make fire then cook for the family.  They said you aren’t a real man unless you can cook too – I’m going to make sure Doug is there from beginning to end!

This morning a traditional Polynesian off-shore canoe arrived.  They have been at sea for the last two years.  It’s a 73ft 13T outrigger (Catamaran style) canoe with only a primitive housework on deck for the Captain’s cabin and galley.  The 14 crew members live in the pontoons.  I complained at how hard it was for us to sail to windward.  I will complain no more as they  can only sail 70 degrees off the wind!!  Landlubbers – put your face to the wind, outstretch your hands to each side and that is pretty much how close they can sail towards the wind.  That’s tough!  We peeked our head above the deck and the crew welcomed us aboard.  The crew are all Samoan and the vessel is one of seven that were built in New Zealand.  I haven’t checked their website yet but I think it was pacificvoyagers.org which tells of their travels.  Comment on my blog if I’m wrong on that – I can’t get internet here yet so not sure.  So much to say – too little time….

We made it to Apia, Samoa and it’s Doug’s dream come true: a beautiful marina with at least 20 other cruisers and lots of dock side conversations.  We were quite happy to leave rainy American Samoa and we were chased by rain squalls all the way to Apia.  It was a 75nm passage in the night with enough lump to make the crew unhappy.  At least they could sleep through most of it but Doug & I were some tired when we arrived.  We had to keep reducing sail to make sure we didn’t arrive before daybreak as we were averaging 7kts downwind.  We were guided into the brand new marina by the Port Authority and they caught our lines as well. Once secured we discovered we were one of 5 boats that had to clear Customs, Immigration, Quarantine, Health and Port Authority – 5 different sets of paperwork!  These cruisers had been waiting since Friday morning to clear!  Good thing we didn’t come early.

The kids found some other kids to play with and we have a pile of things we want to see at the week long festival that is on.  We’ve already seen lots but will have to save that for the next blog.  We highly recommend Apia from what we have seen so far!!

After several days of howling wind and horizontal rain, the sun came out and we headed off the boat early.  Took a bus ride to the north – good thing it was a F450 as that was some steep climb.  Paid the big bucks to go to the end of the line, dishing out $5 instead of the normal $2.75 for the family.  It felt like we were on a remote Polynesian island over there…..oh right, we are.  Well it hasn’t felt like it being in Pago Pago but the little village to the north was spectacular.  The mayor met us off the bus and gave us permission to tour the village.  Good thing Doug was on his best behaviour without his bag full of beer.  We went on two hikes traversing steep mountain jungle terrain on ladders strung with rope, eating bananas off the tree as we walk by, ending at a isolated beach without a sole around.  We couldn’t stay too long as the bus heads back at 1:30 and it was questionable if there was another.  Took in the American Samoa Museum in the afternoon.  Loved seeing the early Polynesian fish hooks and the boat replicas.  They displayed the tattooing combs that they use still to this day.  Final splash in the ocean to end the day.  On our way back to the boat we looked up to see 2 or 3 ‘flying fox’ bats flying overhead but when we stopped to look closer we realized the tree tops were full of them hanging upside down.  Hundreds of them and they are as big as crows!  Wonder if Mark wants one of these for a pet?

We’ve had three days of crazy wind and rain.  It’s the kind of day where you get sucked in to believe the weather is going to be great and just when you get about a block from the boat, a squall comes through that soaks you to the bone but will make you glad that at least the boat is tied to the dock.  Today there were white caps in the harbour and the poor yachties that made the attempt to row ashore were soaked head to foot.  Did I mention how lucky we are to be the only boat with a slip?  Doug showed me the 35ft sunken boat that is just ahead of us.  Amazing we didn’t hit it when we came in.  I had to turn Long Shot II into this berth and unknowingly we were no more than 2 feet away from this boat – it is just subsurface at low water.

Took a couple more bus rides around the island exploring.  Interesting island but it certainly isn’t one that caters to the tourist so there is little for you to see and do.  You must request permission at each village to access the beach, swim in the ocean or visit the un-marked, un-mapped waterfalls.  Today we ended up shopping – didn’t have to ask permission to do that.  Doug bought canned Wahoo today – apparently this is the only place in the world that cans it.   I’m sure you are all going to want cases of it now.

We had planned on leaving Thursday but found out that Western Samoa is across the dateline which would put us into Apia on a weekend which is no good.  Leaving on Saturday instead – I think we’ll be ready to go by then.  Doug should have made enough trips to the liquor store to have ever nook and cranny filled as it’ll be 2 months until we hit New Zealand.