[password] pilot25041
[position] 14 16.36s 170 41.84w
[status] Thursday 30th August morning (American Samoa time = NZ -23hrs) ........ and we made it into Pago Pago, American Samoa around 10am local time yesterday, initially tying alongside the container port wharf to do the necessary formalities.

So, the wind stayed with us all the way here ...... on Monday evening just before dinner we put a big reef in the mainsail as the wind was gusting over 20kts, throughout the evening the wind strengthened to regularly +25kts and then around 9pm it was hitting 32kts, so we deep reefed the main and only had a small headsail out ....... still maintaining 7kts through the water, beam/broad reaching. It was an uncomfortable ride, regularly the swell was 3m high and with only 4-5secs between the crests you can imagine the merry dance that Surreal was performing.

At dawn on Tuesday, the wind had eased slightly ....... down to the low 20kts, so we left the deep reef in the main and set the full genoa, our speed varying between 6-9kts, with direction changing by up to 50degrees, regular rain showers etc etc. This set up we maintained until we got to just outside the entrance to Pago Pago yesterday morning, but it had been an uncomfortable, although quick passage (450nm in 70hrs) from Suwarrow, and had made most of the crew feel rather sea sick!

To complete the formalities we had to go to the government building and immigration, this necessitated a 'bus' journey, once we found the right office they were very helpful and allowed us to check in and out at the same time ....... useful given that Friday when we are due to leave is a public holiday. We then walked back to the wharf and continued into the main town, finally back to the wharf we then went to Port Control Authority for more paperwork.

After a quick bite to eat for lunch, we left the wharf to anchor in the main anchorage, initially the anchor set, but 30mins later we dragged ...... wind still gusting +25kts and 50m chain out in 10m water, so we decided to pick up a vacant buoy. This white buoy didn't have a particularly good rope on it and we were informed on the radio that it was a marker buoy and probably wouldn't hold us. We identified another buoy further down the anchorage and similar to buoys that other yachts were using ........ this is where the "fun" started, boat manoeuvring was difficult with the gusts and the way it accelerates as it funnels through the bay ....... we picked the buoy up at the stern and were starting to move it forward, a gust came and the buoy's rope got tangled in the stbd prop ......... so we were well and truly tethered to the bottom. Some 3+hrs later, having cut the rope and buoy off, we were anchored by our secondary anchor, chain and some 100m of strong rope!
For a 2nd time we then put the main anchor and chain in the dinghy and deployed this to its full extent, so we have since then had 2 anchors deployed and have certainly not 'dragged' overnight, despite regular heavy squalls and winds.

Last evening we had a wonderful meal ashore in Paradise Pizza, although none of us had a pizza! Today we're going to explore ashore, complete clearance paperwork, do some shopping and get ready to depart for Apia tomorrow. When we get to Apia we will have crossed the international dateline, so will lose a day and then only be 1hr ahead of NZ.

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