Anchored in the Apia Marina, Samoa

After a long night and half a day, we are now safely tied up along the wharf in a prime spot in the new marina in Apia, Samoa. Despite the forecast for light winds, we had steady 20 to 25 knots all night and this morning, interspersed with rain squalls with up to 30 knot gusts. So our carefully laid plans to arrive comfortably this morning at daylight were thwarted. To slow our progress, we had to sail under bare poles all night and be more watchful. We did not get much sleep. However, we made our way safely into the Apia harbour late morning and with the help of the friendly locals moored in the marina with no hassles.

It is very hot and we have spent the afternoon sorting out the formalities of arrival - it is a long drawn out process. We have had visits from health, quarantine and the port authority, still awaiting customs and immigration!! We have already chatted with many of our neighbours, some of whom we have met before in previous anchorages. We met a lad from Dunedin who has crewed up on a boat from Tauranga. He is making his way home soon with the addition of a marvellous, artistic tattoo covering both of his forearms - a memento from the Marquesas.

We will blog again in a few days with more tales of our south seas adventure.

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nearing Samoa

Coordinates: 13 39 S 170 28 W
Bearing: 254 M
Boat Speed: 4
Wind Direction:E
Wind Strength: 17
Sea state: mod swell

Crew health: great

Fish caught: nil!!!

Other points of interest:

We calculated that with all sail set we would not be there in time today so have slows right down with minimal sail to arrive hopefully about 9 am tomorrow - it is better this way so we will not have to heave to near Samoa in the night

Yesterday after I had sent the blog two whales each about 20 feet long swam around the bout for about 15 minutes
It must be something about this craft that they like!! I suppose a sailing vessel is quiet and we do not even have the turbulence of a propeller in the water ( the prop shaft is pulled up under the centre deck when not motoring)

this morning we had two rain squalls with winds up to 30 knots - they hit you quickly but do not last very long

Last night we spent 5 hours watching a strange bright light on the horizon - it kept in the same position relative to us and although we could see no boat or navigation lights there was a huge loom of light - maybe a large fishing boat just over the horizon or maybe a cruise ship waiting to go into American Samoa in the morning

It suddenly disappeared after 5 hours which was good.

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Samoa Bound

Coordinates: 13 40 S 168 49 W
Bearing: 256 M
Boat Speed:4.5 Kn
Wind Direction: NE
Wind Strength:9.5
Sea state: slight swell

Crew health: great but looking forward to fresh fruit in Samoa

Fish caught: I consider this part of the Pacific has been fished out by the Japanese, Koreans and Chinese - there is not a fish to be found!

still steady but slow progress only enlivened by having to reef the mainsail at 3 am as a squall came through. During the evening yesterday large dark thunder heads of cloud gathered all around but most passed us by.

Denise has just been cooking pikelets which were very good.
We have the usual dilemma of whether to speed up or slow down to try and time our arrival during the day in Samoa - preferably during the morning . Studying the weather likely, it seems we may as well slow down a little if anything, but will wait until tomorrow morning before making a final decision - we do not want to be hove to off Apia amongst the fishing boats during the night before our arrival.

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Bound for Samoa

Coordinates: 13 12 S 167 08 w
Bearing:252 m
Boat Speed: 4.5
Wind Direction: SE
Wind Strength:8.5
Sea state: mod swell

Crew health: Great

Fish caught: still trying

Other points of interest:

It has been very light winds today and hot ( 29 degrees )
We have had our large red, light weather reacher up nearly all day - the self steering has coped fine so it has been a lazy day

Denise is busy experimenting with sprouting beans to give us something fresh and tasty . Mung beans worked well and now we are onto lentils which are good too
We were approached by what turned out to be a Chinese fishing boat - they were just curious and wondered if all was well
They spoke some fairly good English but it was a relief when they turned away and we were back on a peaceful ocean.
There seemed to be a fault with the mast head light last night so have been busy checking fuses etc which seem ok so may mean a climb up the mast when we reach Samoa. The side and stern light are Ok so it is not a major problem.

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Update - bound for Samoa

Coordinates: 13 10 S 165 27 W
Bearing: 261 M
Boat Speed: 6
Wind Direction: ENE
Wind Strength: fluctuates at times 10 to 18
Sea state: moderate sea

Crew health: great

Fish caught: trying hard

Other points of interest:

a good sunny day,steady progress with a following wind , two lures out but no takers
I have been studying the book The Cruisers Handbook of fishing to get a few extra tips!

Baked some more bread today to your recipe Sue T - many thanks - very tasty

No birds now we have left Suwarrow way behind . no other boats , no whales just us ,Katipo and the Sea!

