American Samoa

Michele kicks off her mammoth trip on 9th January 2012. Read her roving reports from the High Seas to her journey Down Under. Keeping you up-to-date with all the news as it happens.
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Michele Monro
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American Samoa

Post by Michele Monro » Sat May 05, 2012 6:28 pm

In the early morning hours Sea Princess made her approach to the island of Tutuila. At 5.00am we passed one nautical mile south off Steps Point and proceeded to the pilot station. Once on board the local pilot steered us into the harbour waters of Pago Pago, one of the South Pacific’s most dramatically scenic spots. Amid a colourful cacophony of tapa cloth, grass skirts and American flags a traditionally clad group of native singers and dancers warmly welcomed us to their island. An appropriate greeting indeed, for American Samoa is a genuinely warm and hospitable place.

Writers seem to fall in love with Samoa, hardly finding enough adjectives to describe its splendor. Poet Rupert Brooke said of his stay “It is sheer beauty, so pure it is difficult to breathe in”. Robert Lewis Stevenson spent the last four years of his life here. Somerset Maugham journeyed here, and anthropologist Margaret Mead wrote her controversial ‘Coming of Age in Samoa’ after studying life in the villages of Si’ujaga and Luma.

The Samoan island chain lies in the centre of the South Pacific, about 2,300 miles southwest of Honolulu. Since 1899 it has been divided into western and eastern – or American Samoa. The island comprises the only American territory in the southern hemisphere. Like most of the islands in the archipelago, the main island in the American group, Tutuila is of volcanic origin – Swains and Rose – are coral atolls. 18 miles long and 6 miles at its widest point, Tutuila’s jungle-clad mountains rise abruptly from the sea, and fiord-like bays cut deeply into the narrow valleys with dense vegetation covering the land. The island’s capital, Pago Pago – pronounced Pango Pango is located on Tutuila, its bay nearly bisecting the island at its centre. Mother Nature created the bay when the seaward wall of a great volcano collapsed allowing the water to enter the steep-sided volcano and creating one of the best, most spectacular natural harbours in the South Pacific. As a side note: The Somerset Maugham story ‘Rain’ is appropriately titled, for the infamous Sadie Thompson’s homeland receives more than 200 inches of rain a year. Legend has it that when Rainmaker Island – or Mount Pioa – is covered in clouds, rain will fall. Needless to say, the mountains are covered most of the time.

Once again we were lucky and treated to a hot blistering 84 degrees, wonderful. On the eastern tip of Tutuila Island at Cape Matapula is the American Samoa Baseline Observatory. The station collects air samples and other scientific data, which is then sent around the world to scientists and laboratories. American Samoa’s air is so pure; the samples are used as the baseline to measure air quality in major cities around the world.

The ship was given clearance at 7.00am and it wasn’t long after that Tom and I got off to explore the large marketplace that had been set up around the quayside. The local people were a delight and there was no onus to buy although I did succumb to a couple of local wares. We’d opted out of doing any of the ship’s tours as we couldn’t face being herded together with a lot of over-zealous tourists who wouldn’t think twice about pushing, shoving or elbowing you in their quest to get the front seats on the bus. Instead we made a deal with one of the local taxis to take us for an island drive. The shoreline is rugged with spectacular exposure to basaltic rock and the route twists and turns from one little gorgeous bay to another. On our left-hand side in the ocean stands ‘Flower Pot (fatumafuti), a tall rock with coconut palms growing on its top. It reminded me of James Bond Island in Thailand and we stopped there for about ten minutes taking in the beauty of the area. We continued on our travels for about another 30 minutes until we reached Alara’acm Blowholes at Taga Savaii more commonly known as Turtle and Shark Scenic Point. According to legend, a young married couple from a nearby island discovered the husband was designated for the feast of cannibal King Malietoa Faiga. Fearing reprisals on their village they set out for the island of Upolu but they were blown off course and their canoe was carried to Tutuila where Chief Letuli of Illi’ili took them in. When King Malietoa Faiga stopped practicing cannibalism, Chief Letuli and his family offered to escort the couple home but they refused, wanting instead to repay the chief for his kindness. Together they climbed a cliff in Vaitogi and jumped into the sea. Instantly the young husband turned into a shark and his wife into a turtle. The shark told the villagers, “If you wish us to appear, let the children stand on the cliff and sing”. To this day children still gather on the rocks and when they sing a huge shark and turtle are said to appear on the surface. The whole area was absolutely stunning and even though Tom and I took pictures for over half-an-hour, I could have happily stayed there for the day. The wild thundering waves against the rocks caused massive surf swells to break against the cliff and it was great fun trying to work out which blowholes would blow first.

The heat was hard to bear, especially after standing on the rocks for so long without a hat and it didn’t help that the taxi didn’t have air-conditioning. We turned back towards port and took in our last stop at Sadies by the Sea. The hotel’s rooms all have a sea-view and there is a half-moon beach in front (this is the only place to stay beside a beach in American Samoa). The complex was straight out of a holiday magazine and also had a restaurant, bar and swimming pool which I could quite happily have jumped in to (fully-clothed). Pictures taken I decided to go straight back to the ship while Tom popped in to the Jean P Haydon Museum which was housed in an old iron-roofed building that was once the US Navy’s commissary. The Museum had exhibits on Samoan history, sea-life, canoes, kava making and traditional tools and handicrafts. Although it sounds plentiful it only warranted a 30-minute visit. Meanwhile I had taken my usual seat on Deck 12 and was slowly cooling down, mind you the ice cream helped. I haven’t over-heated like that in years and I suddenly felt overwhelmingly tired, so much so, that I had to go to bed. I slept for three hours and annoyingly missed the sailaway so I was cross with myself. Even though I went to the casino to meet Gabby, I didn’t last long and had to go back to bed. I can only assume that I got a touch of sunstroke. I remember going to the bathroom in the night but other than that I didn’t wake up until the steward rang my cabin asking for my passport.

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Lena & Harry Smith
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Re: American Samoa

Post by Lena & Harry Smith » Sat May 05, 2012 8:12 pm

Just taking in the beautiful scenery sounds wonderful Michele, and we look forward to seeing the pictures.
Nice to have sunny weather, but it is tiring, but you can't beat an ice cream to cool you down. :)
We are waiting for that day to arrive here in cold rainy Britain :)

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