Sunday, November 30, 2008
Western Samoa & Passage to Tonga Aug 2 2006
Hi everyone.Well, we've been busy little beavers since our last report. We left youwith the cliffhanger of Rose's illness and bad disposition, leaking propaneand a slashed dinghy. How have you been able to stand the suspense? Or doyou just delete these before you even read them?First things first, since a few of you have actually inquired, Rose is onher way to a full recovery after a month of antibiotics. Thank God!!! Wereally don't want to see that side of her again. We understand it couldstill be a few months until everything is totally normal, but the symptomshave diminished alot.Turns out the propane leak was in the regulator, so we arrived in Samoawithout propane. Somehow when they checked the stuff in Amer. Samoa, theymissed the reg. The fittings in Samoa are just a bit different, so we juryrigged something. Port Supply sent our replacement parts and a few otherthings by regular mail which, of course, didn't arrive before we left. We'llget a replacement order in Vavau.Our makeshift patch on the dinghy is holding, but they can't ship more glue,etc.as it is a hazardous material so we're praying it holds until we get toNZ. Might be able to get something in Fiji.The short 75 mile passage to W. Samoa was easy. Started with clouds and itturned nice--caught two nice tunas. In our continuing saga of brokenthings, we cranked on the watermaker just before arrival, and discovered,after all the hassles of getting the thing fixed, the mounting bracket hadbroken. Fortunately, Apia is quite good sized with many services and wewere able to get a new one fabricated and repaired the old one for a spare.In the meantime, check-in was a breeze. You pull up to the commercial dockand all the officials come to you. We were able to fill up with water atthe same time.Western Samoa was really nice. We rented a car and traveled extensivelyaround the main island. Our Moon's guidebook suggested that the locals outin the country resented tourists and the kids might even "stone" the car.Nothing could be further from the truth. We found everyone very friendlyand helpful. The waterfront was loaded with restaurants and bars with aninteresting mix of Samoans and expats from Australia and NZ. We even met awashed up Dutch rock and roller. We really hated to leave, but leave wemust on our quest for the perfect island.Our next planned stop was Tonga, and the northernmost island, Niueatoputapu,is halfway from Samoa to Vavau, one of the main island groups in Tonga, andour true destination. It was a rocky 180 mile sail down there and weactually had to slow the boat down to get there after dawn as we made muchbetter speed than anticipated. This is a big area for humpback whales, and,sure enough, one breeched right, and I mean right, behind us on the way in. We saw several, alsovery close up, on our way out a few days later. "New Potatoes", as it'scalled, is very remote and picturesque with a nice lagoon surrounding a volcanic peak. It'sreal primitive and pretty much an agrarian subsistence economy. Not onerestaurant!!! Check in was easy and while it was a mission to contact theofficials(finally a guy saw us walking towards town and sent a kid to callofficialdom), they actually come down to the boat. Checking in here makesit easier when we get to Vavau. While there, we discovered our finallyworking water maker with the new head and new mounting bracket had a leakyhose!!! Ah, destiny??!! We're going to try to get that replaced in Vavau,but have jury rigged--once again--something. After a few idyllic days inNiueatoputapu, we decided to move on to Vavau. We needed to get the w/mhosefixed, some canvas repaired, and there were several boats there we wantedto see again. After the rocky ride down from Samoa we wanted a nice weatherwindow for the 160 milerun down to Vavau. Our forecasting service indicated nice weather afterseveral days of rain and gradually changing winds from SSE to ESE at 15-20knots. After a couple of days of that, it forecast high winds and seas fromthe south--our direction of travel, so it was go now or wait a week or so.Well, let me tell you, it was the longest 160 miles we've ever done. It wasbeating into 15 foot seas and 20-30 knot winds the whole way. Hatchesleaked, sun cover on the jib tore off, the tramps blew out, salt watereverywhere, and a 20 hour trip turned into the worst 36 hour nightmare onecan imagine. We weren't in any danger--it was just uncomfortable and awful(the "bad" Rose showed up again). Well we made it to Vavau just at dark,and went out for pizza. We'll check in this morning, but now the starboardengine won't start. It never ends.Enough for now. More from Tonga in our next letter. We plan to be hereawhile.Tim, Rose & Joe
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