Fiji

Last week the paddling team traveled to Fiji for the Wai Tui Fiji Outrigger International. The Pago Pago teams had been practicing for months in preparation for this trip. Getting to Fiji required first flying to Western Samoa in the afternoon. View from the AS Airport.


We arrived in Western Samoa in the evening and had to wait until 1am for our flight to Fiji but we were excited to have fancy food at a good restaurant. I had curry prawns ... not good.


Not so excited when we arrived in Fiji at 3am to board our 3.5 hour bus ride to the city of Suva.


Where we stayed in Fiji.


Although we were pretty tired after the flight, our mascot, Lee, had enough energy for all of us.


We didn't race until the weekend so we saw a little bit of the big city in between practices and meals. Downtown Suva.


There was a huge farmers market in town, American Samoa desperately needs one of these. Not sure what these big root things are though.


Spices too!


On one of our free days we travelled to a national park near Suva that had miles of waterfalls and swimmin' holes




and plants



Included in the paddling races were various cultural events put on by the different representative countries. Here we are in our travelling uniforms. I wanted us to have bad-ass looks for the photo in order to intimidate the other paddlers but Doug and Dave didn't comply.


On the first night, the Fijians put on an elaborate kava ceremony to mark the beginning of the races.


The racing itself was fun but disappointing, my boat came in last for the sprint distances. Below is the Brisbane team entering the water.


Our team prepping for one of the races


and our women's squad heading out to drop the hammer on the competition.


Easter Sunday was spent at a great resort with nice beaches, good food, and rooms with awesome views.


Fiji beach.


On our last race day, the men had the "marathon" 26K race. We finished in 2.5 hours and got 6th out of 8 after a few boats caught us in the last 10 minutes. Exhausting stuff. Here's the men after the race with some of the women's team.


Following the marathon and the end of the tournament, there was one last thing to do ...


Jim, our other mascot, going toe to toe with the Brisbane team during one of their drinking "games".

Overall, a good trip, looking forward to more races in June.

Welcome (back) to the Rock

My tour of the continental United States is over and I am back on the island. The States were great but I only took two photos the whole trip. Above is the Southport Station in Chicago and below is my friend's baby, Alex, and, naturally, on the table is a cool refreshing can of Old Style beer.


After two weeks of cold weather I was ready to return to my island paradise but the island had other ideas and we had 7 straight days of wind and rain. Below, Rainmaker Mountain in the distance, doing what it does best.



On Thursday, the wind really picked up and wreaked havoc on the boats at the Yacht Club.



Lama, contemplating what God hath wrought.

But I leave tomorrow for Fiji and the Wai Tui Fiji Outrigger International, where hopefully the weather is better ...

Coming to America

Although technically I still live in America, I am returning to the mainland next week! For the first week I'll be in California: San Fran, interviewing candidates to be my replacement, and LA. Week two will be spent in Chicago, where I read it was 22 degrees today. Wow.

NOAA Observatory

On the far east end of the island is a NOAA observatory where the federal government does various weather studies and mind control experiments. It lies on top of a hill overlooking the ocean and besides looking like something from Lost, it has the best manicured lawn in the territory. I mean really impressive shrubbery.


A staircase led down the hill and onto the rocky point below.


The point provided nice views.



Also provided lots of big rocks to climb on.


Click on the photo and try to find the palagis among the rocks.




Looking back at the NOAA observatory hill.


After climbing around we cooled off at the village of Masefau.

Islands in the stream...

... that is what we are ... American Samoa is actually seven islands, I live on the big island of Tutuila and have visited only one other island, Ofu, during Thanksgiving. This weekend a group of us traveled the short distance to Aunu'u. It's visible from Tutuila (below) and can be reached by a 20 minute boat ride.

The first stop on our hike was quicksand lake. Below the shallow surface of the water is gen-u-ine quicksand. Prior to this weekend I didn't really believe in quicksand and thought it only existed in Atari games and movies. Here is Vojik contemplating the murky morass.

Testing out the quicksand, yes, you do sink


The best part of the hike were the tide pools


The waves made this side of the pools not safe for swimming.


Nature's jacuzzi, which provided a nice break after a few hours of hiking.


The group enjoying the view


Pieces of a shipwreck still sitting on the beach


After the hike we visited a shop in town for some cool drinks and were visited by some island children...


and their siblings.


The postcard-ready Aunu'u dock, where we waited for our ride home.


Motoring back to Tutuila, meditating on the complicated melancholy relationship of the American Samoa islands.