DATE: Saturday, January 6, 2018
SITE: Amalau Bay, American Samoa
MAX DEPTH: 60ft
DIVE BUDDIES: Ian, Tori, Alice, Marsik, Kelley, Renee
NOTES: Huge porites coral. Saw a ~5ft Humphead Wrasse(!). First dive using new BCD – works great!
Adulting is hard. I only got Christmas Day and New Years Day off, and I sorely miss the days when winter holidays meant 3 weeks of vacation. So to maximize the feel of vacation this time around, I started my New Year 2018 with…
It was really my day 24 advent Christmas gift to Ian. Booked our tickets and planned it with our friends, Paolo and Mareike. It would be a surf trip for the boys, and a girls trip for the ladies.
Landed at Fagali’i Airport and met up with Mareike and Paolo who were already there waiting for us. There’s nothing quite like seeing familiar faces when you’re traveling. We filled up on brunch at Home Cafè, topped up the gas on the Rav4 rental, and headed for the eastern coast to scout waves and find a beach fale to stay the night. We kept driving south until we found a spot that met our basic needs. A cheap beach fale accommodation called Sina PJs and nearby, waves for days.
High five brotha man!
The air was warm wet and completely still… great conditions for surf. The spot was called Salas (or Jaws – I’m not sure which is which). Ian and Paolo started paddling out from the beach and got lucky. A boat came out to pick them up and took them right up to the waves. A couple of hours later the tide receded into the evening and they stayed out just a little longer hoping for more waves. They were grinning ear to ear when they got back, even after the long paddle in, talking stories of getting tubed.
We grabbed a few beers at the shanty store down the road and hung out at the fale reading and swatting at mosquitoes. The book I’m reading is called “Jaguars Ripped My Flesh: Adventure is a Risky Business” by Tim Cahill, a founding editor of Outside Magazine. It seemed like an appropriate title for the trip.
Our hosts made us a delicious curry dinner which I devoured. Mareike wasn’t feeling too great, so the boys made another run to the store to pick up good ol’ Pepto Bismol. And we called it a night.
Remember that rainbow earlier on? It tricked us a little because later in the evening, the clouds got darker and we saw streaks of lightning in the cumulonimbus in the distance.
It rained hard that night, and our thatched roofs must have not been in use for a while because we woke up in the middle of the night to water droplets leaking all over. We had to move our mats and mosquito net to find a dry patch, and lightning and thunder were going off like crazy less than a mile away. It was a quite a wake up call. So needless to say we were pretty restless and slept in the next morning.
We woke up slow and enjoyed an egg on toast and koko rice breakfast from our hosts. It was New Years Eve so we decided to settle in at Matareva Beach Fales to ring in the New Year. The place was likely named after the fictional island of Matareva from the 1953 Return to Paradise film (my favorite oldie movie!!!). We swam and played cards. Drank piña coladas. The bartender convinced the guys to paddle out in the waves right there at Matareva. It was a short paddle but wasn’t that good since it was onshore and kept closing out before anyone could even take off on one. The name ‘Boneyard’ is suitable. The guys were bummed but being the awesome girlfriends that Mareike and I are, we fired their stoke and pushed them to try again back at Salas/Jaws which was a 20 minute drive away, and you’ll be happy to know it was worth it. The guys surfed until their arms gave out and Mareike and I went over to Coconuts for a little girl time and fancy drinks. The Tokelau Teaser drink was the perfect cool down.
Teaching them how to play Sweepie
We got back to Matareva just in time for a late dinner and I stuffed my face silly. Then the night began. It was New Years Eve after all. The host family invited their extended family and put on a traditional Fiafia Night, full of siva ma le pese. My favorite was the siva afi, or fire dancing. They prefaced the performance with a lesson on making fires in a dried coconut husk, and explained how important it was for them to pass down this knowledge to their children. And then a little boy about 8 years old came out and gave a show stopping performance. It was so cool.
This kid’s face takes the cake!
The older guy shows the kid how it’s done, blue flames and all
The night closed off on a very grateful note. We gathered together in a “Circle of Love” and went around saying a few words to reflect back on the year and thank our hosts Tavita and Fia for their Samoan hospitality. And before we knew it, it was 10 seconds on the countdown! HAPPY NEW YEAR! We cheered, kissed and greeted each other. The moon was full and all were in good spirits. It was a good way to end the day. I took my first shower of 2018 and crawled under the mosquito net in our beach fale, and had the best sleep I’ve had in recent memory.
