Tisa's Barefoot Bar, the Hot Spot in Town


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Oceania » Samoa » Tutuila
October 20th 2015
Published: September 5th 2017
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Geo: -14.24, -170.72

We're up at 6:30am for a tour around part of the island of Tutuila ending at Tisa's Barefoot Bar for lunch and snorkeling. This port has a pier so there is no tendering. After breakfast, we exit the ship a little after 8 and meet up with Tisa. There's about 20 of us going and we board an open air mini bus for our ride around the island. It's actually an small pickup truck with the bed removed and a bus body installed. From what we see here, all buses here in Samoa are like that.

Seated on thinly upholstered benches, we leave town, traveling on a worn out road around the bay. We pass the StarKist Tuna plant where most of the island's population is employed in some way or another. We cruise along the coast while our guide acquaints us with a bit of information about Pago Pago.

During World War II, thousands of marines trained on the idyllic isles of American Samoa. Today, the natives are U.S. nationals, but not citizens. From 1878 to 1951, the isle of Tutuila, which features the splendid Pago Pago harbor, was the site of a coaling and repair station for the United States Navy. Recently, on September 29, 2009, an earthquake struck in the South Pacific near American Samoa, sending a tsunami into Pago Pago and surrounding areas. The tsunami created moderate to severe damage to villages, buildings and vehicles and caused an unknown number of deaths. He tells us that the tsunami hit 8 minutes after the earthquake. We find that El Niño is affecting conditions here in Samoa. During this October, it has rained on every day but 3 and we are lucky it's not raining today. The water temperature is only 79F right now but can rise into the upper 80s. Sounds quite comfortable to me.

We get to Tisa's place, check it out and then try out snorkeling. It's not a lagoon but right on the ocean front with waves and strong currents. We don't venture far from the beach since we're trying our snorkeling gear out here. We purchased water shoes before leaving home and they work great on the crushed coral beneath our feet. Mom tries her mask and is comfortable with it. I swim around some, take a few pictures and call it a day. A sandy beach never makes for a good snorkeling site with all the sand suspended in the water but we used the opportunity to practice. They have a water pipe on the beach which works to clean our equipment and rinse off. Then it's up to the deck again and prepare for lunch. Mom buys me a T-shirt and herself a Piña Colada while I photograph our hosts preparing the food from a natural oven in the ground.

Lunch is served. Ham, chicken, pork, breadfruit, spinach with coconut and plantain served on a banana leaf. Eaten with our hands, the food was indigenous to the islands and delicious. While eating, a group of Holland America ship hands show up and head down to the beach. There were musicians, singers, some cabin attendants and even the cruise director, Gene. It turns out this is the hotspot in town for food, drink and beach. We hung for a while, visiting with other cruise passengers until Tisa summons us all to the bus for the 20 minute ride back to the ship.

Since our dock location is in the middle of town, the bus drops us off on the main drag of Pago Pago and Mom checks out a little store and buys two shirts for $5 each. We also wander through the temporary flea market set up just for the cruise ship. It seems that there's not much there and we return to the Amsterdam.

There's a sail away party 5:30-6:30 but we pass and instead head early to the La Fontaine dining room for dinner. We're seated with a couple we've dined with before and another couple from Minnesota. Both of us had the rock fish and although I found it wasn't my favorite, the blueberry crumb cake made up for it. With dinner behind us, we find seats for a repeat of the Heather Sullivan show and then back to our stateroom. We have to be up again tomorrow for Apia and we lose an hour of sleep tonight as we set our clocks forward one hour. The alarm is set for 6:30am.


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25th October 2015

Looks like a great trip . I think I may have lost 20 pounds by the time I would have returned. I would never eat all that stuff they are serving as food. And eating off a leaf really? No thanks ! lol. I'll pass You two are adventurous
for sure .

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