Religion Gone Awry?

Friday we rented a car to drive around and explore a bit of Western Samoa. It was a beautiful day and we began by going to “Vailima”, the home of Robert Lewis Stevenson. The estate covers several hundred acres and contains the home that was built by Stevenson, himself, over 100 years ago as well as his gravesite at the top of the mountain. We took the tour of the home (which is now a museum) and wandered around the beautifully manicured grounds. It was a great beginning.
Leaving the Stevenson museum we continued on Cross Island Road and drove through one village after, each very small and different from the one before but with a number of similarities as well.
Traditional Samoan homes (or “fales”) do not have walls although many family plots seem to have two homes…one with walls and one without. The one most used is usually a cement floor that is ringed by large posts holding up the thatched roof. Given the heat here it makes sense to allow as much airflow as possible to keep cool but there is a distinct lack of privacy. Also, in front of each home is the family tomb. These range from primitive looking piles of lava rock to very elaborate mausoleums with marble walls and carved headstones. I suspect that Samoans rarely move given the difficulty involved in transporting grandma and granddad.
Samoa has embraced the religions of the Western World with an incredible tenacity. Unfortunately this religiosity has mutated into a system whereby the citizenry are subservient almost to the point of slavery. It is all very bizarre. Each small village has at least a couple and some 3 or 4 churches and they, as well as the home of the preacher, are the nicest buildings in the community. The families are required to choose one church as their own and must attend every Sunday without fail. If a family chooses not to attend they are ostracized by the rest of the village and if a single family member falls away from the church they are not only ostracized by the village but by their family as well. It is a pretty brutal system. Additionally, during the Sunday morning service, an announcement is made telling each family how much they are expected to pay that week for their tithe. It is quite surprising given the limited resources of the citizenry, but the ministers do live better than everyone else so I suppose they are somewhat reluctant to give up their status. As an aside, the suicide rate here is one of the highest in the world and it is reported to be thus because of the conflict the youth have between the extremely conservative way of life here and the experiences they gain from the rest of the world.
As we made our way back to the ocean, hunger set in so we stopped at the Coconuts Beach Club. The food was wonderful, the restaurant overlooked the ocean and there was a great breeze. Perfect!
Life is still good in the South Pacific!

The Wedding

Finally, three days late, we were married. The weather was much improved, though we still had squalls off and on most of the day. The morning began with a beautiful double rainbow greeting us and as we finished exchanging our vows the clouds parted and presented us with a picture perfect sunset. There were about 50 or 60 people from all over the world who, not only attended the wedding, but worked very hard to decorate, clean up the beach, provide food and just generally share in our happiness. I will try to put a few photos in but may not be able to due to the internet connection. If you go to the link on the blog for “Carinthia”, Dietmar has downloaded lots and lots of pictures that you can look at. Suffice it to say that it was a beautiful wedding, exactly what we were hoping for and we are very happy.

Suwarrow

Hello!
Today is August 11, 2009 and we are anchored in Suwarrow (pronounced Suvarov). This is actually an atoll which, by definition, is a large, generally circular, reef which has a number of small islands on the inside. It is beautiful here and we are one of about 17 boats. This is truly the island Paradise we have dreamed of. Just sand and palm trees, azure water, warm breezes and the only inhabitants are the two caretakers, John & Veronica (Cook Islanders), and their 4 sons. There are no stores, no cars, no telephones, no internet, etc.
We arrived yesterday around noon and there was a potluck and concert on the beach last night. What an amazing experience that was. The crowd consisted of cruisers from numerous countries (France, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, America, etc) as well as John & Veronica. The food was wonderful and music was provided by Roger & Bobbie Jo from “Hipnautical”. Roger plays guitar and Bobbie Jo has a…wait for it…harp! She also has a lovely voice and a beautiful spirit.
When we dinghied to the beach, the boat kids were playing soccer and working off some of the pent up energy that must build up pretty quickly when you are a kid living on a boat. Soon after we’d gotten a drink and begun visiting with the other cruisers, an announcement was made that it was time to feed the sharks. Off we all trooped to the beach on the other side of the island (about a 2 minute walk…it’s a small island) where there were LOTS of black tip and gray sharks in ankle deep water waiting for dinner. The kids would stand on the rocks and throw fish parts in and then the sharks went wild. This is a regular routine and the sharks are clearly in the know. I was told they feed them on that side of the island and are very careful not to throw garbage in the anchorage side so the sharks will not think it is OK to chow down on the cruisers. Note: this morning about a 3 ft long black tip shark swam right past the swim ladder on the boat! Chris jumped in a bit later and when he got out & was rinsing off on the back step, 3 sharks swam by. Suzanne & I have decided against swimming here!
Just before the dinner, John said grace and it was very moving. As a Cook Islander he is very strong in his faith. The gist of his prayer was that we have been set on this journey and brought together in this place by God and we are all one community and the caretakers of the world. After dinner we celebrated two birthdays. Anna (a cruiser off a French boat) turned 50 and gave a lovely speech about the gift she has been given in her husband and the opportunity to go cruising. Also, one of John & Veronica’s sons has a birthday today so he was included in the singing and birthday cake. In addition, Mike and Luke on “Thin Wolf” were celebrating having left Port Townsend on this journey exactly one year ago. The final announcement of the evening was that Chris & I had found “our” special island!
We said that we intended to marry at sunset on Tuesday and I was stunned to see how excited everyone was and how eager they were to help put together a wedding for people they hardly know. The next day everyone was out cleaning the beach, learning how to plait palm fronds for decorations, planning menus and music etc.
That evening (Monday) Dietmar & Suzanne hosted a Bachelor/Bachelorette party aboard Carinthia that was attended by all the cruisers here. It is not possible to describe how much fun it is hanging out and getting to know people from all over the world.
Alas, Monday morning we awoke to 25 knt winds and rain squalls. After checking the grib files (weatherfax) we could see that conditions were not going to change for two more days so the ceremony was postponed to Friday. Today, again, we have squalls and wind. After two days and nights of wind as high as 45 knts and big chop that contributed to several boats dragging anchor in the middle of the night, it looks like tomorrow will finally be “the day”.

