West from Manihiki to Samoa, 24 June 2014

We slipped the mooring at Manihiki late morning on the 16th, with a good wind to start the 690 mile run down to Apia, the capitol of Samoa.  The daily runs for the first two days were well above average, over 150 miles each -- great, boisterous sailing.  The third day's mileage dropped a bit to a more typical daily run, 139 miles.  Then the wind gods turned their backs on us, letting us bob along slowly for the remainder of the passage.  This wasn't all bad, though, as we had no deadline, and the sailing was surprisingly good for only doing a knot or two.  Usually, when the wind drops like that, the swell makes the boat roll side to side, which then makes the sails slat noisily (i.e. snap back and forth).  This is hard on the sails, the rigging, and the crew.  This time, though, the minor swell was from such an angle that we didn't roll or slat much at all.  It was actually quite enjoyable to sail slowly along on an almost flat sea, without any hurry at all.  Sailing easily along like that in the moonlight is simply magical.  Life is simple out there. 

Four more days of mostly light-air sailing brought us just to the entrance of Apia Harbor.  At that point, the wind died away to nothing.  We had hoped to sail into the harbor, however slowly, and drop anchor without starting the engine at all on this passage, but the last mile wasn't going to happen any time soon without diesel.  So, we fired her up and motored in.  We thought it was Sunday morning, and by rights it should have been, so we expected to stay aboard at anchor until the next morning when we could clear in.  We were a little surprised at the amount of traffic on shore, though, and when we heard the police band marching to raise the flag -- they don't do that on Sundays -- we knew something was up.  It turns out that Samoa decided a few years ago that they wanted to see the new day before Tonga, so they moved the Date Line east enough to make that happen.  So, we lost a day.  Now we have to think what day it is back home, and not just the hour, before making a phone call.