Ferry Bad Day

Dustin and I woke up at 6:00 a.m. to catch the 8:00 ferry that leaves from Apia. The new boat, Lady Samoa III, has been leaving Apia because the Mulifanua wharf on the western side of the island (where ferries normally berth) isn’t deep enough to accommodate the new boat. Blakey and I have been hoping dredging efforts are slow because the convenience of having a ferry directly from Apia is awesome. It’s walking distance from my house.

This morning we were actually walking that distance when we ran into PCV Dan who had gone for a morning jog down to the Apia wharf to check out the situation there. “There’s no 8 o’clock boat,” he said. I looked at him quizzically. “They said the boat leaves at 12.”

I rolled my eyes. There’s a disclaimer on the Samoa Shipping Corporation’s website that says, “Please note schedule subject to change without notice.” Understatement of the year.

With nothing to do and 4 hours to kill, Dustin and I posted ourselves in the Peace Corps resource room which provided air conditioning and couches to sleep on. I tinkered about on the Internet for a while, and we both took naps.

After a while Supy showed up. “Which boat are you taking?” he asked.

Me: The noon boat from here.
Supy: There are no boats from here anymore. They finished dredging the wharf.
Me: Whaaa?! When?
Supy: 2 or 3 weeks ago.

Dan was long gone having taken the pasiovaa from Fugalei to take the next possible boat. So I called Samoa Shipping Corporation and Supy was right. No boats from Apia today. Lady Samoa leaves Mulifanua at 4:00 this afternoon.

As I write this it’s 11:30 a.m., and we’re contemplating what to do with the next 2.5 hours we have to kill until the bus leaves to take us to the wharf. Tide is too low to check out Palolo Deep, and 2.5 hours isn’t really enough time to hike Mt. Vaea. It feels like a waste of a day.

At this point I shouldn’t feel too surprised to be caught off-guard. It happens frequently enough the feeling is pretty familiar. But I still get annoyed when my cheese gets moved. I’m not sure if I should be annoyed with the Samoan Shipping Corporation for being so unpredictable or at other volunteers for not disseminating information or at myself for being so out of the loop.

I guess I’m just cranky because I woke up so early. We got up at 6:00 a.m. to catch a boat that leaves 10 hours later. What a joke.

I hope you’re well. Happy birthday, Monika! Pictures below.

Dustin sliding down the rock face at Papase'ea Sliding Rocks.

Group pic at Sliding Rocks. Left to right: Lili 82, Rachel's friend Gwen, Rachel 82, Me, Dustin.