A photo journal (and several video clips thanks to the iPhone live photo mode!) from last weekend’s adventure to the Airport Tide Pools here in American Samoa.
I was elated to find that we had a new federal holiday, and in honor of Juneteenth, I wanted to celebrate my everyday freedoms by going outside!
Weekend Adventure Highlights:
The sun shone after a week of blustery weather, so it was a perfect day for an island adventure.
Ian, Creighton, and I paddled from our house to the airport strip, and Yodi dog came with us! She swam the entire way to the airport — she’s such a champ.
We hiked over to the ‘pools’ and immediately spotted several baby black tip reef sharks cruising by.
While we were snorkeling, we saw a cloud of sand about 15 feet beneath us, and when it had settled, we saw it was a large stingray getting cozy in the sand.
There were tons of fish… mostly small ones… but I was so happy still to be surrounded by lots of fish. Oh, and the coral looked good as well… not great, but there was still decent live coral coverage, which is good to see after the severe bleaching event several years ago.
I speared a fish! This was my second time ever catching a fish… it was small but larger than my first fish, so hey, that’s progress!
We snorkeled for probably like two hours, then hung out on the rocky beach talking stories. The guys talked mostly… I kept getting back in the water because it was a hot day and there was no shade; plus, I was having an absolute blast jumping off the steep slope and practicing my freediving.
It was a sunny day in mid-May. I had gotten up early and was feeling restless.
I cleared the drying rack, washed the dishes, and worked on repotting some plants and mixing soil for the balcony garden.
Ian and I chatted with his parents on FaceTime.
Then it was high tide, around 11ish in the morning.
Ian, sensing my restlessness, suggested we go for a paddle to the lagoon mangroves out back, and I immediately brightened up.
We would normally go to the beach in the front, but the trade winds were blowing extra strong which would make paddling with momentum nearly impossible. Besides, we hadn’t hung out in the mangroves in a long time.
I was getting hungry—we hadn’t eaten anything all morning—and started making an egg omelette (or a disheveled scramble, really) with onions, cheese, turkey sausage, and mushrooms. We packed the omelette in containers with a wooden spork, tobasco hot sauce, a bag of chips, a bowl of homemade hummus, a flask of juice and rum, and another flask with water. And we were ready to go.
Ian grabbed our stand up paddleboards from the rack behind the house while I lathered up in sunblock and changed into a bikini and lavalava and we got our boards in the water.
We saddled our boards next to each other to share our brunch picnic, then explored the maze-like mangroves, watching birds and laying on our backs to look up at the sky.
It felt good to get out of my routine and do something different.
When we paddled back home, I thought to myself: how lucky am I to live in such a beautiful place, have this sweet hunk of a man as my husband, and to be able to feel so free outside?! I truly am…
Here’s a reel I put together from that little morning adventure.
Part 2 of sailing in French Polynesia (continued).
We got these maps that showed us all the anchorages on Raiatea and Taha’a
Still a bit stunned at how beautiful this boat is, the view is, the food is, and my life is.
The morning we sailed out of Hurepiti Bay,
we were greeted by a pod of dolphins!
I was so excited I could only take blurry pics haha
Ian and Rick figured out the lazy susan and the sails are up!
The wind was picking up a lottt so this was just one of the few times we had the sails going.
Above: a view of Taha’a.
Below: of course I had to ask Ian to get a photo of me and Bora Bora in the background!
Rick looks like a millionaire on a yacht hahah
First mate Polly rigging up the sails like a pro (while also being a total fashionista!)
And this is quite possibly my favorite photo of Rick and Polly so far!
I’m thinking Italian Job. Like big baller big baller. Like museum heist artists. Like classy bank robbers.
Aren’t they just the coolest?!
And here’s my guy looking like an outdoorsy waterman, living his dream lol
This was my favorite anchorage. We were in between the aquamarine blue and navy blue waters, where shallow meets deep. And next to Le Taha’a Island Resort, Motu Tautau, and with a magnificent view of Bora Bora.
The men taking us into the shallow lagoon. We had like 8 inches between our hulls and the sand!
Just a dreamy place.
The blue waters were so insane. I’ve never seen such a vibrant and drastic color/depth difference in the ocean. And Bora Bora looked so mysterious in the distance.
This little island is home to Le Taha’a Island Resort, the fanciest resort in all of French Polynesia. And right next to it is Motu Tautau, where we dinghied to for some of the best snorkeling I’ve ever seen. A drift snorkel lagoonarium, they called it. It was so cool (photos to come!)
