Yellow Fish cruises: Day 17: Pago Pago, American Samoa

I am wiped out after our day on American Samoa. I have a lot of photos to upload and narrative to write, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. Luckily (can you believe I’m saying this?) it’s the first of three sea days in a row, and I’ll have plenty of time to get caught up.

To be continued...

Sorry for the delay in publishing this and the previous day’s post. There has been a combination of reasons: first, the ship's internet has been been out for several hours twice in the past two days due to “maintenance”, and not just for the passengers. Guest Services and the Captains Circle host commented that they, too, were stymied in doing what they needed to do. The outage precluded me from publishing yesterday's post until today, and I hadn’t even written about our visit to American Samoa. And what a wonderful day that was, so much so that I knew I couldn’t do it justice as tired (and, frankly, sore) as I was last night. So I hope you think this post was worth the wait.

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This was my third visit to Pago Pago (say pongo pongo), American Samoa. During my first visit, in 2004, I took a full island tour with Tisa’s Barefoot Bar as one of our stops. That is where I was when I learned that our driver that day had a son in the Samoan National Guard who was in White Sands, New Mexico, being trained before being deployed to Iraq. Coincidentally, he was being trained by my husband, who, at the last minute, had been unable to take the cruise with me (I went with my friend, Sheila) because he was considered mission critical.

American Samoa will always hold a special place in my memories because of that.

However, in 2006, G was with me, as we celebrated his retirement from the Army. During our stop in American Samoa, we booked a tour of American Samoa National Park with Tisa, followed by a traditional uma (Samoan rock oven) feast at her barefoot beach bar. Even more wonderful memories were created; I specifically remember a group of us sitting in the surf drinking a fair amount of Vailamo, the local beer and, in doing so, enjoying ourselves immensely.

There was no doubt where we wanted to spend our day in American Samoa this time, and in July we reserved two spots (and Marlene did the same) for a day pass at Tisa’s that included a drink, the traditional uma feast, and use of the beach. The cost for this was $75pp, and it did not include transportation to and from the ship. The cost for the tour plus the day pass and snorkeling was $225. Since this was Paul and Marlene’s third visit to the island, too, the day pass was really all we needed. Just as with our French Polynesian port days, I was very excited about today, and was determined that I was going to feel up for it. In fact, I was probably looking forward to it even more, as American Samoa is much harder for us to get to than French Polynesia...at least within the next year or so.

We had moved clocks back an hour overnight, and are now seven hours behind EDT, so we were up early and on the open decks to watch our arrival. As had been the case in 2004, we sailed into beautiful Pago Pago harbor between 8am and 9am to see the surrounding mountain tops in grey clouds, and it was drizzling a little, too. Not the best start to the day, but we were actually very lucky. We were told by Candyman (Tisa’s husband) that they had experienced either seven hours or seven inches (I’m not sure which, though it could have possibly been both) of heavy rain yesterday. Thank goodness we arrived a day later.

Mountain called The Rainmaker, as its top is usually buried in clouds, a fresh water source for the island

Entrance to Pago Pago Harbor

We met up with Paul and Marlene over breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet and planned to walk off the ship about 9:30am (our scheduled arrival was at 9am). While we have had great fun with Paul and Marlene this cruise, today I was especially grateful for their company. Between my foot and the inner ear infection G has been dealing with (affecting his balance), we both needed help in carrying bags and walking through the maze of tables of locals selling tours and handicrafts.

Local crafts for sale at port

Note the men wearing lava lavas

More men wearing lava lavas

Just as in Fiji, it is very common to see men wearing skirt-type attire, called lava lavas in Samoa. These are not simply worn for tourist entertainment; even the local high school uniforms for boys include lava lavas. During our return to the ship this afternoon, we saw teenaged boys wearing them while playing basketball.

If you are fortunate enough to be visiting American Samoa, beware of taxi drivers offering island tours in renovated small school buses for $20 or $30pp. We momentarily boarded one of these for a trip to Tisa’s, but it offered precious little in the way of creature comforts...like none.

Photos taken inside a typical Samoan taxi/tour bus

I think the seats and windows were the only original equipment on this bus!

Several drivers held signs offering $10pp rides to Tisa’s, but other drivers told us either 1.) Tisa’s was closed until 1:30pm or 2.) Tisa’s was closed for a private party. It didn’t initially make sense to us. Luckily, Paul found us a taxi driver with a new four-door Toyota Pickup. It was a tight fit, with all our beach gear, but it worked. For $10pp each way, we were driven the six or so miles to Tisa’s, all along the southern coast of Tutuila Island. Pago Pago is a seedier version of Papeete, and parts of it are downright odoriferous. There are two tuna processing plants along the water. But, outside of town, the black rocks of the shoreline against the white sand beaches and palm trees were beautiful, the rain had stopped and, though the day remained partly cloudy, we saw increasing hints of sun.

