Blogs from Samoa, Oceania - page 12

Sunday 11 February During three days at sea we crossed the Equator, marked by King Neptune and his Mermaids coming on board. Tuesday 13 February Today we did American Samoa - got the T-shirt and the fridge magnet! American Samoa is the only US territory south of the equator, 2600 miles from Hawaii, lying between Fiji and Tahiti. Tutuila, the largest of the seven islands that comprise American Samoa, is a pretty, volcanic island, green and verdant, surrounded by a coral reef ecosystem. Its harbour, named Pago Pago, is one of the largest natural harbours in the South Pacific. It is seriously hot and humid. The Polynesian inhabitants are proud of their culture and we were welcomed with fruit punch and a display of island music, song and dance. We travelled round in colourful little buses ... read more

Day 23 - February 6, 2007, Tuesday, At Sea Bound for Pago Pago Time: 8:15 am (1:15 pm CST) Latitude: 15 degrees 40.14 minutes S Longitude: 162 degrees 49.94 minutes W Speed: 20 knots average Winds: 13.2 knots Distance traveled from FLL: 8174 nautical miles Weather: 84 degrees / 83% humidity, Cloudy with rain showers Well we are at sea again today and it’s a toss up whether to try and accomplish any school or not. The ship has a full schedule for us today. We have a Ship bridge tour scheduled for today (yeah!), a port talk for Suva, Fiji and Explorations Speaker series talks on Rainforests, and one on Ocean waves, entitled From Cat’s Paw to “Perfect Storm”. Oh, I can’t forget lunch—a favorite of the boys, a Mongolian Cookout where you can choose ... read more

Wed 18thOct Sydney Airport is an untidy place, not like tiny Adelaide Airport. We had to catch a bus to the International terminal because the domestic terminal is so far away. We were hungry so we had lunch – Sushi, would you believe! It wasn’t the best and I actually felt sick after and think I had a minor bout of food poisoning combined with flying nerves. I felt better after about an hour and could force myself to get on the next plane. Phil has hired a DVD player and is watching animated movies. At the moment, we are flying over the Pacific Ocean and it is slowly getting dark. We have already changed the time on our watches to Samoan time. It is now 9.00pm but back in Adelaide it would still be 5.33pm. ... read more

Well, I spent the last week on the beautiful island of Samoa in the South Pacific. On first arriving I was just taken with how beautiful the country was. It is surrounded by the most beautiful blue water and is made up of rugged volcanic mountains with incredibly lush rain forest and jungle everywhere. I made my way to the capital of Apia. As I was driving along you start to notice the different villages that make up the island. There are about 300 villages total on the islands and are made up of extended families. You start to notice the homes that make up each of the villages. They are open sided dwellings that are called fale. Each family lives in one large room with upwards of 10 people in one home. Some of the ... read more

Next stop was the then Western Samoa (now just Samoa), and first cab off the rank was the legendary Aggie Grey's Hotel in the capital Apia. The hotel's been there since 1933. Its eponymous founder was a very well known local figure on whom the character Bloody Mary in the movie South Pacific is believed to have been based. She only passed away in 1988 at the ripe old age of 91. The ever reliable Wikipedia tells us that Marlon Brando, Gary Cooper, William Holden, Dorothy Lamour and Raymond Burr have all stayed at Aggies, and it housed the crew of the movie "Return to Paradise", starring Cooper, when it was filmed in Samoa in 1953. This all sounds impressive and romantic, and it probably is, but all I was after was a better experience than ... read more