Pirate Party

Our boat, under construction in Nick's front yard.

 Last week an email came through the Dissociates mailing list saying that Saturday was a special occasion. In honor of Talk Like A Pirate Day, a Pirate Party was going to be held out on Coconut Point. This wasn't going to be a stand around and drink in costume affair, it's one where you were expected to show up and build a boat to sail around Coconut point to an island in the neighboring lagoon and back. Not to be denied the opportunity to build a watercraft and paddle it around, I showed up at my friend Nick's house early and we began constructing our vessel. We bagged two of the Coast Guard kayaks and lashed them together, we built platforms for sitting on out of surf boards and an old shipping pallet and soon were ready to roll. We hoped to have time to build a mast for a sail or a coconut launcher for boarding actions, but ran out of nails prior to either of those ideas coming to life. We did manage to construct a solid raft that eliminated the play that I worried would doom any on the water momentum.

The crew getting ready to undertake our voyage.

Next we recruited a crew. Picking up two able-bodied men, Jorge and Zach to man the paddles. With our compliment of sailors in place we set about getting our boat in the water. Carrying the boat down to the launch point we were still a little concerned about the stability, but we tightened up our lashings and got the SS Sea Bitch on the water and provisioned ourselves for the voyage. Jorge had the foresight to bring a large patio umbrella to the party. We skeptically added that to the boat's supplies. With as brezzy it was that afternoon, I didn't believe that we'd be able to open it or hold on to it when open, but we had the room, so what the hell.

Jorge paddling.

Our first leg of the voyage we were moving perpendicular to the wind heading eastward along the shore of Coconut point. The current was with us and we made good time and even managed to enjoy a beer while we made our way to the end of the Point and our turn northwards into the Pala Lagoon. The boat paddled smoothly and we ended up passing a few of the kayakers who showed up to witness the spectacle. Once we got the boat turned to the north, we decided it was time to try and use the umbrella as a sail. I stowed my paddled and pulled out the massive wooden umbrella and set about opening it up.

Our umbrella sail in action. 

With the sail unferruled we quickly caught the wind and plunged towards our next destination, Coconut Island in the Pala Lagoon. It's a tiny clump of dirt in the middle of stagnant lagoon. It's defining feature is a single palm tree that is struggling to hold onto one edge of the island. Sara's previously kayaked out to it, but made the mistake of going at low tide, so the approach to the island was through knee deep mud, dragging the kayak behind. Thankfully, this voyage was at high tide and it was smooth sailing the whole way in. Turns out our home-made catamaran was an excellent downwind sailing ship. We flew towards the island with little more than a some rudder work by Jorge in the rear of the boat.

Party on Coconut Island. 

 Once we reach out destination it was time to tie up and enjoy some grog in true pirate fashion. We passed around beers from our cooler and relaxed on the tiny piece of land in the middle of the Pala. We waited for the fleet of kayakers and aspiring pirates to float their way in to the island. Slowly, the armada started pulling up to the island and tying onto our boat. Which may not have been the best idea, as we were only tied onto an inch in diameter branch on a dessicated little shrub.

Having some refreshment on the deck of our boat.

The other pirates paddle their way in.

Nick enjoying a Corona.

The after party.

Eventually most of the other people on the water made their way to the little island. As land to stand on started to be at a premium, some of us resorted to hanging out and watching the sunset from our boats. The sun started to dip its way past the horizon, but we still had a few stragglers left to make it to the island.

The last boat in was optimistically built out of a solar panel with an electric motor attached. The cloud cover and the lateness in the day conspired to force them to paddle the whole way. They made it to the Island with the pirate flag flying and half a bottle of rum. Excellent work on their part.


















The next leg in the journey was to get back to Coconut point. We launched from Coconut Island and tried out our umbrella sail, this time running east, perpendicular to the wind. Turns out our little catamaran tracks well without a dagger board. We were able to catch the wind and track true going across the wind. This made our trip back to Coconut point an easy stroll compared to the rest of the fleet that was stuck paddling their way back through the early evening light.

Once we were back to land, we broke down our boats and carried them back to the yards we got the parts from. To finish off the evening we had Tutuila's most popular cover band, Three Leg Dog playing on a balcony and enjoyed some beers at Kelly and Alden's place at Coconut Point. Piracy won this event.

Ellen + Kevin = Ofu

So I'd written about 4,000 words on our trip to Ofu and it all got lost. I'm a little frustrated with the BlogSpot layout and I'll just post the pictures, until I can overcome my frustration.

It's not often you read about American Samoa in the National news. I stumbled across an article today that features AmSam. Though, it's not in a good way.

