A day in Pago Pago

10^thOctober 2019

Entering the harbour at Pago Pago is impressive. It is a scenic, natural harbour surrounded by mountains that are covered with lush vegetation. It looks like it rains a lot, and we subsequently find out that it does. High up on the starboard side we see an impressive mountain with a flat top that is covered in cloud. It is known locally as “Rainmaker”.

Entering the harbour

Rainmaker

Inside the harbour about to turn to port to miss the reef

The most imposing site, once inside the harbour is the tuna cannery, with a number of fishing boats docked out the front and steam pouring out of the processing plant. It is the main employer in American Samoa. Tourism and agriculture are the next most important industries.

Once tied up alongside, arrangements are under way for the shore excursions. It is pretty clear from the selection of excursions, that there is not a lot to see here, but we chose the one that we thought would give us the best overview.

Soon off the ship and greeted by the usual Polynesian dances and music, we are guided in the direction of our tour buses. We were given some warning that things may be a little different at Pago Pago, compared to some of our previous destinations and the tour buses reinforced that notion.

Everyone "comfortably" seated

Our bus

and Driver

There had already been one downpour before we left the ship to join our tour, but miraculously it stopped before we disembarked. Fortunately, our bus was not completely full, as comfort was not a high priority. We were only in the bus for 5 minutes before we arrived at our first destination, the new Marine Ocean Sanctuary Centre. We had covered such a short distance we could still see our ship.

Ruby is just down the road

A number of buses stopped at the centre and we were shepherded inside to find a theatre setup and we soon realized that we were there to see and audio visual presentation rather than any exhibits that related to the sanctuary. Short films explaining the role of the sanctuary, some of the unusual creatures that inhabit the waters nearby and an introduction to a very important event that is held every year on their National Day. It is called Fautasi, and is a rowing boat race that involves very large slender boats set up like racing rowboats, with carbon fibre oars and slides for the rowers. The boats are 100+ feet long and carry around 40 rowers . Numbers vary based on the size of the boat. Each village competes fiercely for the coveted first prize.

 Recognition of the 2016 winner of Fautasi (posters for other years adorned the walls)

Our tour guide for the morning, is a young Samoan student, who now lives in Utah and is about to start University there in January. He was back in American Samoa for a vacation and had an urgent call from his aunt last night telling him he was needed as a tour guide today. He did a wonderful job and gave us a great insight into living here as well as pointing out the few tourist attractions.

Travelling a decent distance along a very scenic sea front our next stop is a monument to those who lost their lives in a tsunami in 2012. A shipwreck just off the coast remains as a reminder.

It rained on and off throughout our tour, but somehow we managed to get through it all without getting soaked.

Communal meeting halls

Now heading back towards the ship, we saw more great scenery and got many waves from locals as we drove past their homes. We ended up at what our guide described as a beach resort, but later corrected it to be Tauese’s Museum, essentially the house of a their most popular elected Governor, now a museum or more a bit of memorabilia in an old house. 

Tauese's Museum 

Our fleet of buses waiting for us at the museum

Moving on further we came to Flowerpot Rocks, two outcrops in the ocean close to the shore that are covered in vegetation. Like everything in Polynesia there is a legend to explain how they were formed, in this case they were a pair of lovers who died in this spot whilst trying to seek refuge from a nearby island.

Running a bit behind time we arrived back at the ship at around 1 pm, just in time for lunch. A handicraft market had been set up at the dock selling pretty much the same merchandise as similar ports we have visited.

Scenic drive on the way back to the ship

Whilst we didn’t see a lot of tourist highlights, we did get some great insights into life on American Samoa. Unemployment is only around 1-2%. US Military runs training and recruiting on the island and many unemployed youth join the US armed forces. There are a lot of schools and one college, so education is seen as very important.

Village life dominates the culture where each village has a chief (Matai) who looks after the village people, runs the meetings that are held in the many open meeting halls that seem to be everywhere on the islands, and also takes care of disciplinary action in his village. They are highly religious people with 97 +% being Christians. There is very little crime and they are generally very nice, friendly and respectful people.

Everyone is all aboard by 5.30pm, and Ruby Princess prepares to sail for Auckland. In the meantime, there is a lot of activity on the harbour. A large fishing vessel heads out to sea, and a ferry from Apia heads out with a large number of passengers, who seem to be having a good time.

Heading back on board

Fishing boat heading out  (note the helicopter)

Ferry leaves soon after

With all final checks complete, Ruby Princess pushes off, and performs one of her now routine 180 degree turns to point the bow towards the harbour entrance. At halfway through the turn, we have completely blocked harbour access.

Leaving Pago Pago behind

Soon we are motoring out of Pago Pago, after a pretty good day