The Twilight Zone ~ Where are the Jays

It is Sunday July 13, 2025, and we are in Apia, Samoa. Then 24 hours later, it is Sunday July 13, 2025, and we are in Pago Pago, American Samoa. No there is not a typo there and yes you read it correctly. While sailing from Samoa to American Samoa we crossed the international dateline, so we had the same calendar date 2 days in a row. It proved to be a challenge for some of the ship's computers. Reservations for the specialty restaurants had to be done manually and at one-point American Samoa dropped off our itinerary. Unfortunately, both countries are very religious so many things were closed at both stops since it was Sunday to both islands - no shopping and we had to be conscientious of the times as we passed churches.

Apia, Samoa

Today we are doing a tour of the island with a local. We start by visiting the Robert Louis Stevenson museum. It is his home. He lived here for a number of years before dying and was loved by the locals. In fact after his death, they formed a 100 person link to carry his casket up to the top of a sacred mountain to bury him up there. Years later his wife’s ashes would be buried there too. His home is a very nice combination of traditional Scottish and local architecture. The local part of the architecture was the wonderfully large porches and the lack of a kitchen in the main home (we never saw a kitchen) plus the gorgeous gardens that surrounded the house. The Scottish part is the rooms which were very western in style and the house even had 2 non working fireplaces (only ones on the island). Most of the furnishings are from the time period but not necessarily his. Downstairs in one large room that was used as a dining room and as a party spot there is a painting of him that a friend did. The painting supposedly shows both his light and dark sides. I wondered if he suffered from depression or what that reference was to. I did learn on this trip that he wrote Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde so was that the reference for the painting or for him – such questions. Anyway the house was nice and we enjoyed the tour.

Impressive home

Bottom right has the portrait, where left side is dark maybe "Jekyl" and right is light "Hyde"?

From there we went to a Bahai Faith Temple. They had just ended services for the day so we could wander around a little bit. Like the one we saw in Haifa, Israel, the grounds are a beautiful garden. We went into the information center and then into the temple itself. They had a famous architect build the temple for them and while simple in design it is quite nice. It is airy which makes sense for a humid warm climate.

Temple in shape of traditional Fiji home

more of the Bahai temple grounds

As we drove around the island, we saw many waterfalls. If you like waterfalls, you should come to the South Pacific Islands or at least the islands in Samoa, Fiji and American Samoa.

For lunch, we went to a very nice resort that had recently hosted King Charles and Camilla. This fact prompted our 2 English ladies into a discussion as to Charles merits and their opinions of Camilla. At the resort, we could eat and enjoy their beach. Unfortunately, it kept raining on us so only one person in our group got in the water. He was able to walk out a long way before even his knees were covered but then he was tiptoeing because of coral and rocks. Our lunch was in an open-air restaurant right on the water, so the views were great, and the food was decent (fish was tough, but great sauce). As we dodged raindrops, we made our way back up the hill to the reception area. I should add that this resort had its own golf course (grass was immaculate), beach and tennis courts so it would be a nice place to stay a few days.

Local beer was good

Our guide showed up so we hopped back in the van and went off exploring some more. Means we saw more waterfalls and some fauna. We are still very much in the tropics so lots of greenery everywhere! Our guide demonstrated how to extract coconut milk which is the basis of many dishes.

Flower was very similar to a bird of paradise, just all yellow
Snail was huge

Togitogiga Falls

Our guide demonstrating how to milk a coconut

Another key stop for the day was the To Sua Trench. It is world known as one of the top natural swimming pools near an ocean. It is called a trench because it is literally a very deep hole with ocean water flowing into it from an underwater opening. The whole area has been developed and there are nice picnic tables and changing areas. It looked like there used to be stairs down to the beach, but they were all blocked off while we were there. Before we got there, I was pretty sure this was a spot where I would be a spectator and not a participant. I did, however, walk down the stairs before making my final decision. You see you walk down a switch back path to a ladder that you descend onto a platform floating in the water and then get in from there. The ladder and steps is 30 meters or 98 feet high. It did have wider rungs then a traditional ladder, but one look at the start of it and I went H.. no I’m not doing that. My fear of heights won on this day. I did tell Jeff he was welcome to enjoy it without me which he did. There is a large open area that I could see him swimming in plus 2 cave like areas in front and back one of which was headed to the ocean and another which curved somehow and had yet another opening to the sky. Our guide had pointed out that there is a rope running across part of it in case you need to hold on since there is a strong current at times down there.

