#62 NOW July 2, 2005 1630 Zone Time UTC -11 hours (America Samoa) Temperature 76. Rain heavy at times. Wind 15 to 25 knots with gusts to 35. Greetings from Pago Pago, After a rough three day run from Suwarrow, we arrived at Pago Pago around 11:30 AM Thursday. We had encountered considerable rain and the wind was from 15 to 25 knots most of the way. Seas were running from our port quarter to abeam at 8 to 12 feet. It was nice to set foot on terra firma again. I have thrown out the window my theory of double word names being romantic and attached to beautiful places, such as Bora Bora. While the topography of Pago Pago harbor with its lush covered mountains rising steeply out of the sea provides a beautiful backdrop, the harbor area is one of terrible neglect. On the north side of the harbor are large fish processing plants, on the south side are old warehouses, decaying docks, and a yacht basin either with half the boats sunk or in the process of sinking. The whole place stinks and the harbor is so polluted I would fear for my life if I fell into it. What a contrast from other places we have visited. We pulled up to the “custom” dock, which was nothing except a ship dock with huge black bumpers reaching 8 to 10 feet above the water. I finally found a way to tie off to them and was soon boarded by immigration, customs (with their big black boots), the harbor master, quarantine official, and various others all demanding an array of forms to be filled out and documents to be presented. All this fuss plus a bundle of fees just to get a US boat back into a US territory. Certainly quit different from our previous encounter in Suwarrow. There are a couple of redeeming features that make a stop worthwhile. The main one is a Cost-U-Less (very similar to Costco) where you can stock up with American brand food. Carol, a fruitoholic, spends her time at the local market stocking up on papaya and bananas. I think I have carried the equivalent of my weight in papayas back to the boat. I cannot blame her however, since they cost 50 cents apiece. American Samoa uses the good ole US greenbacks and the postal system is the same as the US with the same rates. One thing unique about American Samoa is the bus system. They have dozens, maybe hundreds of family owned bus companies. The bus is built out of wood and mounted on a small pickup truck chassis. Then paint it in the wildest colors and designs that you can imagine. Decorate the inside with a plethora of dolls, flags, and anything else that jiggles, top all this off with a 500-watt amp with a huge bass speaker-playing ear splitting loud music. You can “enjoy” all this for $1.00 to just about anywhere on the island. I had heard that you could find almost anything in Pago Pago, and was looking forward to buying some items for the boat, such as new navigation lights, oil filters, and the like. Wrong! I have not even been able to find 25 feet of 5/8 inch nylon line. However, it is easy to order things from the US without any hassle with duty etc. We plan to enjoy July 4 here and then head out for Western Samoa. The weather has been less than cooperative. Hopefully, that should change in the next day or two. Life is a Cruise, Larry and Carol -- Larry Rick Done Dreamin' Nordhavn 40 #33 Site: http://gricknet.homedns.org/ Email: donedream@pacbell.net