Survivor Ofu

Monday March 5, 2007

Eleven of us set out for Ofu on Friday. Ofu is one of the Manu'u islands - very remote and quite pristine. Unfortuantely due to weather we were turned away at the airport - I guess the 18 seat plane does not do well in bad weather. Some of us headed back to Sadies and drowned our sorrows. Suzanne, Martee, Stephanie, Isabel, and Rachael did retail therapy, which did improve their spirits.

Saturday morning we tried again and thankfully we made it off the island. Before getting on the plane it was a little disconcerting to have to be weighed in with our bags. Yes - everyone had to weigh themselves - I didn't watch - I didn't want to know considering how many pina coladas I have had. I am sure with the amount of Valima everyone else had been drinking they were unhappy as well.

It was a nice small plane, where everyone gets a window seat. Julie wasn't thrilled with flight, but playing possum for the flight helped her out. Becky had the bench seat in the very back of the plane, all by herself - probably the best place for her. On the runway just before takeoff there was steam coming out of all the air vents - so much so that you could not even see the pilots in the cockpit. Interesting and not comforting to say the least. As we approached the first stop on Ta'u (another island in the Manu'u group) it was noted that the runway was VERY short and nestled between the pounding surf and the towering cliffs. And we used every inch of it. As I am here to write this - we obviously made it (three times).

Ofu was spectacular with thrusting volcanic peaks, lush vegetation, pounding surf, virgin white sandy beaches. We were the only people at the Asaga Inn, except Andre a very nice tour guide from Poland - who loaned his fins to Becky. Everyone reports that snorkeling was phenomenal - I sat on the beach. It pretty much rained the whole time so I did not get the chance to work on my sunburn too much. We had to walk back to the inn - about 2 miles partially uphill, but in the rain it was acutally a nice walk. Suzanne had a bit of a problem with chafing - thats what she gets for borrowing Becky's shorts.

We settled in at the inn for the evening - they cooked us a great dinner of steak and fish. Then as I sat down to work on my book chapter the gang started a game of Samoan Poker. Alas I was easily distracted, so after succumbing to peer pressure, and making an Excel spreadsheet to keep score I joined in the festivities. We were helped along by some fabulous rum drinks by Duane and much Valima consumption. Duane won the match - I lost (by a lot). I think I was too distracted by making sure the spreadsheet, along with the sum fields, were accurate - at least that is my excuse.

We were hoping for bad weather so that we would have to stay at least one more day, but unfortunately the sun came out. More great food for breakfast and lunch. Boomer - the guard dog - helped clean up the plates. Once full he buried the remaining SPAM in four different locations in the yard. Becky, Julie, and Andre spotted some black-tipped reef sharks (up to 5 feet in length).

On the trip to the airport Becky had a very surrealistic experience - sitting in the back of the truck with Samoan church music playing and the waves crashing in the background. She says she felt a presence. Ofu is considered to be very haunted by the Samoans - so she may be correct. I think that it has something to do with the fact she started drinking Valima at 10:45 in the morning. Unfortunately we were overweight on the way back so we could not take our luggage, except for carry-ons. Maybe we ate (and drank) too much.

One more flight back to Pago Pago and we were back at Sadies. That night we said goodbye to Robin, Deb, and Jessica and welcomed Susan, Erica, Craig, and Steve to the island.

It was a slow day in the hut. today Irish came back for a cast check, which we pulled off and bivalved. Jack's owner brought us a kahlua cake (very good). The village visit team was pretty busy. We are hoping for more action tomorrow. Suzanne and I did some more retail therapy, including a Cost-U-Less run to buy lots of chocolate, Pringles, and Valima. Unfortunately we made the mistake of buying the small bottles of Valima, which apparently have less alcohol then the big bottles, and we were persecuted for this choice for the most of the evening. That's what they get for sending two non-beer drinkers for a beer run. Our chocolate choices did make up for it slightly. So it is sun, snorkeling, Valima, chocolate, shopping, and poker to report. Yes, we are doing some spays and neuters as well.

Blog by Jen