Staircase above ladder: Jeff on left

Worth the climb

Happy Camper

After that we slowly headed back to the ship, with stops for more waterfalls. One of the things we noticed about the houses was that quite often in addition to a main building there was a covered concrete porch with columns that seemed to be used in varying ways. This is a guest house, and the number of columns were somehow tied to the local chief.

Sopoaga Falls

Guest house on right is used for village business and entertaining

View as we sailed away

Pago Pago, American Samoa

Sunday July 13, 2025, version 2. We are in American Samoa which is part of the Samoan Islands but is an unincorporated territory of the USA. In 1839 an American commander Charles Wilkes charted the harbor in Pago Pago and recognized it would be very good spot for a coaling station. The harbor is well protected, and it is hidden by the surrounding mountains with a curve in it and it is quite deep. American Samoa is an independent territory because that was a key aspect of the deal the Samoan Chief made with the US when they wanted to set up a naval base. Fast forward to WWII where it is now a naval base for the US. In fact, shortly after Pearl Harbor a Japanese submarine showed up on the opposite of the island thus 143 bunkers were built around the harbor and island. The Japanese would not show up again in the war, but the base was important to the US in the war. Independence is important to the locals. They also proudly serve in the US military. We were told more than once that more American Samoans per population serve in the military than any state.

Local Post Office

Oh one last fact: Pago Pago is pronounced like mango mango a “g” has a ng sound.

What did we do?? Well, we did a day tour with some others that took us to the National Park and then to Tisa’s. This is the southernmost National Park in the US National Park system and Jeff was keen on visiting it. He really wanted to spend the whole day there, but in the end he enjoyed Tisa’s too.

Along the way to the National Park we stopped near a sign that marks the spot where the treaty with the US was signed. We did stop outside the National Park Visitor Center, but being Sunday it was closed so no trophy for Jeff.

where treaty was signed

Our guide started driving up in the hills/mountain. He pointed out that unlike most National Parks this one is leased land from the locals and not government property. Remember proud independence comment. As we were driving up, we stopped a couple of times for some gorgeous views of both the water and a pass we would be visiting. This is a pretty place. We pass a couple of signs that say the National Park and name and hop out for photos.

View of the harbor; we are covered up some because there was a dengue fever outbreak starting; not for warmth

Southern most US National Park

Then we hit a spot with a 20 minute walk down the hill to the water. After a few minutes of hesitation, we all agree we want to go so off we head down the hill. Much of the walk had steps. At the bottom was a nice view of the rocks and water. Jeff went a little lower than me scrambling on some rocks for an even better view. Back in the van, we headed for a flat walk.

This web was a work of art

View from the end of our hike

Another view from end of hike

This walk was along the water, but within woods most of the time. Here we saw and walked out on one of the WWII bunkers. We also got down to the water and walked out a little there too. Now it was time to head to Tisa’s.

1 of 143 WW II bunkers

What is Tisa’s? Tisa’s is a very relaxed island bar right on the beach that is well known yet hard to find. We met Tisa and her sidekick Candyman. Tisa makes a great pina colada – all fresh, local ingredients. They also cook a meal on certain days for guests and this was one of those days. The food was cooked on hot coals covered with several inches of banana leaves and there were layers of food. The top layer were items that did not need as much cooking such as octopus, cassava and a fish sauce then under several more layers of banana leaves were pork ribs that had been covered with cinnamon. This meat was literally falling off the bone yet still moist (yeah it was good). As I said, Tisa’s is on the beach. Supposedly there is a marine reserve off her beach, but the tide was wrong for us to go out that far. Jeff and I walked in the water some and saw red crabs and some coral and a neon blue fish (yes the water is incredibly clear) and then just enjoyed the water. Oh, we walked along the beach too and saw several hermit crabs. Until this trip, I had never seen a hermit crab except in a pet store. I have seen them on several of these islands and have learned to recognize their tracks in the sand. Too soon it was time to head back to the ship for our 4 pm sail away. We had been advised that a sail away from here was a pretty site – it was nice.

Tisa's

Left to right - uncovering our incredible lunch
1- Layers and layers of leaves to keep the steam in
2- octopus, cassava and a fish sauce
3- Pork Ribs (they were sooo good)
4- used coconut meat used as a bed for the meat to cook on