Amerikan Samoa 7/30/07 (Ginger)

We have been here two weeks tomorrow. We have scoped out the big stores (Ace Hardware, Cost-U-Less, True Value Hardware and Napa Auto) and have even had a soft serve ice cream from McDonalds. We have also gotten fish poisoning, spent 3 days at the hospital getting teeth cleaned and checkups, and made numerous trips to the internet cafe called DDW (Don't Drink the Water) and to the post office. We failed at our attempt to get books from Amazon, we know now to use "PO Box" at the beginning of the
address to get it sent by US Mail rather than by UPS. Our large package was denied by UPS even though all carriers leave their packages with the post office on this island. There is no door to door delivery, at all. We have enjoyed spending time with the crews from other boats in the bay. Two boats we met in the Marquesas are here and it's fun to catch up with both of them. While we wait for packages to arrive we're planning ahead to our stop in Apia, Western Samoa where we'll visit the grave
of Robert Louis Stevenson and hopefully see some of the South Pacific Games which start the last week of August. We also made a change to our plans for cyclone season. We had planned to go to Australia at the end of October but are now planning to go from Fiji or New Caledonia to New Zealand first. We'll stay there through February and then head to Australia and cruise up the east coast of Australia next fall/winter (Mar - June).

We have (knock on wood) been fortunate to have our anchor hold here despite the well deserved reputation of plastic bags covering the bottom of the bay. We did, however, participate in the rescue of a boat that wasn't so lucky with their anchoring spot. This boat had been anchored just behind us for a couple of days when a series of afternoon squalls piped up in the bay. Our anchor snubber line snapped in a 40 knot gust and Peter was on deck putting on a beefier line when he noticed this beautiful
boat with shiny paint drifting backwards just feet from a rusting hulk with it's mast sticking over the bow like a jousting spear. We announced over the VHF radio that we needed help and within seconds the crews from Paddy West's, Heidi and Marcy were fending off the hulk from the deck of the unfortunate dragging boat. We were finally able to tie the boat up to the rusty "floating anchor" with the aid of some huge fenders provided by Heidi. Not sure where they keep those fenders on their little
boat but they are quite impressive! The boat owners returned and made quick work of re-anchoring in an impressive drill through rain and gusts. It was a graphic display of how deserved the reputation is of this bay and how fast a boat can drag when the anchor lets go. When they hauled their anchor there was a plastic bag wrapped around it. The problems with the plastic bags here are not limited to anchoring. The bags also float at various depths and are prone to wrapping around outboard propellers
and getting sucked into water intake holes. The idea of swimming in this water to clear a plastic bag from our engine intake is not a pretty one!

Ashore we have met some very nice people and are enjoying exploring the island. The busses run all day until 6PM, Monday through Saturday. They are handy and entertaining. Each bus is decorated with personal flair and they all play loud music. Though this is American Samoa it seems very Pacific island and not very American. It seems like the main American influence is the litter. There are a few chain stores as mentioned above but for the most part this island is more like the rest of the South
Pacific islands we've visited than like any part of the US we've visited. Many of the signs and posters are only in Samoan, most of them are about politics or health. As it is summer vacation here, the kids are all out of school. Some of them are in programs such as swimming lessons at the public beach or weaving at the museum. Many other kids roam the streets in small groups and they especially like to hang out at the dinghy dock. We haven't had too many problems leaving our dinghy ashore on
this trip and we tend to return to the boat before dark. A couple of days ago we had the hand water pump in the dinghy because of all the rain. Well, you guessed it.. no more water pump for Marcy. The next morning Peter went ashore for a quick trip to the internet cafe and no more flip flops for me either! These days we're taking the outboard key with us when we leave the boat and of course, leaving nothing in it when we go.

Today Peter took off the boom and fitted new washers in the gooseneck. Hopefully that will keep the moving parts happy and quiet. He also fixed the stanchions we broke on our way here and he's been bringing jugs of diesel and water out to the boat. I've been sorting out extra stuff, taking inventory of our food and tidying up the boat. As the days tick by it's hard to figure out where the time went. Hopefully by the time we leave here we'll have a lot to show for our efforts.

Passage to Samoa (Peter)

Almost a year of fulltime cruising and several ocean passages has proved that Marcy is nicely suited to the job for us.


