I could not believe my luck! Ten days earlier I had a small glimmer of hope that Maiwar had landed on an isolated island, but this was solid evidence!

As the day wore on the breakers grew closer. By early afternoon I had rounded the northeastern tip of the island and begun to make my way along the northern side. By about 1400hrs the first pang of fear came in. I was rowing along, just outside the reef, the land was oh so close, yet completely inaccessible.

Apparently, American Samoa has more big pickup trucks per capita than anywhere else in the world - I don’t doubt it. The trucks and the law enforcement are the only obvious signs of colonisation, but reach in your pocket and you’ll find those green banknotes that say ‘In God We Trust’.

SWS readers can hear a conversation from earlier this week with Tom Robinson, live from the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

It is clear that Tom is finding it challenging to make his way south to the latitude of Hiva Oa. In spite of the strong westerly-flowing current, the force of the south easterly trade winds is making it difficult to hold a course south of west.

Five weeks after leaving Lima, Tom passed the 1,000 nautical mile mark on Sunday 7 August. He is now nearly a third of the way through his first leg with around 2600 nm of, hopefully, plain rowing to go before he reaches the Marquesas.