The piece is about the relative expense of internet access and the speed of internet in different rural regions in the United States. Guess who's the slowest and most expensive: American Samoa. Not the number one we're hoping for, sigh. One thing we have to look forward to when Sara and I move home is not paying $150/month for internet that rarely reaches 100 Kps and is frequently down for days at a time.

Halfway

Couldn't believe it, but Monday was my 1 year anniversary of being in American Samoa. I was a little too sick for a celebration, but I'm still in shock that I'm halfway through my 2-year contract. It hasn't felt like anything close to that long. Can't say too much as I'm buried in trial prep, but still needed to note the milestone.

Tofa and Reaping the Spoils

We said goodbye to two attorneys from our office last week. Friday was the last day of work for our immigration attorney and the other civil litigator. We did the traditional farewell, a tofa, meal for them and they were presented with the traditional parting gifts for those leaving the island.

Our immigration attorney is staying on-island, but is going to be acting as her kid's caretaker this summer. The other litigator is heading back to Utah. I'll miss him (not just since I'm taking over his case load until a new attorney is hired and arrives on island), as he was the other member of the office that arrived on the same flight as me and we both carried similar litigation case loads. Hopefully your endeavours back on the mainland treat you well.

One side benefit for when people leave our office is the reallocation of their work and office space. This time around it benefits Sara, as she was the most senior attorney without a window office. With everyone on two year contracts, it doesn't take long to move high up the seniority ladder, both Sara and I are near the top of the Civil Division ranks. As a result, Sara's now been upgraded to a view of Pago Harbor Mount Alava and Rainmaker Mountain. Not too shabby there, Mrs. Sayles.

Sometimes saying goodbye is tough, but it also means you're around to reap the spoils.

A Bad Guy, On The Radio

It's funny being part of this small community on island. Sara and I both occupy relatively public positions with the Office of the Attorney General. We make court appearance on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis. We are involved with several government departments and act on their behalf in public forums and meetings. Our work even ends up in the media.

The media in American Samoa has a difficult job. They have papers to sell, radio news reports to write and not a lot of activity here on-island that generates news. Therefore it is not uncommon for cases the Office of the Attorney General is involved in to be reported. As this is one of the places journalists can go to find information being generated on this little rock we live on.

This morning everyone was mentioning that my name was on the Monica Miller news report that aired during the morning commute today. Turns out the media was reporting on an answer and counterclaim I filed last week in one of my cases. I found the headline particularly funny: "ASG Sues the Family of Man Who Died in Custody." Makes me sounds like a heartless brute. Sometimes that's the cases you get as "the Man."

Beer

Being a beer enthusiast, I was unprepared for the adjustment that came from moving from the beer-rich, micro-brew-loving, West Coast to American Samoa. I didn't realize how spoiled I was living in the Bay Area, Sacramento and Portland the last several years. The variety of unique and different brews was something I took for granted.

It wasn't until I moved to this tiny island in the Pacific that I realized that a variety or beer in a number of unique styles isn't something you can take for granted. In American Samoa, you can regularly find Samoa's own Vailima (both regular and malt liquor grade Special Export), Stienlager, Miller Genuine Draft, Coors Light and Heineken. That's it. Oh, and it's expensive. Along the lines of $8-12 for a six pack or $30 for a case. So unless you have a good friend who has a connection at the troop commissary, where they get exotic brands like Guinness, Budweiser, Mickeys and St. Pauli Girl, you're stuck buying some light lager. This extreme lack of variety does strange things to those of us who are used to overwhelming options. When Sara and I were back in California in October, we had a mini melt-down in Whole Foods. In 30 minutes of shopping we filled our cart to the bring with cheese, wine and beer that is not available within a few thousand miles of American Samoa. To our dismay we had to put most back, as we a were only home for a few short days and on a budget.

The situation in America Samoa is a far cry from the fully stocked beer isle that I would hit up on dog walks at Market of Choice in Portland, sigh. So it's big news when you find anything different to drink. Sara and I were blown away to see the first new beer on-island in the last 10 months; Milwaukee's Best, otherwise know as "the Beast," not for its drinkability, from my college days.

This is still news for us captive beer consuming public of American Samoa. When I posted this photo to Facebook, I had friends requesting to know where it was selling, since we've all drank our fill of the Steinlager, Coors and Vailima several times over during our months on island. I expect the two pallets of cases of Milwaukee's Best will sell out within a few weeks and we may never see the likes of it again.

This lack of variety in beer has driven me to start home-brewing here. The conditions are far from ideal for brewing beer, but desperate measures call for solutions. We've done a few batches, and it's a beacon of hope when you can have something dark, malty, hoppy or just plain different from the mass produced options.