In the morning, music was blaring from an aiga bus that arrived chock full of day visitors. I was already awake, reading in bed while Ian snoozed on. We headed to the main fale for breakfast and played several rounds of cards. We decided that Matareva is the new Taufua so we were staying another night. The only problem was that with so many day visitors they planned to rent out the fales for the day, so we decided to pack our stuff back into the car and venture out for the day until the tide came in.
Taking photos while Ian is passed out sleeping
We barely spent any money except on our accommodations and a few Vailimas, so we went on a little spending spree (not really) and chowed down on some good food and ginger mojitos at Sinalei. We realized we were actually low on cash and were relieved to find out that Matareva accepted credit cards. There were no ATMs on Upolu south so this was really great news. We toasted – manuia! – to good company and proceeded down to the pier. I’m not a big ‘jumper’ so I hung back (also because my bikini was back at the car; read as ‘excuse’) for a bit while everyone else kawabunga’d off over and over. We all read and napped for a bit and Ian finally got me to get up and jump off. I saw a video of myself jumping, and not gonna lie, I look like my 2 year old nephew does when he jumps into the pool. Kinda stoked but kinda terrified, hahah.
The tide was coming in so we went over to Coconuts next door and got chased out of the pool since we weren’t technically guests. Ian and Paolo went back to Salas/Jaws (can someone please clarify what the name is?!) and Mareike and I relished in another round of fancy drinks – no straw please. Tokelau Teaser again for me and Tahiti Tickler for Mareike. It’s so fun to gab about our lives over these pretty names for drinks. We lost track of time, and surprisingly the guys came back a little early. We drove back to Matareva, took photos on the beach with new friends, enjoyed dinner… and what did we do the rest of the night? We played cards like we hadn’t been playing all weekend long.
These taro fries were killaaaa
The smiling lady at the Coconuts bar. I was mostly eyeing the bananas.
New Year dips and kisses
^ Always a good idea to get jumpin’
And little Bill being the diva/rockstar he is >
I woke up way too early. My alarm went off at 5am thinking it was a work day. Not yet. It’s our last day of vacation before we’re back to the grind tomorrow. But I didn’t go back to sleep. I meditated in the Samoan sunrise. Journaled for half an hour in the hammock under the coconut trees. And read while Ian snoozed on till breakfast. We settled our bill, packed the car back up for the last time, and said our ‘not goodbye, but see you laters’ to our hosts Tavita, Fia, and the boys Tom, Walter and Bill. On the way out, we took some film photos as souvenirs.
After about an hour of driving, we were back in town. We wanted to stop by the market and visit a couple of shops, but everything was closed. Apparently, lucky Samoa gets Jan 2 off. Only The Edge by the marina was open so we chilled out there, ordered lattes, lunch and milkshakes, and played sweepie for the last couple hours of our trip. Then it was back to the airport, crossed the international date line, and we were back at January 1 in American Samoa. Home sweet home.
My little family has grown so much in the last few years. I met my boyfriend, he brought home a stray kitten he named Officer Scruffles, and more recently we’ve adopted our favorite pup Yodi. We’re head over heels paws in love with our unlikely family of drifters.
Christmas Day was sheer perfection. Read more about what we did in my post here.
We took some family photos doing what we love – hanging out in the ocean!
Yodi is a natural in the water. She grew up here at Coconut Point so she’s always swimming whenever we go out. And in case you didn’t know, Officer Scruffles does in fact swim. Photo or it didn’t happen? If you want to see him in action, check out my Instagram video here, where he jumps into the ocean for a swim.
Ian paddled out with Officer on the kayak
I took the stand up paddle board and Yodi swam
Ian jumped into the cool blue water
While I hung out with Officer on the flotilla
A curious Officer going back and forth between the SUP and kayak
Another family photo in action!
The brave Scruffles. Officer Scruffles.
Saw a shark(!!!) for the first time in the water (not pictured). And a bunch of sea turtles <3
Ian took this rad shot of us all heading home
Moffman and the Officer kayak surfing in the small waves!
