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| Flower Pot Rock - Fatu & Futi. The beaches on Tutuila are amazing! |
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| Gorgeous harbor sunset |
With the slow strike over on the west
coast, supplies have re-appeared on the island. It was sluggish at
first... the few items that did make it to Tutuila were greedily
grabbed up (by hoarders like me) and socked away. Then, there were no
eggs.... again. But little by little, more containers arrived on the
ships – and then even more. Fresh produce is again abundant, as is
everything else.
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| Cassidy and Carolyne - inseparable - again! |
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| Shannon's great photo of two of her children enjoying an island ride in the back of our pickup truck |
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| Waterfall hike in Nu'uuli |
This was perfect timing for several cruising
friends, one family who sailed from their 7 months in Tonga and another family who sailed from Fiji. There is no better place in the South Pacific Islands to get provisions than American Samoa! Their eyes bugged out of
their heads when they saw all the available groceries.
They have chia seeds?
Yep.
Couscous?
Yep.
Gluten free pasta?
Uh-huh.
And the 6 kids aboard reacted the same
way Carolyne did once the anchor was dropped...
LOOK! THERE'S McDONALD'S!!!!
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| Joe demonstrating the art of using the coconut shredder. This technique renders the most awesome coconut cream in the world! |
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| Taco Thursday at Evalani's for $1 chicken, pork or beef tacos - LOADED! |
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| Our cruising friend, Dick, giving us ride back home from the dock |
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| Cruising friends, Dane and Jessie |
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| Helping our New Hampshire friends on sv Ironbarque with a science project in the tropics... Earthwise produce bags |
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| These papers work pretty well, but this is what Clare on Ironbarque had to say: "Among our various tomatoes the best one by far is the one sitting on a paper towel that had been dipped in vinegar and dried. So I would recommend dousing fruits and veggies with a diluted mix of white vinegar, or at the very least, dousing the vessel in which they are stored." |
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| Renault and his precious wife, Anita, whom he met in Madagascar. |
Meanwhile, we're wrapping things up
here in Pago Pago. Jim is already hopping on the boat projects that
we have ignored over the last 8 months. I won't bore you with the
list – it is depressing. But here are a few photos of what lies ahead:
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| Mold on cockpit canvas due to water leaks - relentless! |
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| Dinghy chaps surgery... patching, patching and more patching! Seems like this project is not really a priority, but chaps can extend the life of your inflatable by YEARS! |
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| Projects put on hold while we wait out the weather produced by Rainmaker Mountain (and so aptly named!) |
but, we're no longer taking risks
fixing or upgrading anything else here in American Samoa.
You would think that with the huge
fishing fleet here that oodles of qualified mechanics and technicians
and “fix-it/make-it-better” gurus would be in abundance. That has
NOT been our experience. And yes – we asked around and got
recommendations before we hired. Our 5HP outboard is STILL sitting in
a garage, completely torn to pieces, and the only problem it had was
that it wouldn't spark. The repairman says he can't fix it and we're
terrified what he's going to charge us to put it all back together in
un-working condition. And the alternator we had re-built for $160?
There is absolutely no improvement – the amps are exactly the same.
It is very difficult to locate “competent” service people.
Luckily, you can ship easily to the US and other countries. So, that
is our remedy for repairs.
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| Rah-Rah-Rah!! Our new love! |
The internet on island seems to have
gotten worse (although I understand that it is far better here than in
Tonga!) - it has taken me several hours to post this!
so more later...
