.: The first north shore annual expedition -part II

Paddling from the tip of the Pola to the cove I chose for lunch break felt incredibly easy. The cove was well repaired from waves and winds, mainly composed of shear cliff and a little rocky beach where we landed. Behind us there was a wonderful waterfall, with a pool at its base where we could rinse in fresh water.

(why do guys always have to bother little creatures?)

Even if here we do not have really season (we have a wet season, a wetter season and a dry season that this year happen on a Thursday), some trees where turning orange and red and loosing their leaves. I find it quite surprising, but also wonderful, and in a way it reminds me the autumn back home.

(i am sorry i could get the colors when i took this pictures. The wind was blowing a lot of red dry leaves on John, as we left the lunch cove).

Restored, rested and self-assured, we took off again to reach the cove where we were supposed to spend the night. Now, I do not really know how we miss it, because we actually stop in it and had a look around. Somehow we reached the beach in a speedy time and approximation of distance covered became a bit too hard… so we pass it…

(I did not use a zoom to take this picture. This bird was truly upset at us for passing next to his cliff and was all over us, until he decided to go for JB).

John and JB where behind us contemplating if it would be a good idea or not to enter into a cave that was aggressively hit by waves, when Erika and I turned around the point, where the supposed night camp-beach should have been. "Oh-Oh… there is a shack… oh-oh, I see a plantation…" There are many stories of marijuana plantations up in the mountains or is remote places that I am always worried when I go exploring to find one. One we got slightly lost in the mountain and found a tapioca plantation, which, from a distance, really looked like mj!!!

We decided it was better to wait for the guys to see what to do… we started being quite tired, and Fagasa must have been way to far to reach it for the night… As the guys reached us and we paddled a bit further in the point, we could see more houses, more plantations… it felt like being in the movie “The beach” and finding the much talked location...

Then a church… ok, maybe… maybe we are in Fagasa… yes, definitely, Fagasa.
At this point our moral dropped, as we were so well prepared for the camping and we were not ready yet to go back home. Erika had a great idea “I think Massacre bay is only 3 bays away!”… It took a minute of group thinking to decide to go for it!

(Seems like he is fishing, but in reality John is cleaning the camera in fresh water... This cameras are great! waterproof to 10 meters, and shockprouf! Perfect for this climate, highly suggested! Olympus Stylus SW 770).

(Erika's sexy tan line...)

Now, the question is: considering the option was between JB’s wonderful room with a big Jacuzzi on one side, and broken mosquito net covered by plastic tarp on coconut and banana leaves on mosquitoes and frog infested beach, what is it that makes you opt for the second choice?

Truth is, I just love camping, even if it can result in a long sleepless night waiting for the sun to rise again. Massacre bay is a long bay where the first contact between palagis and samoans happened. As the name suggest, it ended up in few deaths. As soon as we landed, we scouted the beach for the best place to set up the tarp, or to be more precise, we looked for that only place on the beach that won’t get wet at high tide but that would still be away from the jungle (and the mosquitoes) on the back. We found it right next to the stream, we seemed also a great romantic idea for the evening, but that resulted to be for me a source of worrying, considering the uninterrupted rain during the rain, and the high frequency of flash floods in the place. But we all survived (even if wet and cold in my case), so after all it turned out to be a good idea.

As JB and I were setting the camp, John and Erika were collecting coconuts for water and meat. They also found very big shells for dinner plates.

The evening died early, after a relaxing pink sunset, but the night was long. Frogs were mysteriously collecting all around our tend. Now I think it was just a bottom-up food-chain effect. We represented the first link, involuntarily offering our blood to mosquitoes grazing. The frogs just followed the mosquitoes to feed on them.

Morning was welcome, together with the end of the rain that seemed lasting all night. Few mosquitoes made it through the net, and one decided to bite me on my lower lips (which inflated to porno star dimension).

Before going to sleep we were considering the idea of continuing our trip all the way to the end of the island, maybe Poloa village, where we could find a ride back. But after such a wet night, the idea of the Jacuzzi was definitly more appealing. Paddling eastward from Massacre to Fagasa was quite hard. I felt we were paddling and paddling and never moving. Depressing sometimes. JB broke his paddle in half on a forward stroke.