When we raised our anchor in American Samoa,
it was decorated with steel cable, fishing line, and about twenty plastic garbage bags. The first thing Molly said was, “Is there anything we can use, Dad?” The nut doesn’t fall far from the tree…
We decided against going to Western Samoa, and headed to (everybody ready?) Niuatoputapu, in northern Tonga. The cruisers call it New Potato, since we are a lazy bunch, but we have been practicing to let the name roll off our tongues. I think the villagers appreciate having us properly say the name of their island. This is one of the more unspoiled islands we have seen. There is no electricity, running water or refrigeration. Dogs, pigs, chickens and horses run freely among the locals on the dirt roads. The people are very friendly and seem to enjoy cruisers. A supply ship came yesterday - it hadn’t been here for a couple of months, and won’t be back till Christmas. The entire village (1400 people) showed up at the wharf to help unload lumber, oil, food and a couple of horses. The villagers were quite upset when they discovered that there was no tobacco or cigarettes on the ship; I guess they were really counting on it. The first thing the customs officials asked when they boarded our boat was, “Do you have any tobacco?”
There are 3 churches on the island; Methodist, Catholic and Mormon. Each church has services twice a day, every day. We heard the bells ring at 5:00 this morning. One of the churches had a big fund-raiser today. They are trying to raise money for a larger building. There were long tables set up with roast pig, chicken, lobster, breadfruit, melons, cakes, and taro. The pastor was preaching inside the building the whole time, and every once in a while, a bowl was passed through the church door and people would put money in it. The bowl would come out about every half an hour. The people must have been rationing their money, because they always had more to put in. I blew it, and put my entire twenty dollars in right at the beginning; and I got disappointed looks when I wasn’t able to contribute each time. The pigs they roasted were so tiny - no bigger than a loaf of bread. I knew I had said “hello” to those very pigs just the day before, and I was a little leery of how long the meat had been sitting out before the party started. Jim, of course, dug right in, evidently not remembering that he got deathly ill in Mexico, eating roasted pig. We’ll see how it all turns out.
This was the last day of school for all the students in the village. Molly and Jessie were invited to come to the elementary school, and walk with the kids about a mile up the road to the high school, where there was a big program planned. There were skits and dancing and singing and speeches. Most of it was in English, and it was fun to watch. The students gave speeches about technology in Tonga, why they loved the Tongan way of life, and other subjects close to their heart. There is a custom here where people go up to a performer and tuck money into their shirts or belts while they are performing to show their appreciation. It happened a lot today. I thought it was interesting when a girl was giving a speech about how money is the root of all evil, and she was admonishing her peers to not become enamored of money and its pleasures. Someone came up and tucked a dollar bill into her belt, and she didn’t blink an eye - just kept on talking. I guess I was the only one who saw the irony in it - there were no snickers when it happened.
The other cruisers are discovering Jim’s talents more and more; they call him up to ask about their refrigeration, single side-band radio, or engine problems. He usually has the answer or the tool they need. I feel fortunate to have him on our boat - I can’t imagine being out here without a Jim Rard on board! We have been seeing the same cruisers over and over in each anchorage we go to, and we are all becoming quite close. There were 10 cruisers from the Seattle area at a gathering last week. The talk is always about where you are going next, how was the last crossing, and did you catch any fish. No one ever talks about what their occupation is back home. Jim is the exception - everyone knows he has a boatyard and knows a lot about boats.
We are waiting for a good weather window to go to the Va’Vau group of islands in Tonga. We are trying to carefully choose good weather for our crossings, although many times the weather reports are way off base. The next really long passage will be from Fiji to New Zealand, about 7 days long. I can do it, I can do it…
Big Seas(to the 3rd power) + Huge Winds x 2 many days/2 little sleep = Grumpy Crew
They hope to have internet on this island by next year, they say. So, no new pictures in the media gallery until we can get connected again. Talk to you soon!
~ Jeanna