It’s the week between two of my favorite holidays – Christmas and New Year – so it’s only natural that the best thing that happened this week was Christmas Day. It was just a perfect day. Breakfast on the balcony (my fave). And our last day of advent gifts. Bittersweet because it’s been so fun to give and get little thoughtful gifts daily!
And I just want to share… YOU GUYS, I got a BCD! It was hilarious – we opened our envelope of clues and I could not for the life of me figure out where my gift was. Ian gave me a hint. I could see it from where I was standing. I scanned the entire house and still nothing. Ian started laughing harder and I followed his eyes OUTSIDE – and finally laid my eyes on a gift FLOATING in the lagoon! I ran out and saw my gift was atop a boogie board tied up to a nearby mangrove. I kind of already knew what it was, and I was beyond thrilled when I tore it open right then and there. A shiny new BCD that fit perfectly! We already made plans to go SUPing so next week, I’m starting 2018 off with a scuba dive!
We joined our friends and neighbors for a community brunch. Ian made baby back ribs, mmm! Then we all gathered on the beach for a group photo to be shared with fam and friends near and far.
And probably the best part of the day was out on the water. I wanted to take a ‘family photo’ and since our pets are known for their love of the ocean, we grabbed our SUP and kayak and took Yodi and Officer Scruffles out for a swim. We hung out just beyond the reef. I saw a shark for the first time in the wild!!! A friendly black tip reef shark, so no biggie really, but it still made my heart pump. And swam with a bunch of sea turtles. Like I said, it was perfect.
Here’s a sneak peek of our family photos, (and you can find the rest of them by clicking here).
Thank you Louise for helping take these photos!
And while I’m writing this, I want to give a shout out to the Man with the plan, the Reason for the season, Jesus Christ. Thank you for your life that gave me mine. And thanks for another beautiful day.
Breakfast. Ian took the moto out to buy bread while I fried some eggs.
The north wind on the porch has been so refreshing.
Opened our second to last advent gifts. Snazzy speaker for me and Surf trip for Ian.
Tidied up the house, and Ian worked on my car.
Went SUPing past the reef and saw 7 turtles. 7 wishes.
Yodi swam out with us. Such a beautiful calm day. I got a tan.
Last minute groceries and gift wrapping.
Church Christmas service, games, and filipino food. Mom and dad are back.
Home by midnight, and obligatory family photo.
zZz, see you tomorrow!
A super cute night, all lit up with Christmas magic at Aoloau. I’m so glad that I’m not the only one who felt super Christmas-y this year, because the entire village of Aoloau got together and each family decorated a “tree” made up of lights and garlands along the road up to the lookout that oversees the Tafuna plains.
xoxo
2017 Samoana Jazz & Arts Festival
Day 1 at Tradewinds Hotel Pavilion
Day 2 at Sadies by the Sea Hotel
Day 3 at Tisa’s Barefoot Beach & Bar
Photos sponsored by Bluesky
This was my 3rd year as the official photographer for the Samoana Jazz & Arts Festival. And even though I see many of the same faces year after year, and have made friends with the musicians, I still get nervous to take the stage and put on the “Official Photographer” badge. I’m always worried I’m blocking people’s view, or being a bother, or that I look like I don’t know what I’m doing. I always wear all black (something I learned from my time working for GradImages) to not draw attention to myself. And it really helped to take photos and meet the new musicians at the mixer event the night before, so I was familiar with who the musicians were, and they were aware that I’d be invading the stage periodically to take their photos. Last year I took almost all the photos without a flash, which is ridiculous. This year I brought my Altura external flash and brought a bunch of extra AA batteries just in case. The photos turned out SO much better thanks to the flash. Here is a clickable gallery of photos for the 3-day Jazz festival. Photos sponsored by Bluesky.
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.
Yodi has always been comfortable in the ocean. Since she was a pup, she’s followed us on our paddle boards and spent multiple hours swimming alongside us, even beyond the reef. A couple weekends ago, we took Yodi on her first adventure away from the ocean, at the Nu’uuli Waterfall. We crossed the river and cut through some overgrown brush to get there and Yodi was a bit cautious at first. Her senses heightened when we got to the loud waterfall falling in waves in front of us. But as soon as Ian got in the water she jumped in comfortably and chased fresh water fish for the rest of our time there.
