TALOFA! The excitement that eluded me about returning to Samoa came back today. Not that I was excited before, but the goodbyes dilute it. I usually play the shortwave radio in the background in the shop for listening while I work on the bench. Radio New Zealand and Radio Australia are the big voices in the South Pacific. Being nearly 650 nautical miles away from Samoa I wanted to see if I could receive the Samoan Broadcasting Corporation AM signal in the afternoon. Oh yes, I picked it up and heard a few words of Samoan I understood and the music of harmonies that is distinctive to the islands.
I knew I was near Samoa. It is curious how this place feels like home though I have been coming here for only seven years. Arriving here by ship is even more thrilling since I have days for it to sink in and listening to the songs on the radio only adds to the anticipation. Unlike flying directly from Los Angeles where you leave the US and ten and a half hours later you are here. Going to American Samoa via Hawaii is a bit more of the lure but not as much. On that route, we spend the night in Pago Pago and catch the prop job puddle jumper next morning to Apia. Catching the puddle jumper too tells me I am back in Polynesia. But the music is the sign of where I am at and as I said before this is my first trip back without “L”. She told me tonight that her father is preparing the room for me to stay while living at the house. Sometime I feel like a character in a novel that I entered a different dimension and living a life of “what ifs.” If anyone told me ten years ago that I would find myself engrained in Samoa and Polynesia and have a Samoan wife, I would tell them to quit smoking their dinner.
Today was another productive day and the task list is shrinking. That is what I like to see and keep it that way for the turnover. Tomorrow will be to finish up the list and Wednesday is day to clean up the shop and stateroom. I will leave the ship Thursday afternoon to head “home” and return Friday for a day of work. I will not be heading back to the village until late night due to a get together at Aggie Gray’s Resort. It will be the first time I ever did anything with Aggie Gray’s. It is a hotel and resort aimed for foreign tourists and the price, clientele and environment is out of my league. I have never seen a fire dance in Samoa and knew they only dance at hotels. I did take my nephew there once so he could sell his catch of lobsters to their kitchen.
I plan to work with Mr. “W” this weekend to prepare the ship for his portion of this journey as well as chase a nagging problem with power to the repeater. I received e-mail from the car rental agency that I always get my wheels from. They are a bit more expensive but insurance and taxes are included in the price. Plus, I have been renting from them since 2006. I still get the retired military discount and the owner said she will continue giving it to me if I booked with her directly instead of the web. This helps her franchise avoid paying “commission” to corporate.
I requested a right hand drive car because it would be confusing to have a left hand drive for left side of the road. I would likely drive on the right by nature. The foot pedal configuration is the same but the blinker is on the right of the steering column while the windshield control is on the left. Now, the car they are going to rent me is a small Daihatsu type mini-SUV with a 1.3L engine. I wonder if it will be automatic transmission or manual shift. If it is manual, I have not shifted with the left hand in over 20 years. My Toyota Corsa in Japan had a four speed manual transmission. It should all come back to me on Thursday.
It is time to post this and edit the picture and a light workout at the gym. Last reading we were 10.41 South Latitude and 162.29 West Longitude and 573 nautical miles northeast of Apia, Samoa.
Manuia-po from the South Pacific
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