Finally aboard

After a long flight, an extra hour waiting for my second bag, I quickly found John Fisher, a friend of my uncle's who agreed to have me join them for a portion of their leisurely sail trip around the world.  It was very dark as we drove for about 1/2 hour along the coast of American Samoa, pulled into a gas station, walked around the back and down some cement steps to a small rock where his dinghy was tied up, jumped in and motored out to his boat the Silkie, a 54 foot catamaran.  I found out I had the entire port hull to myself, plus a bunch of tools and storage but plenty of room for me, my meager clothes allowance, and the 2 kites and kiteboard I dragged along for the first part of the trip.  As I finally showered and went to sleep after a 5 AM to 11 PM day plus 5 additional hours of time change, the strong wind, occasional hard rain, and unfamiliar surroundings made for fitful sleeping.  Woke up finally the next day to sunshine, a rugged but very green island, a pretty dirty bay, and my first day aboard. 

Bay and tuna canneries

We started early by moving the boat off it's main anchor and a back up (anchors in this bay tended to slip with heavy winds) to a mooring ball that another heavy boat had been tied up to for a few days.  The rest of the day was spent loading up on supplies and meeting the small group of boats and people that we would be traveling to our next destination with.  Great bunch and very friendly.  This island is an American territory (much like Puerto Rico) so is good for supplies and reasonable prices.  The main business there is a tuna canning factory which combined with poor sanitation practices has made the bay quite dirty.  But as soon as you are on the coast itself there is the aqua blue of the pacific and some nice views.  

First day

As we settled in that night on our mooring ball there was more strong wind and waves slapping at the sides.  It took a bit to get to sleep.  However having had my share of sleeping on boats with loud annoying noises, I later woke up later sensing that things had changed... the wind didn't sound quite as loud and the waves had stopped smacking the boat as hard.  As I debated whether to climb out of bed to investigate, and watched through the window to see if I could tell if we were drifting, sure enough some shouts, people rushing up top, naked sleepers on other boats rushing to aid, as we had broken the mooring line and were serenely drifting back into the bay and into the side of a monohull sailboat.  Fortunately there was little damage on either, the stricken boat was a friend, and we got the boat under control and anchored again, the wind having died off after breaking us loose.  As we attempted to return to sleep (it was 4 AM in the morning) I resolved not to sleep through onboard emergencies like I used to in my old job but to actually get my lazy butt out of bed and investigate when things don't feel right. 

Flowerpot Island

Another day anchoring securely, gathering supplies, getting ready to sail, and enduring much laughter at our expense, and we prepared to head out of Pago Pago for our next destination.

Outbound

view of the bay