Talofa from PARADISE As I sit at my Mac, composing this letter, the temperature is about 85 degrees, the sky is cloudless, there's a light off-shore breeze, a thin white line where the beautiful, turquoise sea gently meets the reef .... and it is "Boxing Day," which means that yet another Christmas is behind us. Although when you get this the festivities may be over, we nevertheless wish you, our dear friends, a wonderful Holiday Season and a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year! Rest assured that all is well in Paradise. It has been a fantastic year for us, and we hope for all of you.

COCO NUTS IN THE NEWS The big news in this department is that we have started to hear from many of our friends from years past who are taking advantage of the new airline service to Samoa (non-stop from Los Angeles via Polynesian Airlines) and stopping in to say hello. Our dear friends, Annie & Tim from the L.A. area started things off and returned home with such a fun video of Samoa, that Stuart and Vicki Simke quickly followed suit. Joel Grey and his road manager spent some time with us checking out the Coconuts Beach Club Band, but not before promising me that he wouldn't steal our talent for Broadway. Although it often seems that life couldn't possibly get any better for us, we find that sharing our Paradise with old (and new) friends adds another dimension of happiness and pleasure to our lives!

COCONUTS "GETS FAMOUS" We were most pleasantly surprised to find Coconuts on the cover of the August issue of the premier, USA travel magazine, CONDE NAST TRAVELER. For those of you who were not able to get a copy, here is your very own reprint. The focus of attention on Sieni and me was also a bit of a surprise, but we have come to understand that things have been changing in the "real world" and now there are many aspiring Coco Nuts interested in "escaping". We have been busy answering mail from dreamers ....... and, no, our data base for Finding Paradise no longer exists!

WATERFRONT NEWS Roger and Gayle have settled in to Samoa with amazing speed. They now have their own little Watersports Fale by the sea where they can be found with their wonderful books on plant and sea life and videos of happy SCUBA divers exploring our reefs. In addition to offering windsurfing, kayaking and a wide variety of water activities, Roger is a PADI Dive Master. So, after about 2 hours of instruction, first timers to the sport of SCUBA have a chance to put on their tanks and explore our underwater world. Roger has found a special place he calls "Champagne Reef"....... a deep canyon with 65 feet visibility, located inside the reef, that sports a tremendous variety of living coral and fish life. By the way, congratulations are in order, because Roger and Gayle will be married on New Years Eve - our very first wedding right here at Coconuts..... tanks and all!

HOTEL NEWS HOT NEWS!! Our Deluxe, "Tree House" accommodations have gotten better! We installed air-conditioning - just in time for the new travel season in March, when we get to increase our rates. Our new, "standard" rooms (air conditioned and really quite lovely) which we call our "Village Fales" were finished last September. We liked them so much that Sieni and I promptly moved into one of them. As most of you probably know, since we started building our dream, we have always been "too busy" to get around to building a place for ourselves and we have always "camped out" in one of the empty hotel rooms. Well, I am happy to say that business got so good that there weren't many empty hotel rooms. So, we decided to move out of the hotel (to make room for paying guests) and build a little place of our own. Well, last week Sieni and I moved into our little fale (bungalow) right on the beach, not too far from Roger's Watersports Fale. After our construction crew return from their well deserved malolo (Samoan for rest), and right after the New Years celebrations are over (about Jan. 15th) we start building our long awaited, super-special tribute to Sybarites - the Coco Beachfront Fales. The design is absolutely fantastic and I know it will be the talk of the Pacific. The first one should be ready by about March 28th - which is our first confirmed reservation!

RESTAURANT NEWS Mika's now has a new Restaurant Manager, Andy Weil, who is a master chef trained in Germany. Among his other talents Andy's fluent German is a welcome addition, since Mika's German is limited to his ability to sing every single verse of some obscure German song "doo, doo ...." (or something like that). It was OK the first forty or fifty times! Are you hungry? Well, right this minute, Mika and Andy are on the Palm Terrace busy keeping up with the demand for today's special: Freshly caught Lobsters, grilled on our BBQ, with green salad, vegetable salad and garlic bread, for ....... US$7.95........Oh yes, just another Sunday in Paradise!

TOFA SOIFUA Well, it's time for me to join Sieni and jump aboard one of Roger's boats (the "African Queen") and head out to Champagne reef for a couple of hours of snorkeling. After that, we're going to join some of our guests for a cruise up the jungle river next to COCONUTS, and enjoy a refreshing drink of coconut milk, from a coconut supplied by Fauoa ("Fow Wow") from one of the 60 ft. high coconut trees surrounding the lagoon. So, today promises to be another wonderful day in Paradise, and the only thing that could possibly make it better is if you were here to share it with us. Maybe sometime soon? Love from all of us here at Coconuts to all of you Coco Nuts and would-be Coco Nuts!