Tuesday – October 9, 2018
We had two days at sea aboard the Golden Princess. The Pacific was relatively calm; the air was warm and humid.
Most of our fellow passengers seemed to be lounging around the pools. We busied ourselves with trivia contests, listened to books-on-tape, did some laundry, enjoyed leisurely meals talking to fellow passengers, visited an “Outlet Sale,” cheered contestants in the Scrap Heap Boat Building Finals, relaxed, and watched a show one evening which featured a hypnotist.
This morning, the ship arrived at the the city of Pago Pago (pronounced “Pahngo Pahngo”) on the island of Tutuilia, which is the main island of American Samoa. This was another chain of volcanic islands strewn across the Pacific Ocean. A large tugboat came out to help the ship negotiate the buoys.
The harbor of Pago Pago is supposed to be the most protected commercial deep-water harbor in the Pacific. It is home to two of the largest tuna companies in the world. The Golden Princess maneuvered up to a dock which was shorter than the ship.
After we docked, we walked down the gangplank with other passengers. I noticed that the local men wore wrap-around skirts. The two security guards who posed with a passenger wore formal “skirts,” other men wore skirts which had bright colors and floral patterns. The women wore floral print cotton dresser with sleeves.
The word was out that the only place with free WiFi was the local McDonald’s, a short walk away from the port. We went there and joined the crowd of other passengers who were attempting to get connected.
After a while, we gave up trying to get on the WiFi and went out to explored the small tropical town. There wasn’t much to see except run-down buildings. The island was another extinct volcano and the protected harbor was the former caldera of the volcano. Later, we returned to Micky D’s and were able to connect to WiFi. We happily retrieved and sent email to our family.
Local Samoans had a semi-permanent market set up on a grassy patch of land. They sold souvenirs, t-shirts, and trinkets for cruise ship passengers and tourists.
Mount Pioa, also known as “Rainmaker Mountain” provides Pago Pago with the highest annual rainfall of any harbor in the world. Fortunately for us, the mountain wasn’t working today and it didn’t rain all day. But the weather was warm and very humid.
After we returned to the ship, we sat on one of the upper decks and watched the Golden Princess sail out of the harbor. The tugboat and pilot boat went back to the pier and as we cruised back out onto the Pacific Ocean there was a magnificent sun set over the island of Tutuilia.
