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| Beautiful, yet blustery, Pago Pago anchorage |
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| Lovely local girl |
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| Decorating for Labor Day |
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| Two men taking a lunch break wearing traditional lava-lava (or sarongs) |
Wet & Windy Weather Week:
It blew like stink for an entire
week... 25+ knots... with no reprieve! Rain, rain and more rain. And I know while some of
our friends are waiting out serious droughts in other parts of the
world... desperate for even a single drop of rain... that I shouldn't
be complaining. But wet dinghy rides – getting drenched in sudden
cloud bursts – saturated right down to your undies – salty hair
plastered quite undignified-like (and only on one side!) after being
slapped around by saltwater waves – plastic poncho doing very
little to ward off the wet... changing into dry clothes AGAIN... finding yet another place to try and dry out wet clothing... well, after a week it's a little much. Factor in restless sleep as
the boat shudders and mutters endlessly throughout the night? That's
a recipe for Cranky Crew.
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'The Healing Garden'- memorial to those lost in the 2009 tsunami
located in the village of Leone |
Nicest surprise:
I just met a cruiser (from Dallas) who is a friend of a non-cruising friend of mine (who also lives in Dallas, but with whom I
became dear friends in San Antonio over 20 years ago)... who happens
to be crewing on a boat that is anchored in the same anchorage as
Hotspur right here in American Samoa! Greg and I finally met
after missing each other in Tahiti and then again in Bora Bora. And
what a delight he is... we chatted for hours like old friends! (Thank
you, Mark, for introducing me to Greg!) I just love small world
encounters.
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| Windblown in Pago Pago with my new friend Greg |
Luckiest in Line:
I was first in line... that's right...
#1... to buy Samsung UNLOCKED cell phones for only $15 each! It was a
Blue Sky promotion and I arrived well over an hour before time to
start the line (and I looked a bit pathetic standing there hungrily all by my lonesome)... but I saved $70 locally (almost
$200 had I purchased from Amazon!)!! And I didn't look so pathetic
walking away from that mile-long-line that accumulated behind me with my cell phones
and free T-shirts (that are way too big for any of us but they were
FREE!). Yep... I'm a cheap cruiser. With my cheap cell phones for the
family. Uh-huh... uh-huh... uh-huh...
And, after minimal effort, we have Carolyne enrolled in school! She starts 9/2.
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One of the numerous fabric stores on the island...
we paid less than $7 for Carolyne's school uniform material! |
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Wam-V that will be following the Hokule'a and photographing the adventure
(http://www.wam-v.com/wamv.html) |
Good Deeds:
Carolyne was out of bed at sunrise for
the spay and neuter clinic. She loves to volunteer and did so many
times while in Mexico. She jumped at the opportunity in the Village
of Leone here on the island. Numerous cats and dogs were brought in
for free vaccines, de-worming and prohibitive procreation operations.
The state of the pets here on the island is pretty dim. Mange,
starvation, ticks and fleas... it's pretty bad. I think maybe worse
than in Mexico.
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| Tanya preparing injections |
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| Steve getting sleepy pup ready for ear tattoo tag number and belly shave |
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| Zeke and Nina came along to help, too |
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| Kitty ready for surgery |
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This friendly kitty is the stray
McDonald's cat... eaten alive by mange |
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(http://followtradewinds.blogspot.com/)The crew on sv Trade Winds rescued him- Carolyne and
I will check on him next week |
Farewell:
It is always the saddest part of cruising – saying “so long” to friends. Sv Mojombo departed on their way to Western Samoa, then to Fiji and finally back home to Tasmania.
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Vicki, Nina, Gary and Zeke
(http://svkallisto.blogspot.com/) |
