12.05.2024 National Parks of American Samoa

 The purpose of this trip was to visit and hike the National Parks of American Samoa – rain or shine! The parks are located on several islands, including Tutuila, Aunu’u, Tu’a, Ofu, Olosego, and we traveled by small local ferries and small planes! An adventure all around.

In Pagp Pago, located on Tutuila, we stayed at the lovely Sadie’s by the Sea, and as advertised, it was right next to the sea. It had rained during the night of our arrival and was still overcast but I was able to take an early morning walk to watch the sunrise through the clouds. Yes, it was hot and humid and the lens of the camera and binoculars were fogged for quite some time. 

Sadie's by the Sea

I walked into town on the first morning, only a short distance from the hotel. The area was quaint with some colonial types of government buildings. As I was strolling back to the hotel for breakfast it poured. I was soaked! But I did have a rain jacket to protect the camera. 

Let sleeping dogs lie. Tiptoed past him on my way to church

St. Joseph's Church. Was told Mass was at 7. It was not until 8:30. Gave me plenty of time to get back to hotel for breakfast! I did walk back to Mass and a very nice women behind me made sure I had a bulletin. She was precious.

I had my favorite breakfast – fresh papaya and pineapple! A good start to the day. In a perfect world, I would get up early, walk the beach, come back for a fresh fruit breakfast and then take a nap! This fit the bill. We later visited the National Park office and took off in a local bus up the mountains.  We did a little bird watching (my influence???) and bat watching. But the rain was so intense that it was decided not to hike the steep trail that day. 

Women weaving a basket in the traditional manner at the National Park headquarters. Apparently, a cruise ship was there the week prior and bought all of the T-shirts! 

Tapa cloth motif.

The guide at the Tauese P.F. Sunia Ocean Center. He was engaging and most likely is fantastic for the school children that visit this museum. This is a highly recommended stop on the island - an incredible presentation of the oceans and marine sanctuary. 

Lots of fruit bats.

Golden plover. 

Later in the day we took a bus then local ferry to Aunu’u. This is a small island where we were served a feast for lunch. The men do the cooking in the traditional style and the local dishes were indeed very tasty. This is also the island where the American football great Junior Seau’s family lived. After lunch we visited the crater and did a little hiking, ocean observations and birding. 

Ferry departure.

This ferry.

Not this one!

Tsunami warnings are very obvious. You will see signs on the buses and various other postings intended to provide everyone with information for what to do in case of this emergency.

Ferry in the high waves. We all survived! No doubt everyone held on for dear life!

This is where we are going!

Junior Seau's family home on Aunu'u.

Lunch preparations.

Our tour guide Pika. Great guy.

Wive of one of the cooks. She is really sweet.

We all were taught how to weave our won plates for lunch!

Here is my lunch on my freshly woven mat!

Des, our tour guide in training. She is a sweetheart!

And yes, I have a soft spot in my heart for these island dogs. Do you think my Shorty would like a new mate?

This one gave me a kiss. He almost fit in my suitcase! He also reminded me of my dog Chocolate when I lived in Yap.

Coastal view Aunu'u.

The water was incredibly blue and warm. Loved swimming there.

Areial view of Ta'u.

Tsunami information on buses. Think of this as our winter storm Nor'easter storm warnings.

 

Canister to be struck to signal an impending tsunami. 

We flew to Ta'u the next day then hiked the National Park. After a lunch on the island, we were transported in these ferries to the island of Ofu.

Don't let these calm pictures fool you. Once we departed the waves and winds were high and again we all held on for dear life. The man next to me held on to my hand so he would not fall out of the little ferry. I promised him I would not let him fall overboard!

Will finish this current blog now and continue on one more a bit later with stories about Ofu and Olosega islands and the traditional ceremony they had for us at Vaoto Lodge.

Stay tuned..................................

12.05.2024 A belated Happy Thanksgiving

 While there are no excuses, I do have a good reason for not posting a Thanksgiving message. Yes, Shorty posted his, so why didn't I post mine you might ask? (mydogshorty@blogspot.com)

Well, we have a major project getting started at the house and I spent the day packing and moving furniture while cooking and eating. I have long wanted the front of the house renovated - the windows slant inwards and are a problem during the winter and they leak! During and after every snowstorm I am out there with a roof rake clearing snow and breaking up some very large icicles. The icicles attach to the windows and I am just waiting for one to be so thick that it breaks a window. 

