Day 20: 20231012 Thursday, October 12, 2023- American Samoa
The Grand Princess approached American Samoa as day broke, initially heading right at the airport, but then took a hard right turn to follow the coast around Flower Pot Island to the very narrow deep channel that leads to the actually port. There appeared to be an opening into a harbor just past the end of the airport’s runway, but a wrecked ship hull laying on its side clearly demonstrated that not to be the proper approach. Ben did spot some grey whales just outside the barrier reefs surrounding the outer harbor.
The Samoan’s provided an energetic and enthusiastic welcome, by far the most we have seen this whole trip. There was a line of Samoan dancers and singers including Miss American Samoa greeting the Grand Princess as it tied up to the pier.
We booked a bus tour, but were advised in no uncertain terms that the buses in American Samoa are not what most tourists are used to. These are home grown open air vehicles grafted onto 1 ton truck or van chassis with wooden bench seats and no air conditioning. Our tour was scheduled to board at noon. We arrived a little after 8:30am so Ben wanted to walk around and try to hike up to a gun emplacement which was about 2km from where the ship was docked. The weather was warm and muggy, but there was a welcome breeze.
We found the trail head to the Blunt’s Point trail, but the trail looked like an unmaintained path into the jungle behind some houses. Fortunately, Google maps did confirm we were on the correct trail. After the first couple hundred feet, the path began to look more like an old maintenance road which wound up around a point to a large water tank, and then up some very rickety steps to the old WWII single gun emplacement.
The surrounding jungle had grown up to the point where any view from the gun emplacement had been overgrown, and the gun was surrounded by a moat of water with a few large toads guarding the gun. Fortunately, we were all alone up there, and there was enough of a wind break formed by the slope that Ben was able to fly a drone up over the growth to reveal the sweeping view of the coastline and Flowerpot Island below.
By the time we got back to the ship, we were hot and saturated with sweat, so we cooled down in our stateroom before grabbing a quick bite for lunch and then heading back out to our excursion.
Our excursion got off to a late start, but we got to wait in the air conditioned dining room on the ship until the buses were ready to be loaded. Our “tour” consisted of a drive around the perimeter of the island to the left for 2 hours before turning around and driving back to the ship along the same road. There were three stops where we could get out for pictures and walk around.
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Our guide was a 19 year old nursing student who pointed out sights along the coastal drive, including churches, schools and military installations. What was most unique was her telling of Samoan legends, which were native origin stories, including the tale of Fatu and Futi, who were lovers who drowned swimming to Tutuila. They now stand as the two Flowerpot Islands that lie outside the entrance to the harbor.
That ended up being the last stop of our tour. Another legend was the tale of Sina and Tuna. Tuna was in love with Sina, but his love was unrequited. Sina’s father had Tuna killed, but he asked to have his head buried in the yard. From this, sprung the coconut palm which provided sustenance and shelter for all future generations of Sina’s family, and when you shell the coconut, you can see Tuna’s face on the end of the coconut.
Two things stood out to us as we drove by life going on. One was that the school kids wore uniforms which include a traditional wrap for the boys, which is basically a skirt. In fact, even the port security guards wore similar wraps as part of their work uniforms.
During WWII, the American Samoan soldiers wore a unique uniform consisting of a plain white T-shirt and the traditional wrap, and no shoes. The Scots were not the only ones heading into battle in skirts. The other frequent sight was the presence of burial plots in front of many homes along the highway, some with elaborate mausoleums with 3 or 4 sections.
The tour turned around at Leone, a town about 20km west of the harbor where the ship was docked. There was a small beach there with a memorial to those who died in a Tsunami in 2012. We got out and walked around, while a few passengers did take their shoes off to step into the 85˚F water.
We were a little surprised to learn that there is only one McDonalds in all of American Samoa, which is near the airport. They do have a local fried chicken (Tropical Chicken) chain and even pizza, but there aren’t many big American franchises in American Samoa.
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Across from the dock where the Grand Princess was tied up is a huge Starkist Tuna factory, which is one of the largest tuna processing facilities in the world. Starkist is the largest private employer in American Samoa. We didn't tour the plant, but were warned that some of the tour buses might drive past the factory, and that you may want to hold your nose as you drive by. Actually, some of our dinner neighbors said their tour drove past during the lunch break for the employees who lined the streets in their factory uniforms and waved enthusiastically to the tourists as they drove past. And they said although it was fishy smelling it was not as bad as the destination lecturer had made it out to be.
There was still music and dancing by the Samoan welcoming committee when we returned to the ship. We were very glad to hit the showers and cool off after our tours for the day because of the heat and humidity. The ship sailed from American Samoa uneventfully. After seeing the sun setting over Moorea leaving Tahiti, it’ll be hard to beat that sail away.
There is a new comedian, Jim McDonald, who put on a funny show after dinner, but because we were tuckered out from the long day and heat, we both took turns resting our eyes between laughs. Tomorrow we return to our Sea day activities, which we have gotten quite used to by now and we don’t mind at all either.
