Sunday, March 24, 2024

23 March 2024 The National Park of American Samoa

 Today is our second Saturday March 23 as we crossed the international date line overnight going from Western Samoa to American Samoa. We arrived in Pago Pago around 8 am and were the first ones off the boat and over to the Best Tours tent to meet up with our tour. There were 5 other couples off the ship on the tour including two couples that are on their quest to see all the national parks. As we waited for everyone to gather, the dancers that had greeted the ship as it dock came over to get out of the sun and get some drinks after a very energetic dance and singing routine. One of the other couples said this was national park number 63 for them and the other couple said this was their 48th. So we had fun exchanging tails of our park adventures and thoughts of which were the best and worst. Our tour guide, Gertrude, led us to a rickety looking home made bus. It was a Ford F-350 that they had cut the cab and bed off and strapped on this homemade bus body. The seats were hard wood and there was no air conditioning, just open plastic windows. Our first stop was the national park headquarters/visitor center. There we got our passport stamp (our 57th NP) and the required park hat and tee shirts. We had expected to see a park movie, but they no longer showed it because someone had complained it made the natives seem bad. But the exhibits were interesting and the building was air conditioned. The park was created when the villages agreed to lease large plots of land to the National Park System for 50 years in 2008. The park was created to protect the rain forest, fruit bat habitat, and sea turtle nesting sands. After listening to Gertrude describe the culture on the island and how most of the people on the island live off US Government subsidies, we decided that the land was leased more as a form of government hand out to the villages. There are very few hiking trails and the park is run by the American Samoa government, not by the national park system. Our next stop was at a tree, on private property, where the vast majority of the fruit bats hang upside down during the daylight. No one knows why this tree is the only one they hang out in. Next, we drove past the main employer in the islands, the Starkist Tuna packing factory. The smell of old tuna was almost overwhelming. Then it was up to the top of Afono Pass where we had a nice view of the harbor below and the mountain called “The Rainmaker”. The “bus” had a hard time climbing up the steep road to the top of the pass. Then we drove down into the village of Afono and then over another steep ridge to the village of Vita. Near the top of the ridge we stopped for a view of the Pola Island and Vatia Bay. Shortly past the village, the road ended at a National Park sign. We all piled out, got national park sign pictures and then walked out toward Pola Island on the remains of an old roadway . We saw an old WWII pillbox on the shoreline reminding us that this was the front line of the war in the Pacific in 1941. We walked out near Vai’ava Straight National Landmark, but the tide was coming in so we could not get too close. Then it was a half mile walk back to the ”bus”. The heat and humidity was taking its toll on some of the older folks on the tour with the heat index up near 110F. Then we drove back to Pago Pago and stopped at a market, but most of the folks declined to get off the bus. Leslie and I went in, but Gertrude soon came to collect us as the rest of the group wanted to go on. Our next stop was at the tour company building (also doubles as a gym) to have some fresh fruit and fried bread fruit chips. Then we were given a demonstration on how they weave baskets out of coconut tree leaves and how they open coconuts, and make the coconut milk (all of which we got to sample). Then they took us to the Flower Pot Islands with a stop for David to run into a grocery store and buy some toothpaste for Leslie. On the way back to the boat, Gertrude stopped the bus a couple of times to collect some other cruise ship passengers that were out on their own and having a hot walk back to the ship in the heat. We arrived back at the ship soaking wet from our own sweat. Our cabin was not very cool, but it was better after being in that heat. Cool showers help bring back our energy in time to go to the martini bar where we met another couple, Jim and Sharon, that were fulltime RVers in a nice class B. We had fun exchanging experiences over cocktails. 

Long Boat 

Dancers as we docked

Page Page harbor



Pola Island in National Park of American Samoa

 Tropical rain forests make up most of the national park

Our homemade bus

Vitia Bay

Hiking in the national park


Vai’ava Straight National Landmark




Making a basket

Flower Pot islands

Graves in the front yard of a Samoa home

Fruit Bat

We made it!!!




