Day 13 ~ American Samoa

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes." ~Proust

We woke to the sight of a lush green island sliding by the balcony. I felt such a thrill! This is the first of many terra incognita for us. We won’t see a port we’ve visited before until we reach Bermuda in April. Pago Pago (pronounced pahng-oh pahng-oh) is our port.

As the name implies, American Samoa is a US territory and its inhabitants are considered US nationals, but not citizens. Like the folks who live in Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands, they are not allowed to vote, but by the same token, they don’t pay US taxes either.

They call this mountain the "Rainmaker"

We didn’t arrange a ship’s excursion for today because we can use our American dollars and explore a bit on our own. So we left the Pacific Princess’s berth, ran the gauntlet of independent tour operators, and turned left to walk along the main coastal road. 

Pago Pago is a working port. These are fishing nets stacked high. This island is the home of Charlie the Starkist Tuna.40% of all tuna that makes it to the US market comes from American Samoa.

We passed the Oceanic Center, which we may or may not be able to visit on our way back to the ship. It’s Saturday here and many things are closed. A helpful local told us it may open at 10 AM, but things are on island time here. There is a laid-back disregard for such oppressive things as schedules in these tropical climes. We may get lucky with the Oceanic Center, we may not. We’ll see…

Our destination was Sadie’s-By-The-Sea, a hotel & restaurant rumored to offer beautiful views and cheap wifi. Score on both counts! The photos speak for themselves. 

We sat in the shade looking out over the peaceful lagoon, watching sea birds hunting, and listening to bird calls in the nearby breadfruit tree. It's quite warm, but every so often a delicious breeze cools the backs of our necks.

A couple of sodas and a raspberry chocolate smoothie to share and we were in Polynesian heaven.

Dark basalt rocks raise their heads in the lagoon, a reminder of the island's volcanic origins.

Breadfruit--the plant Captain Bligh was intent on delivering to the Caribbean.

Then we purchased a voucher for 2 hours of wifi for $5.00. Such a deal! On the Pacific Princess, wifi costs $199.00 for 600 minutes. But it’s worth it to be able to share our adventure with you.

My DH (Dear Husband!)

Of course, to some, this walk-about may not seem terribly adventurous, but we are still in decompression mode and relish a chance to relax.   

12/5/2018 Update: Our land life has been busy for the last seven months or so, but I still want to add a few more pictures to the blog!

There were plenty of sail ins and aways on this trip, but we never tired of straining to catch the first or last glimpse of a new place. The islands of the south Pacific are  pretty mountainous, with generally only one main road looping the shoreline.   

This is why we sprang for a balcony. Of  course, it was just the luck  of the draw that we were on the right side to be able to watch American Samoa. I found myself reverting to my Iowa roots and wondered where the arable land was hiding that would feed the island's population. There is a more level part on the other side of the island where there is farm land and an airport, but much of the real estate is vertical!  

As we cruised away from American Samoa, I realized that after 13 days, we'd finally left the last vestiges of the US behind. Now, we're truly the Other, the Stranger in the countries we'd visit. We'd need to keep our eyes and our hearts open, because every place has its own ways. We were coming to learn, not teach.