Photos from earlier this month. The MSC Magnifica had just made its maiden voyage to American Samoa in the morning, and after a short 12-hour visit, left the Pago Harbor that evening. We just got off work, and the water looked too good not to get in. Ian and Paolo paddled out to SUP surf while I tied up to the buoy, and watched this glorious golden hour scene.
I have been craaaaving days like these – bright skies and clear waters.
On Friday we SUP’ed out to the break. Small glassy waves called for Ian. He caught clean little lines and kept asking if he could go back out; I laughed and told him to go. I jumped in the water to cool off.
I’m always so much more appreciative of my landscape when I’m out on the water looking back and seeing it big picture. Like it’s crazy to think my life and my little home has anything to do with what I’m seeing out here, but it’s all interconnected. I don’t know how to explain it. Deep water and tall mountains tend to make me feel this way.
I don’t know if I mentioned this on my blog anywhere yet, but for Christmas Ian gifted me with a brand new bright yellow 63cf tank (which is perfect for my short self), and Rick and Polly gifted me with brand new ScubaPro regs (I was formerly using Rick’s regs from like the 80s or 90s)!! I’ve been meaning to take my new gear out for a spin since the new year, so I was stoked to see the sun come out just in time for the three day weekend.
On Saturday morning we packed our gear into the truck and drove west to Nua with some friends. The last time I dove Nua was my birthday last year. Nua is a beautiful spot of sandy beach under a shady banyan tree and has a nearshore reef crest with waves breaking over it. Just to the right is a small ava (rip current) where we swam out of to dive the reef slope.
The entire south side of the island was completely calm and flat but there was big swell in the north. Nua is on the southwest so I was a bit surprised when we got down and saw that the vis was only about 30ft and there was a slight current that pushed and pulled. Other than that, it was a perfect dive day.
Ian held me hand for most of it because I was nervous about the current (I think that was my first time diving with a slight current), and we checked out the pretty fish and coral. We were down for 40 minutes and I still had half my air left in my tank on the way in.
We hung out on the beach with our friends for a bit longer, then drove back to town to wash our gear and truck and pick up some Samu’s ice cream. Ian went surfing after and I got home and jumped back in the water just in time for sunset. Then had bbq and game night at our neighbors’. It was an awesome day.
This island will always and forever be my home, so camping is one of the best ways to celebrate my surrounding environment. Still, it sometimes seems too small and like Trevor says, “because we’ve got A/C”.
It was a long weekend, and our friends made plans to camp in this isolated cove, which for the sake of everyone involved will remain a secret (for now). I couldn’t say no because it’s been on my bucket list for the last 4 years! It felt almost unreal to finally be there, and to just be away from it all – we were pretty remote, even though a couple of tiny fishing boats did pass through.
Val started the fire, Dustin caught some fish to roast later in the evening, the kiddos Eve and Sam jumped off rocks into the shallow waters, and a few of us paddled out to explore the caves and check out the coral life.
As the sun was setting behind the Pola islets, I realized yet again the magnificence of nature in its raw form, and let out a grateful sigh as the sun kissed the horizon good night.
We went with a group of friends on a little adventure… scratch that, it was a big island adventure. Something we’ve been wanting to do for the last 4 years. I was unsure I could leave work early but I promised to work over the weekend. Then Ian picked me up with his kayak and my SUP already strapped to our bright green truck, and a huge smile on his face, and we drove north. Thank God for Ian too because he packed all my stuff and prepped food and carried our vessels onto the truck, which he later offloaded in the bay, and then we paddled out to sea…
A sunny Tuesday in Los Angeles. Drove out to Redondo Beach King Harbor Marina and boarded the SV Gitana where Ian and Rick moved quickly – and before I knew it, we were past the breakwater with Rick at the helm and Ian on the lines. He unfurled the sail and then the jib, and we went flying. The wind was pleasantly strong for the first hour.
It was so fun to get behind the wheel with the wind in the sail; I was laughing hysterical and nervous because I was holding myself up sideways and kept thinking I was going to heel us over and tip. Ian and Rick assured me that was hard to do.
From 15 knots down to 2 knots, the wind died in the second hour and we ate lunch. I downed 3 cans of ginger ale because I get seasick and was hoping it would help. I just looked it up and it looks like ginger itself helps with nausea but but ginger ale has too much sugar to have the same effect. Yup, learned that the hard way because I did eventually end up getting seasick and it wasn’t pretty. Although I think it was really because I had to go below to pee (from drinking 3 cans of ginger ale), and being in that tight little bathroom oh man my head felt like it was a lava lamp.
Ian and Rick tacked several more times within the hour to find the wind but it was a bust and they took us back to the Marina where I immediately felt better.
It was still so much fun, and I will definitely be taking a whole ginger with me the next time!
