Pacific Roots Open Mic #12

Dec 12, 2017 | Culture, Lifestyle

It’s been a year and some months since the last Pacific Roots Open Mic (a.k.a. “PROM”). A lot of the “usuals” have left the island and if you were worried that there would be less performances, you’d be wrong. Fresh new talents got up and spilled their struggles, their criticisms, their voices out on a borrowed stage.

Between spoken word, original poetry, reenactments, singing, rapping, instrument playing, and excerpts read aloud – that Tuesday night was not short of encouragement from an audience of young adults all different walks of life.

Shout out once again to Tamiano Gurr, owner of Pacific Roots and fellow poet, for inspiring us all and providing a real life/offline social platform.

Sunday Fun Day: Tidepools and Whale Watching

Oct 9, 2017 | Lifestyle

There isn’t much to do

on Sundays in American Samoa.

It’s usually a day reserved for church, big to’ona’i lunches, and rest across the island.

Some friends from our “American Samoa Adventure Crew” Facebook group got together for a morning at the Vatia Tidepools, at the bottom of the National Parks’ Lower Sauma trail. We were running a bit late–our friends had just gotten out of the water and the tide was coming in. Of course, Ian jumped in anyway… so I made a GIF of him below.

After Vatia Tidepools, I got right back in the water at home. No photos but I snorkeled for a couple of hours with two other girls. Ian was hanging out onshore and realized one of the girls was swimming further out than she should have been. He kept an eye on her for a while and when he lost sight of her, he grabbed the SUP and paddled out to check on her. I stood on the treehouse and tried to find her white fins. She was caught somewhere in the waves, but it was difficult to pinpoint her a quarter mile away from shore. Ian must’ve had an eye on her just then because he held his arms in the air signaling to her in the wash. He put his nose to the waves and charged in. Soon he was in the water and she was on the board. They paddled out of the foam and made their way back to shore. She was totally okay and was a complete champ about it! She didn’t panic like I probably would have, and described the situation as if she was in a washing machine–getting spit up by the waves and pulled back with the currents. I’m so glad Ian reacted so fast to the situation! Things might have turned out very differently if he wasn’t there.

WHALE WATCHING

We showered, stuffed our faces, and hung out for about an hour, then headed over to Dustin’s place at Lealā. It’s whale season in Tutuila and Dustin’s got front row seats to the migratory giants passing by. Alanna and I were on our way to the seawall with our cameras in hand when we heard Ian yelling “WHALE! In front of you!” I was looking out further in the horizon and finally realized it was literally right in front of us, about 100 feet away from shore. We oohed and aahed over 3 whales that showed off their pectoral and fluke slapping.

Dustin and his guy gang were experimenting on some all natural wood coals. The kiddos were running around the yard making mud cakes. The lovely Ma’i grilled up some grub, and we watched the sky’s mood change to a warm soft glow.

Just another Sunday Fun Day in American Samoa.