American Samoa

American Samoa

Samoan Dancers

             Saturday, 6 Oct 2012 – About 7:30 this morning our ship docked at Pago Pago (pronounced Pango Pango”) in American Samoa.  Early maps misspelled the Polynesian port as “Pago Pago,” and it has continued to be spelled incorrectly ever since.  After breakfast about 10:00 A.M. we boarded a bus for a tour of the largest island of the seven islands of American Samoa.  (They pronounce it “Sam’o-a.”)  Although it was in the 90’s with high humidity, the bus was “natural air,” as opposed to air-conditioned, as on Bora Bora.  The bus took us on the only main road, which was by the ocean much of the time.  Waves are high, but no one surfs there; the guide said no one knows how.  Also, there is a strong undertow, which would make it very dangerous.  However, with the cliffs and small islands not far from the shore, it was a beautiful drive.  We were taken to see a demonstration of some of the Samoan skills: a man quickly climbed a coconut tree, people were making cocoa from cocoa beans, some were weaving mats, and others were cooking a meal.  While we sat and ate mangos, chicken, and coconut, we watched five Samoan men dance.  We were back at the ship by 2:30, where we sat in the air-conditioned buffet area.  Although Jesse wanted to finish with an ice cream cone, he decided not to walk across the hot deck to get one.





Wheelhouse Bar

We dressed in our matching Hawaiian outfits for dinner.  Our table was full again, with lively conversation.  Afterwards, our table mates joined us in the Wheelhouse Bar, where we danced to the Tritones Duo until 9:00 PM; then we went up on deck and danced to The Nexus for another 45 minutes or so.  This was a full day, and we are looking forward to the next three at-sea days.