Home is one of those words that have multiple meanings for me.
I think of a house, someplace cozy, a warm and comfortable bed.
It’s where I want to be on a rainy day.
It’s in the arms of my love.
It’s this tropical island that I’ve always known.
The faces and places that are etched into my heart.
Today, my home is a sunny little apartment at Coconut Point. Ian and I are of the mentality that our home is our nesting place, our sanctuary, our favorite place on this island — so we’ve put a lot of love into really making this our home. And now that we have pets, it’s got extra love!
* Yodi and Officer Scruffles
* All the plants, especially the ones that feed us!
* The bookshelf
* Every room has functional table space
* The balcony feels like a little jungle
* Our DIY workbench
* All the art supplies I’ve somehow accumulated
* The pot of fins, masks, and snorkels
* Living next to the ocean so we can go snorkeling or take our boards out whenever we fancy
* Having neighbors that are also your friends
* The king size bed and all the comfy blankets and pillows
* Air conditioning on hot days
* Ian’s toolboxes
* Our list of goals on the wall
* Christmas lights we keep up whether it’s Christmas or not
* The view out of every window
* Our DIY island on wheels
* The bed desk is soooo useful
* The cast iron pans we make absolutely everything on
Earlier this week I drew out a floor plan while I was thinking about what to write, and this morning I decided to digitally illustrate it! I liked it so much I decided to share it with you 🙂 It took me a few hours to complete but doing this really made me appreciate all the details (that I didn’t draw out) and made me think about my home as not just this physical space with walls and a roof but also as my fortress where I can feel safe and at peace no matter what else is going on in this crazy world.
Who doesn’t love cute family photos? I haven’t done a family session in a while, so I was excited to get a request from Faafua for to take photos of her beautiful family, as a Christmas gift for her husband Joey.
We met up at Sliding Rock just after 5pm last Saturday and the sun was still about 10 degrees from falling below the horizon. It was a quick session filled with smiles and giggles as baby Alava would run around and stick her toes in the little tide pools.
One of my favorite bits of this session was taking photos of their oldest daughter Tia. She is a beautiful young girl and adorably shy in front of the camera. I asked her to smile and she gave a timid grin. So the awesome father that Joey is, he jumped beside her, and wrapped the garland around him to mimic her pose with silly faces. Her eyes lit up and her smile brightened as I clicked away and LOL’d with Fua at the hilarious scene.
And just before sunset, I snapped a few photos of the beautiful and strong Faafua. She’s one of those cool moms who loves her family fiercely and unconditionally. And she’s a heck of a baker too! Thank you Fua for allowing me to be a part of this special memory. Your family is so blessed to have you.
Haven’t had too many chances lately to go SUPing with the winter winds in American Samoa.
It calmed down just a little bit on Friday and the ebb tide was just high enough when I got home from work so I grabbed my board, paddled against the current, and realized later that I forgot my board leash.
Floated back to shore just before dark.
After paddling, and Ian getting back from checking out the surf on the stretch, we sat down at Tradewinds to say our goodbyes to new friends who were leaving the island, and came back home for fun game night with the neighbors.
CONFESSION:
Before I went to bed that night, I had a mini break down because I suddenly felt a wave of sadness that the only thing I was looking forward to lately was the weekend. And when I say I had a mini break down, what I mean is that I was feeling a little frustrated with my day to day routine… and there’s nothing wrong with routine, but I was getting bored with just getting up for work, spending hours at a desk, eating (and not exercising), binge watching Netflix shows, and spending more late night hours behind a screen. There’s a smattering of other fun things that I usually do in between all the routine that keep me going, but like I mentioned in another post, I’m still learning to live slow. Doing more meaningful things that inspire me and keep me motivated instead of crossing things off a list just because. I always feel better with my camera in hand so this weekend I’m going to cherish the moments and take snaps that make me feel. I want to live consciously and live my life with care. I’m sorry for blabbing, but now that I’m over it I just wanted to share… it’s not always rainbows and butterflies. Sometimes you gotta be the caterpillar in a cocoon, and eventually you’ll break free from the chrysalis and fly away.