A couple who planned to stay in Samoa until December leaves for Fiji next week, after being slammed with a $17,000 quote to pull their boat ashore.
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In Fiji, to do the same costs around $1,500.
Australians Wendy Shield and Ian James are no strangers to Samoa.
They were here last year for six months and, on their return, wrote a guide for yachtees visiting the country.
Prior to that, no such information was available here.
Pulling the boat ashore entails pulling it out of the water and onto a trailer so that the bottom of the boat is dry and can be cleaned and painted - a normal procedure.
“We were just a bit disappointed that it’s so expensive and they would only do it for a very high cost,” said Mr. James.
Asked for a copy of the quote, Mr. James said he had returned it to the office when trying to negotiate it down to $4,000.
The company refused.
He believed the company had loaded the price. There were costs for $60 a day to use the garbage bin, $60 a day to use water, $90 a day to plug in to the electricity and $700 for someone to clean up when they were finished. To paint the boat alone was $4,000.
However, Ms. Shield and Mr. James normally clean up themselves and had brought their own paint.
“It’s a strange situation,” said Ms. Shield.
“We expected something nowhere near that amount of money.
And I don’t mind paying a little bit extra…we don’t need all these extra things, we just want to pull the boat out, paint that ourselves and put it back in,” said Mr. James.
Another boat in Pago Pago due here is now making a detour to Fiji instead, due to such costs.
“The thing is if people stay, they spend their money and it’s good for Samoa, for the economy.
I don’t know. It’s just a shame,” he said.
The couple has been sailing since 1999. In 2012, they bought a boat in Florida and have been sailing since. They return to Australia late next year.
During their last visit, such decisions were made by the Samoa Ports Authority. This has since been leased out to the Samoa Shipping Corporation.
This year they left in April for Fiji and went to Wallis and Futuna before returning to Fiji.
They wanted to come to Samoa and bring the boat out here as they would also catch up with friends at the same time.
Thanks to what they consider an astronomical quote, the plans have changed.
And since they keep their guide updated on the internet, the prices charged by Samoa Shipping Corporation will be enough to warn yachtees off.
“We love Samoa and are disappointed that we can’t stay here for as long as we planned. It’s a shame because it’s an opportunity. There’s a lot of potential and people will come and use the facility and stay here much, much longer. “We’re sad for Samoa that this has happened.”
Attempts to contact the General Manager of S.S.C, Papali’i Willie Nansen were unsuccessful.
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