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Update

Coordinates: 13 10 S 163 23 W
Bearing: 260 M
Boat Speed: 4 knots
Wind Direction: ENE
Wind Strength: 7.5
Sea state: slight swell

Crew health: excellent

Fish caught: a lure is out now

Other points of interest:
We had a few drinks on shore last night under the palm trees at the ' Suwarrow yacht club ' with the other yachties and the caretakers
We made a plaque to nail up there with the other flags and messages etc. from yachties who have come and gone over the years
This morning up early to get organised and winch the dinghy on board. We left late morning at slack water.
The anchor winch which nearly seized up in Aitutaki and was partly dismantled seems fortunately to be working fine now - very important when there is lots of chain and warp out in such a deep anchorage and it all has to be wound in by hand
It seems the majority of yachts have electric windlasses - fine until the electrics play up ! It is good exercise anyway winding up the anchor by hand!

The wind is light so it was fairly easy coming out round the reefs in the passage. Sea birds flew around the boat as we left and as we passed Turtle island , the northern most islet on the reef a large whale about two thirds the length of Katipo surfaced alongside giving us a nasty scare for a few minutes.

Suwarrow sank below the horizon some while ago - it has been a marvelous twelve days staying there

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sad to leave

Coordinates: at Suwarrow

We checked the weather as usual this afternoon and it looks a fair, reasonably light wind for tomorrow to wend our way out through the pass and to make sail bound for Samoa ( not American Samoa )
We have had a pleasant day yarning with some of the other yachties and James the caretaker who has some great tales to tell.
We will take a lot of happy memories with us when we leave - it is tempting to stay longer but there is much to see yet and we can always come again in the future!

Until we reach Samoa we will be sending a brief daily report and update to this blog

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News from Suwarrow

As I write frigate birds are wheeling over the boat and tropic birds, boobies and sooty terns are flying by. Apparently at the last count there were 81,000 breeding pairs of the latter on the islets in Suwarrow. One main breeding area is Whale island, a low scrub covered islet about one hour's walk along the reef at low tide. The caretaker James took a small group of us along there. The birds are fairly fearless and hover around your head in the steady trade wind breeze. One can see many untidy nests on the ground - usually with one egg in each.
We saw moray eels and blue parrot fish along the reef and much beautifully coloured coral.

We have now had two delicious pot luck suppers with the other yachties and the two caretakers -fresh tuna , mahimahi, parrot fish, coconut pancakes, salads and all sorts of dishes from the different nationalities here. The last one was on Bastille Day in respect to the french sailors.

Most of the yachts are from USA or from Europe via Panama Canal. Most of them have arrived here from French Polynesia, Bora Bora usually being their last stop. We are the odd ones out having made the big effort to sail up from NZ. Many of these boats will be in NZ for the coming summer cyclone season so we will be expecting a few guests.

The big disappointment is that there are no mature coconut crabs on the main island here. The caretaker says that someone has been here in the last cyclone season when there was no caretaker and harvested the lot!

Apparently they are huge and quickly climb the coconut trees to snip coconut free. They then descend and carry it off to a quiet spot where they open them and take up to three weeks to consume them.

I will now have to come again in the future!

I have been for a swim on several occasions now, the sharks are no problem but Denise is as yet too timorous.

PS This afternoon Denise found a deep pool close to the shore and went for a shark free dip!!

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anchored in the lagoon Suwarrow

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It was a fairly fresh wind last night about 25 knots from the SE but the anchor held OK - always a concern when coral bombies are not far away
I forgot to mention yesterday that we found a plump flying fish on deck one morning on the way from Aitutaki - very tasty fried for a breakfast starter

Today I ventured in amongst the sharks for a swim and to see how well the anchor was set but visibility was not adequate today in fairly deep water

Tonight there is a pot luck supper for the yachties at the caretakers hut - it will be good to meet the others. There are six yachts anchored here including us

Now we are at anchor I will not send a blog report every day - look for one next weekend

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Suwarrow

Coordinates:at Suwarrow
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Fish caught:

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Had a nasty surprise this morning to find that we had nearly lost the dinghy and outboard overnight from a faulty fitting in the bow of the dinghy - however part of the painter had by chance become tangled around an oar lying in the dinghy and it did not set off for Samoa with out us!

we met James the caretaker today - a big Cook Island / Maori guy with a long beard , a top knot and lots of tattoos. One of the most pleasant and informative guys you might wish to meet
He told us heaps about the 11 species of sea birds here, the history of the island and showed us where Tom Neale used to live. He knows some of the Cook Island sailors we met in Rarotonga - so there was plenty to talk about

He also knows some of Frisbee's ( Tom Neale's mentor) children.
He assures us the reef sharks are no worry but to be more carefully with another two types occasionally found in the lagoon

He was out of bananas and fortunately we have a stalk just ripening - so more than we need . We will take him plenty in this evening

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Suwarrow

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Crew health:Delighted to be here!

