Wednesday February 12, 2025 – At Sea between Hawaii, USA and Apia, Samoa
Overnight we set our clocks back 1 hour.
The first talk was Graham Howell – Port Presentation – Apia, Samoa – He played to a full audience, every seat in the theatre, plus every step and all around the walls, the place had no space. A tribute to the interest in the upcoming ports and the way Graham covers these discussions. There is a difference between “American Samoa” (for example Tutulia, Pago Pago (Capital City), Off and Tau Islands) that are a protectorate of the USA and the independent group of Islands – Savai’i, the Aleipata Islands and where we will be on the Island of Upolu. The International Date Line divides the two sets of islands that are 64 kilometers away from each other at the closest point. American Samoa decided to remain on the same day as the USA so in 1892, July 4th occurred twice, whereas the Independent Samoa, whose main trading partners are Australia and New Zealand skipped December 30th, 2011 so as to be on the same day as Australia. There are a total of 18 islands, but most are uninhabited or have a population of a few hundred people. The Population of Apia is about 40,000 people. Local habitation seems to have been from 1050 BCE with the first European visitor being the French explorer Bougainville in 1845. More recently it was owned by New Zealand and independence from New Zealand came in 1962. The Samoan group was divided between the German Samoa in the Western half, USA in the Eastern half and UK from 1899. However from 1920 to 1962 the governing country was New Zealand. The ship will dock at the commercial area with virtually no facilities, although often there are a few “pop-up” shops on the quay-side. There will be no shuttle and the walk into the town is about 2 kilometers. He stressed that the facilites are very limited and the coaches often not only don’t have a Public Address System nor Air Conditioning, they often don’t have windows. Life operated on “Island Time” where things operate at a very slow pace. One thing he emphasized that it is extremely rude when sitting on the floor, to have your legs outstretched in front of you, legs need to be folded underneath you. Also there is to be no eating in public, so eating while wandering down the street is totally unacceptable. The place comes to a halt on Sundays where getting dressed up and going to church are adhered to by all. There is no swimming, for example on Sundays. The love of religion appears to come from the Rev John Williams (June 29 1796 to November 20, 1839), an English missionary who arrived in 1830. He returned to England in 1834 to supervise the printing of the New Testament of the Bible into the Rarotonga Language. He returned in 1837, however while visiting one of the islands New Hebrides in 1839 with a fellow missionary James Harris, they were unknown so were killed and eaten by the caníbales on the island of Erromango. His bones are buried in front of the Congregational Church in Apia in his name.
James Michener based his character Bloody Mary in his “Tales of the South Pacific” (later the show – South Pacific) on the owner of the (Now Sheraton) Aggie Grey Hotel. She was still running the hotel in 1960! Roberts Louis Stevenson owned a 400 Acre estate in the Village of Vailima on the island of Upolo and died there in 1894. He is buried in the local cemetery overlooking his estate. After his death it was used as the seat of government and the residence of the New Zealand emissary that ruled the country until they obtained independence. It is now a museum and reflects the way Stevenson decorated his home, including “Fake” Fireplaces that reminded him of Scotland.
Next came Stephen Liebmann – A Remarkable Life. We had never heard of him but he is one of the most famous news broadcasters in Australia, being the prime host of the morning show for some 20+ years. He talked about his early beginnings in a small town in Australia of 2,000 people to interviewing some of the most famous people in the world and having some great experiences playing tennis with Ivan Lendl, flying on fighter jets and going around the world talking to leaders in all areas of life.
We skipped the Tamara Lampard – Monsters of the Deep talk in lieu of lunch, but did get to the final talk by Paul Kearney – The Baby Boomers – early 1960’s Rock and Roll music and history. In this, his second talk covered – Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, Bobby Rydell, Rickey Nelson, Roy Orbison, Chubby Checker, the Ronettes, the Supremes and Sonny & Cher. Another fun 45 minutes of memories of the era when we grew up.
Roger & Anne Travels 