Underway Bora Bora to Suwarrow

I am writing this from a position of 13° 48.68’ S, 161° 11.05’ W aboard s/v Carinthia. Today is Sunday, August 09, 2009. We left Bora Bora on Wednesday, August 5^th for Suwarrow (pronounced Suvarov) and we anticipate arriving there tomorrow late morning. The captain picked a great weather window and we have had light winds and following seas of no more than 3 ft the entire time.

This has been my longest passage thus far and it has been very pleasant. It’s quite interesting getting used to seeing nothing but water, water, water for days on end and, when you stop to think about it, it is often over 14,000 ft deep. Because we’ve had mostly sunny days the water color is a gorgeous cobalt blue with just little wavelets on top that look like frosting.

I’ve had the primo watches. I’m on duty from 6-9 morning & night so I get to see the beautiful sunsets and sunrises. In addition, we have had a full moon so the moon rises have been pretty spectacular as well. Everyone else seems to be quite happy with their watches as well, but for me, this is perfect. Watches on this boat are quite pleasant. Generally we sit up on the flying bridge keeping a watch for any traffic (nothing so far), watching the instruments and listening to music or watching movies (there is a DVD player & over 300 movies on boar).

Some information about the boat: It is a 2008 44’ Lagoon catamaran. The owners are very fun people who we met in Marina del Rey on our way south. The boat is beautifully outfitted and maintained and has all sorts of extras that Chris & I are not used to. Think electric winches, chartplotter, WII, electric toilets (each of the 3 staterooms has a private head), watermaker. Our normal day begins with the morning net. Usually Chris makes coffee at the end of his watch (he has 3-6) but we fend for ourselves for breakfast. Most of the day is taken up with reading, doing little chores, napping, playing WII (Suzanne is into tennis and Chris & I have gotten a bit hooked on bowling). 5:00 is happy hour and that is followed by a gourmet meal at 6 with all crew eating together on the aft deck. As soon as dinner is over Dietmar disappears to rest up before his night watch and I head up to the flying bridge for my first watch.

So far we are having too much fun...and we've even managed to catch two tuna! Excellent!!

Pictures!!

We are a day late leaving Bora Bora. Took the dinghy in for provisions this morning in preparation to leave this afternoon. The sky opened up and we were drenched by the time we got back. Dietmar & Suzanne left the hatch open in their stateroom so all their bedding was soaked. We have decided to have a "beverage" and go to Bloody Mary's for dinner again tonight. We shall leave tomorrow! Weather south is poopy but we're staying north. Also...:-)...we can drive & stand watches from INSIDE the boat!

If you want to see photos, take a look at Dietmar's website: www.52hertz.com/pictures. There's a link under Cruising Friends (s/v Carinthia).

Blue-eyed eels

8/1/09 Blue eyed eels! While we were on the island of Huahine, we rented a car to drive around the island and see the sights. While the hike through the ancient marae was very unique and spiritual, and the vistas from the top were spectacular, one of the most unusual things we saw was the blue-eyed eels. These eels live in a river that runs through the town of Faie. The river is much more like a stream at the place where the eels live. There is a small store where you can purchase a few people snacks as well as cans of sardines to feed the eels. Dietmar bought a can and Chris did as well and then it was down to the water’s edge where after tossing in a few chunks of fish the eels began emerging from the rock wall on the other side where they live. They are quite good sized (about 3-4 ft or so) and they definitely have blue eyes. They are quite tame and will come clear up onto the shore to get the fish from you but care must be taken as they have been known to have a bit of trouble distinguishing between fingers and sardines! A very interesting stop in a wonderful day of sightseeing.