Fish caught:Nil

Other points of interest:

We anchored in Suwarrow at 2pm today, exactly a 72 hour trip. The time of arrival went well. After going to great lengths to study the Cruising Guides, South Pacific Pilot book etc, the entrance through the reefs was not as complicated as it looked and we were pleasantly surprised. It is magic to be here - we have been planning to come here for such a long time, we can hardly believe we have made it. We are anchored off Anchorage Island where Tom Neale lived as a hermit for about 15 years. The island is thickly covered in coconut palms. The lagoon is thickly populated with sharks - 5 were cruising around Katipo as we dropped anchor. The lagoon and its many islands are also a breeding ground for many sea birds - tropic birds, frigate birds among them. There is a constant bird noise around us. We have not been ashore yet - so have not viewed the giant coconut crabs. We will let you know more about these later.

This is a good place to have on your bucket list.

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Trade wind sailing

Coordinates: 14 48 S 162 01 W
Bearing: 320M
Boat Speed:5.5
Wind Direction:E
Wind Strength: 11
Sea state: 1 M swell

Crew health: great
e
Fish caught: too busy relaxing

Other points of interest:
This must be trade wind sailing at its best steady breeze , warm and sunny , bright blue sea and the self steering vane doing all the work

I made a new fold up bench seat to fit across the stern of the cockpit in Aitutaki.
This works well as we tend to spend most of our time in the pod/ cockpit especially in good weather. It means now that one person can be on watch and the other stretch out on the seat and have a sleep if they wish

We are currently trying to work out whether to speed up and arrive at the right time of tide etc tomorrow or slow down and go in the following day

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Update

Coordinates: 16 46 S 160 56 W
Bearing: 318 M
Boat Speed: 5
Wind Direction E
Wind Strength: 11
Sea state:.5 m swell

Crew health:great

Fish caught:

Other points of interest:
We are about 138 miles from Aitutaki now and going well

last night there were quite a few heavy dark masses of cloud which usually means rain and more wind - we are always on our guard
We had a particularly ferocious one just at dawn today - it looked fairly benign but the wind rose from 12 knots to 30 in seemingly moments and torrential rain followed - we caught two buckets full from the folds in the reefed main sail !

When the wind hit we dropped both fore sails ( the staysail and Yankee) straight away and all went well

It is pleasant out here, the sea breeze is welcome after the heat of Aitutaki harbour

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out through the reef

Coordinates: 18 36 S 159 56 W
Bearing: 319 M
Boat Speed: 5.5
Wind Direction: east
Wind Strength:11
Sea state: 1 m swell

Crew health: great

Fish caught: not yet

Other points of interest:
up early to get some last fruit items at the local market at 6.30 am then readying for sea

We had to wait for a French keeler to leave first since we were trapped up a corner of the small harbour
Unfortunately their engine started belching out smoke and oil and they pulled over to the warf. We hope it is fixable otherwise they will have to sail to NZ with no engine

We were lucky - no cloud or rain and a bright sun which makes seeing the coral under the water easier
With the intrepid Denise standing at the bow pointing the way down the long narrow passage through the coral and the skipper deftly steering
with a tight grip on the wheel we came out between the waves breaking on either side of the entrance into the blue deep water.

It is a light breeze ideal for starting a voyage giving us time to settle into the rhythm of the sea.
We can just see a faint smudge on the horizon about 20 miles away as Aitutaki disappears from view.

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Then there were two

Coordinates:Aitutaki
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Fish caught:

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Another fine day in paradise.

Last night Shay and Jo flew back to Auckland. They have had a busy and varied 2 weeks and seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It has been good to have their company and we were sorry to see them go. Denise and I are now busy preparing for the next phase of our adventure.

Yesterday was busy in the port. A French yacht arrived from Tahiti and squeezed into the small anchorage with us and the other 2 yachts already here. At the same time, the monthly freighter arrived carrying goodies for the islanders. It anchored outside the reef, as it was too large to manoeuvre through the narrow passage, and a small barge spent all of yesterday and this morning bringing in shipping containers and taking empty ones out to the boat. It was most entertaining.

There were great festivities on the wharf last evening with food stalls selling island food and crafts, drummers, musicians, dancers and fire dancers. It was also the kite surfing prize giving, despite delays to the competition due to lack of wind. Good fun was had by all, particularly the children who enjoyed an island dancing competition and lolly scramble. Paper lanterns and fireworks concluded the evening.

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