So in August I decided this was the year for the renovation. As with all building projects, there is a lot of shifting of start dates. We were supposed to start in November, now it is December and the construction has a weather delay (it is snowing!) before even starting. But I am ready - everything but one cabinet is moved into the front room and dining room. Good thing I don't have dining room furniture! 

My boys have adapted. When they were left in the atrium with just Shorty's dog bed and the condo for Fionnegan and Gunnarr they seemed a bit stunned. But with all of their things inside the main house they have adjusted. Shorty now uses his mat under the bench just like when it was in the atrium. 

Here are Fionnegan, Gunnarr and Shorty in a near empty atrium. I left the lights in place because I like the effect! 

Shorty is under his bench on his mat and the dog supplies are on top.

A bit crowded, but we will manage. Fionnegan and Gunnarr are doing their wake up stretches.

We had a good Thanksgiving Day - I even made a turkey! Afterwards we all took a much needed nap - at least three of us napped!

Hope you all had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving Day. 

Until next time..................

12.03.2024 American Samoa - A Dream Come True

 A special dream is now replaced with a wonderful memory.

When I was a very young surgeon, all those many years ago, I thought that I would work at the Lyndon B Johnson Tropical Medical Center.  I also imagined that I would sip on a gin and tonic at the Pago Pago Yacht Club while watching the sunset.  What a dream! Fast forward to the present and I never worked at the medical center, there is no yacht club and Pago Pago faces east! So much for these fantasies.

But dreams can be replaced with a pleasant reality. After daydreaming about American Samoa for over half of my life, I finally was going to visit. I had signed up for a hiking trip (Off the Beaten Path - highly recommended) to visit the National Parks. On the morning of the trip, I woke early - probably really never slept, let the dogs out for a very early morning "emptying out" excursion, got them tucked into the atrium with treats and headed for the airport. I was really excited to be going, and I was really early at the airport. It was an 11-hour direct flight from Boston to Honolulu, then a brief layover and a late 4-hour plane ride to AS.  Not many flights to AS, so you don't want to miss this one!

It is a beautiful group of islands and did not disappoint! It is my perfect landscape - where the mountains end at the sea. Beautiful sand beaches and beaches with lava and coral. A true paradise setting. And they do appear to value and appreciate their American link.

When we arrived, we were met by traditional dancers and music. What a warm welcome to these gorgeous islands.

No, this man did not greet us with a fire dance! Too bad!!!

But these young women danced while we waited for our luggage. You won't see that at Logan airport!

When you think about it, in order for islands to be lush, you need rain. And we had rain. Lots of it. One hike canceled because of rain and one major hike up a mountain (just 4 of us hearty souls) in the rain. But I would do it again in a heartbeat. 

A misty view while hiking up and up and up. This was an adventure. The guide who was supposed to take us to the mountain peak said the trail was bad and didn't want to go. So our tour guide Pika stopped the car and asked another young man to guide us. He said yes, and off we went. However ----- I don't think he initially understood we were to hike to the peak. So as he was heading down a road, one of the guys using GPS told him we were not going in the right direction. What to do? What to do? Well, you scale up the 20-foot embankment and make a trail! That is what you do. These short legs of mine found it a bit of a challenge so the guide cut down a sapling and helped pull me up halfway to the top of the embankment.  No worse for the wear and only a little dirty or shall we say muddy. The rain rinsed off some of the mud, no problem.

We hiked through the jungle without a trail for quite a while. The guide secured his flipflops to his waist belt and cleared a path with his machete. And we followed the steep climb until we finally found the trail. It was not in great shape but passable. At one point the guide asked for the time and told us 5 more minutes. It was now 11:55. We were so excited. We would reach the summit in 5 minutes! High noon! It was really hard to tell as we were in a thick jungle and there was only one real vista point along the trail so far which was quite misty. So we pushed forward very determined about reaching the top. And then in 5 minutes we all realized we did not reach the summit. The guide turned and said we would hike only until noon adn it was now noon (we were 4 hours into the hike at this point) and then he turned around and headed back to the road.  And he told us "no talking"!!!! What we did not realize was that he was the chef for our meals at the Vaoto Lodge (Ofu) and he had to get back to cook! 

Did manage a little bird watching. This is an Imperial pigeon - a new bird on my life list.

Will post another blog with more adventures soon. Stay tuned! More stories to tell.