Here is a rare picture of Marcy at sea, on passage from Surawow to
Samoa, about 450 nautical miles. We hoisted anchor shortly after Paddy
West’s and passed her half a day later. Typical of boisterous trade
wind passages, we are double reefed and moving along comfortably at 7
or 8 knots. The wind vane is steering, the sun is shining, and the
miles roll by quickly. We are both on deck because of the excitement of
seeing another vessel, normally at sea just one of us is on watch at a
time.

Lucky for us, Linda on PW is an excellent photographer with a nice camera.


Marcy has a long enough waterline for some good speed, but still a nice
size to handle single or double handed. Full battens and lazy jacks
help control the big main, roller furling tames the jib, and our
spinnaker is set and doused in a sock. At the end of this passage we
had a long night of incessant squalls, which luckily we can handle with
just one of us on deck by furling the jib during the high wind.
Our watch schedule is the traditional 4 on 4 off, so we get plenty of
sleep in steady conditions. Only major wind shifts or sudden calms or
large wind increases warrant calling the off watch for help.
To keep the workload manageable, we rarely steer by hand. The Monitor
wind vane does the majority of the work, with the belowdecks autopilot
filling in the remaining 10 percent of steering duty – under power,
running in light winds, and maneuvers like jibing or tacking.

We like to sail rather than motor as much as possible, to save fuel, so
we often anchor under sail. On the approach to the anchorage we inflate
our tender of choice – either the canoe Red Dogfish or the dinghy
Sniffy. For a short commute to shore, the canoe is often more
convenient. Marcy handles very well under main alone, allowing for
drama free maneuvering through an anchorage to the chosen spot.

The truism goes: cruising is working on your boat in exotic ports. Once
the hook is down, entry formalities taken care of, and a short visit
ashore, we often need to take care of maintenance business. The sea is
a harsh environment. When we arrived in Pago Pago, we had two broken
stanchions and a loose gooseneck to take care of as soon as possible.
We are constantly inspecting and making small repairs, and cleaning the
bottom is a never-ending chore. Of course, in industrial Pago Pago
Harbor with its murky questionable water, we are in a no swimming zone.

Pago Pago, American Samoa

Our passage to Pago Pago was a quick one. If we were wallowing like a pig in the light winds to get to Suwarrow we were rolling like a dog all the way to American Samoa. It was rough enough that using the pressure cooker was difficult as the stove would gimbal the pot right into the cupboard on every roll. One particularly awkward roll came just as I was transferring soup from the pot to a bowl. Fortunately though both hands were full I was able to stand on the bulkhead behind me for the roll and never spilled a drop!
We started having radio trouble as we got ready to check into the Seafarer's Net on the 15th. Peter was able to fix it by cleaning the wire terminal ends. That fix was short lived and by check-in time on the 16th, after an hour of clipping rotten wire and trying to connect we were able to hear everyone but we couldn't transmit. Talk about frustrating listening to people call you and not being able to respond!
Fortunately we had left Suwarrow with Paddy West's and had been in contact with them regularly as well. We even had a photo op with them as we sailed near eachother for a little while. David was able to report in to Seafarer's that all was well on board and we were just having radio trouble. He was having trouble with his VHF radio antenna so once our SSB radio was out we couldn't communicate with them but it was fun to be travelling within a few miles of another boat and to be able to check in with them while it lasted.
We're now anchored in Pago Pago harbour near Paddy West's. We arrived, as seems to be our SOP at 1:00 AM and anchored with no problem. We spent the morning of the 17th clearing in with the 6 different entities (customs, immigration, health, agriculture, harbour master, port control.) We went to the post office to collect a few books we had ordered and were able to make it back to the boat in time for a nap. Yesterday we explored the commercial district looking for antenna wire. No luck. This is definitely more south pacific island than American shopping mecca! We're going to order the wire to be shipped and move on to the other jobs on the list.

Wind, wind, wind Ginger

This morning we have the wind we've been waiting for (and that the weather charts have been promising) so we're preparing the boat to head for Samoa and should hoist anchor by noon. We spent the day yesterday thinking about friends and family and wishing we were home to celebrate the life of a wonderful grandmother.