We crossed the date line about 20 miles out from Samoa, Thursday has gone! Instead of being 12 hours behind everyone in the UK and South Africa we are now 11 hours ahead of them. All very confusing, as I cant work out when the monster weather arrives, is it tonight Suwarrow time or tomorrow Samoa time! But we are safely here so it doesn’t matter! What a sail, big waves again this morning, with very good consistent wind in the low 20’s powering us along. The wind picked up a bit so we did not have Sporty Spice up for long. We had the main sail up with the 2 reefs still in it and the jib. We’ve averaged 8.8 knots boat speed, so we finally got into Samoa with a little light. We made one boob when we headed for the wrong bay, thinking we were nearly there and chatting to Port control with customs in line to check us in when we discovered it was the next bay along and we still had another 10 miles to go! We’ve been welcomed in with rain which we were expecting, at least it will wash all the salt off PolePole and freshen her up.
Our first glimpse of Samoa covered in rain clouds
Interesting looking mountain scenery we look forward to exploring by car
It seems a big port all sorts of cargo ships going in that Rowan is contacting to see if we can go in front of them. Finally we get in and anchor near the yellow buoy as the Port authority have told us to do. Brilliant mud, hooks the anchor securely straight away, the water is flat and calm, we were finally stationary and still, what bliss. Trying to work out what the port authority were telling us was a challenge but we waited patiently as we established they would clear us today, as they were waiting for a ferry, otherwise we would have to wait until Monday. A boat arrived and two guys got off, health clearance and port authority, they were the sweetest and most polite guys. So impressed with our three day passage in the waves and happy to clear us in. Even though we haven’t been though immigration we can go into the marina tomorrow and go on land, immigration can only check us in on Monday. We just have to get the quarantine flag down now we have cleared the health inspector! They were effusive about welcoming us in, and when we questioned how come we were the only boat anchored here, they said the season is over and everyone has left, especially with the big weather expected! Even the marina said it was quiet and we would have no problem getting in. We have to go in early in Jeldijeldi and check out our spot, apparently it is quite tight! More fun tomorrow I guess.
As soon as they were gone we celebrated with a drink, I think Rowan made my gin quite strong as I can definitely feel it, but it is well deserved. Rowan did a brilliant job of getting us here safely in pretty tough conditions, and congrats to Met Bob, directing us precisely, he gave us confidence we could do it. Thank God we are not bobbing about for another week in Suwarrow unable to get off the boat! We demolished the rest of our slow cooked lamb and we are about to slump in front of a movie.
The only boat in the anchorage, in front of a lovely old church, very special to be here safe and sound
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