There is a large Sunkist tuna cannery in Pago Pago

Charlie the Tuna

All along the way we saw fales, which are described as open air guesthouses, but we know from our prior visits that, especially in the villages, they actually serve as a home’s living areas. There, it’s not unusual to see them lined in long drapes, with a kitchen and living room furniture inside. Samoan culture, although it’s becoming increasingly Americanized in American Samoan, is very traditional. Most people live in villages headed by chiefs where nightly prayers, called Sa’s, are recited as a village at 6pm. Women dress conservatively, with knee length or longer dresses hand made from colorful tropical fabrics.

Examples of Samoan fales, open air residential gazebos

View across Pago Pago Harbor

Fata-ma-Futi (Flowerpot Rock) overlooking Pago Pago Harbor

Long stretches of beaches ring the island

Camel Rock

We arrived at Tisa’s to find the gate closed and locked, and our driver again told us she was closed for a private party. G assured him that WE were the private party, and when I called out at the gate, Tisa’s husband Candyman (a displaced Kiwi from Auckland, New Zealand) came to greet us and welcome us in. He then filled us in on their new operating plan. They had become so popular that there were losing the essence of what them special, the sharing of the Samoan culture and their interaction with their guests, and they did not want to become just another beach bar. They decided to downsize and stay more intimate. They sell day passes (like we bought online in July) and the combo island tours/ day passes and don’t have people just dropping by for a drink. Today they expected six day passers and Tisa was already out with eight guests from our ship doing the tour.

Candyman hadn’t changed a bit in the 13 years since I had last seen him (how do men do that?), and was a wonderful host, getting us settled with our first drinks (included in the price of the day pass). It must have have been a very special occasion ;-) because I had a pina colada made with coconut harvested just this morning. He then showed us the umu that he had started hours earlier, an oven made from heated stones covered with banana leaves. We started our drinks on the deck but soon moved to the long stretch of beach. The heavy rain from yesterday had left the water a bit rougher than I remember it being in 2006, but it is so shallow right in front of Tisa’s that it was safe to swim. An entire beach for us, and eventually eight others; the day was already special.

Welcome to Tisa’s Barefoot Bar

The view of Tisa’s from the water

Candyman himself has built every bit of it...and rebuilt it twice when it was wiped out by tsunamis.

Source: tisasbarefootbar.com

We forgot to bring an old license plate!

Tisa’s decor is largely detritus-based...

...or customer donated.

Naturally, I was immediately drawn to this (M Go Blue!)

The cultural significance of the tattoo

Vailima, the beer of Samoa

Alega Beach in front of Tisa’s

Traditional basket weaving

Tisa returned with the eight touring guests and sat down to talk with us. She is so gracious and welcoming, just as I’d remembered. She grew up in the village of Alega, where Tisa’s is located, and told us how, when she was a child, the island had no stoves or ovens, so the umu was the way they cooked their daily meal. Now, they’re generally constructed just once a week, on Sundays. First, a fire is built from wood, and then rocks and food are layered on top, to heat up. The entire mound is covered with banana leaves to retain the heat, and the meal is baked for 3 to 4 hours, but can bake longer without burning. She called us over while Candyman and her son Chris unveiled the umu and retrieved the food baking within.

Tisa and Paul

Tisa’s husband, Candyman, and son (Chris) start to remove the banana leaves from the umu

The foods requiring less cooking time and lower temperatures go on top

Shrimp and squash

Turkey, ham and fish

Oh, the good smells!

Coconut shell bowls

We all sat around a large table and were served by Tisa and Candyman. Our feast consisted of squash, breadfruit, fish, shrimp, ham and turkey, eaten off banana leaf plates with our fingers as utensils. I have had breadfruit several times in the past, and have never quite seen the point, but Tisa added a banana cream that absolutely transformed it. Good food, good drinks, good company and an amazing view made this a most memorable meal.

Breadfruit

Banana leaf plates

After lunch, we were having so much fun that Candyman phoned our taxi driver, Ola, to tell him we wanted to stay longer than our pre-arranged time. G and Paul and Marlene went back to the beach, but walking on that loose sand on a sloped beach had been slightly tortuous for me, and I stayed up on the deck to enjoy the view. Finally, about 3:30pm, Ola arrived to drive us back to the ship. We said our goodbyes and I had to tell myself we’d be back again. This place is so special.

On the way back to the ship, we once again passed the tuna canneries. It must have been the end of a shift, because there were over a hundred workers all wearing Charlie the Tuna on their T-shirts and Wellington boots waiting for colorful buses that were lined up. Ola told us that each village has a bus that takes workers to and from work.

Once back on the ship, time was short. G showered first and went to the Elite Lounge in Club Fusion while I got ready. Swimwear was left in a pile in the bathroom, but only after a trail of sand was spread throughout the cabin, bathroom and shower. Poor Noel. We weren’t especially hungry at dinner, but went anyway. We hadn’t been at our prized window-side table for two last night and needed to make an appearance. But it was a two crutch evening, after the beach, and I simply couldn’t get comfortable at dinner. We skipped the evening’s entertainment and instead returned to the cabin for an Ibuprofen night cap.

But the day had been so very worth it!