Day 140 Garden of Eden

Position @ 1900 - S14º18 W169º51, Wind is now 20 to 25 with waves 8 to 10 feet
This morning we could see cirrus clouds in the sky and the barometer was dropping. Both of these are signs of an impending weather change.
By afternoon, the wind and waves began to increase and by the time my watch came, it was blowing strongly and we were surrounded by large waves. Just before sunset, we "put a second reef in the main" (we shortened the mainsail one more notch so that the boat would not be "overpowered" by the wind and would not heel over as much). Even so, I had to hand steer for most of my watch as the wind vane autopilot could not steer against such a strong wind. We are sailing with the wind so it is coming from almost directly behind us but when the wind speed goes above 30 knots the boat tends to "round up" or change its course and steer toward the direction of the wind. At that point, the boat heels over dramatically and waves begin to break over the side. This is very unpleasant and requires the helmsman to quickly and firmly take over the wheel and steer back to the intended course. A few hours of this is very tiring when the wind is strong.
This afternoon we sailed past the Manu'a Islands of Ta'u, Olosega and Ofu. They are very mountainous and reminiscent of the Marquises with steep cliffs rising from the sea. Ta'u is only 15 square miles in area but rises to more than 3,000 feet. This is a very important island in Samoan legend because it is the place that "the god Tagaloa created the first humans before sending them out to Polynesia". Most of these islands are part of a national park and should not be entered unless the visitor has first checked in and registered at Pago Pago. For a sailboat, this would then require sailing back against the wind to reach these islands. For that reason, they get very few visitors. I guess we will not see Eden.