23 March 2024 Apea, Western Samoa

 We arrived in Apea in the early morning to a dancing and singing groups of natives on the dock. We had a tour arranged through the cruise line for a tour of the town and then to a beach resort. Our guide, Laalue, was on time and ready to go. He is an interesting guy, son of a village chief (his dad was chief), and son of the daughter of another village chief. He was on the Samoa Soccer Team and worked for the International Soccer League to further soccer in the island nation.  He talked to us as we drove through the town and headed up on the cross island road toward the western side of the island. The beaches on the eastern side are volcanic rock, but the western side has nice sand beaches. We stopped along the way at Sopoaga Waterfall where we bought a coconut from a vender who opened it for us and we drank the sweet coconut water from inside. We also were shown how they open coconuts, shred the meat from the hull and then squeeze the shredded meat for the coconut milk. It is a lot of hard work! The waterfall was at a distance, but beautiful. As we drove through the small villages, we noticed the people were not rich, but the houses were well maintained and the grounds well-tended. We also learned that the villagers owned the land they lived on (and could not sell it, its passed through the family) but reported to a village chief. They also buried their ancestors in the front yard! The road climbed up over a steep ridge that the bus had a hard time climbing. They had to turn off the air conditioning to have enough power to make it over the top. We arrived at a small beach resort at the end of a poorly maintained road. There we were served a lunch of delicious BBQ chicken. The we wandered down to the beach, stripped down to our bathing suits and enjoyed a warm swim in the South Pacific Ocean. It was a lazy couple of hours! Then we piled back on the bus for the drive back to the ship with a stop at Papapapaiata waterfall (it chose to start raining when we pulled up into the parking lot). Our drive back took us past Laalue’s home and through the village of his father. As we approached the ship, Laalue explained that we were then in the village of his mother and that he was destine to become chief of one of the two villages at some point. We arrived back at the ship with time for a cool shower before martini time. 

David at Sopoaga Waterfall drinking from a coconut

The Regatta in Area

Papapapaiata waterfall

South Pacific Beach


 BBQ Lunch

Sopoaga Waterfall



Dancers when we arrived in Area



22 March 2024 At Sea

 It was another relaxing day at sea. 

A South Pacific Sunset


 After our experience at Lautoka, we debated whether we wanted to get off the ship and walk around. The clouds were hanging low and there were occasional showers that washed through. We had heard from other passengers, their friends descriptions of what Suva was like. So, we decided to stay on the ship and do laundry. We heard later that night from another couple that as soon as they walked out the port gate, they were surrounded by people that kept trying to get them to buy their trinkets or begging for money all the way to the market area two blocks away, then all the way back when they left the market. The stuff in the market was all junk from their description. So, we were happy with our decision to stay on the boat.




Tuesday, March 19, 2024

20 March 2024 Lautoka Fiji

 We had the Taste of Fiji tour booked through our travel agent for today. Last night there was some heavy rain showers in the area. After wandering around the port looking for our tour, we ran into two other ladies looking for the same tour through Good Sites. We finally got hooked up with out tour driver, Manasas, in a small van. It was just the four of us. We headed out of the town of Lautoka to a small village for a welcoming ceremony of Kava. When he turned off the main road, the road ahead was flooded. After several minutes of conferring with other people stopped by the flooded road, our driver decided to proceed on through the flood. We made it through the flooded stretch of road and up to the village. There we learned that the tour company had canceled all the tasting appointments due to flooding. But they had not canceled the tour. Our poor driver, not knowing what to do, proceeded to drive us around the city of Lautoka and Nadia before taking us back to the cruise ship before noon. The country of Fiji is very poor, the roads and infrastructure is crumbling and all the homes and buildings we saw looked like they were crumbling into the dirt. We were happy to be back at the ship in time for lunch. Back at the ship, we learned several of the ship tours had also been canceled due to the flooding. We were so surprised at how bad it was, we didn’t even take pictures. This is not the Fiji you see in the resort brochures!

18-19 March 2024 At Sea

 We spent the days relaxing. David got a deep tissue massage that left him sore but very relaxed. Leslie enjoyed laying around the pool. We received notice that our credit card had been hacked back in the states. David spent an hour talking with the credit card company using VOIP and the ships internet. They had to cancel the card and we cannot get a new one until we return home, so it is going to be a continuing problem due to auto charges to that card. But there is not anything we can do about it from the middle of the South Pacific. 

17 March 2024 Bay of Islands New Zealand

 We did not have a tour planned for today. We slept in late and spent the day relaxing on the ship rather than going ashore.