The Lion King!

This weekend the community college presented the Broadway production of the The Lion King. As a result of high demand for musical theater and overall lack of entertainment on the island we were denied tickets both nights. Instead, we settled for eating ice cream at the gas station in town.

The 9th Circuit visits the territory

Last week we were visited by judges Dean Pregerson of the Central District of California and Wallace Tashima of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Every two years the High Court conducts an appellate session for the island and 2 off-island federal judges are appointed to hear these cases. On the last day of the session the court held a party for the judges and their clerks and treated them to some Samoan culture: siva (traditional dancing) and fire knife dancing (below). Above is Chase, Judge Pregerson and Judge Pregerson's clerk trying to keep up with the siva dancers.


The next day the court's marshall, Nix, arranged for Judge Tashima and the clerks to go out on the marine patrol boat and circle around the island. The police boat is a fast Zodiac that supposedly can circle the entire island in less than an hour. Below is our pilot and another officer.


Officer Fonzy.


The officers flanking Judge Tashima as we leave Pago Harbor.


The trip provided some great views of the island and I saw areas on the north side that are otherwise inaccessible by car.





The crew after disembarking the boat. It was a great tour of the island and only one passenger ended up baptizing the boat (not me). From left: Marshall Nix, clerk Dan, clerk Josh, clerk Ned, officer #1, Judge Tashima, officer #2, clerk Chase.

Fun with technology

I found this program on the Internet that makes posters out of digital photos. Above is a collage of random Samoa photos that haven't made it to the blog yet. Click on the image for a closer inspection.

Flag Day!

April 17 each year marks the anniversary of American Samoa becoming a U.S. Territory and heralds the biggest event on the calendar. It was on this date in 1900 that Captain B. F. Tilley of the U.S. Navy raised the American Flag on Samoan soil and American Samoa as a U.S. Territory was born. The day is marked by different cultural events but the biggest for me were the Fautasi races. About a dozen villages race 45-man row boats in Pago Pago harbor for cash prizes and bragging rights. We watched from one point in the harbor that was occupied by Nu'uuli villagers, supporting their boat the Satani (Satan).

Below, this Satani fan didn't think much of us, notice the stink eye.


Another Satani supporter waiting for his boat to come by. Satani would finish 3rd.


4th place


5th place


Last place, the Seahawk.


Some artsy harbor shots of the boats racing in.



In celebration of Flag Day and the upcoming Earth Day, I'll end with 2 nice nature shots from the territory.

Fijian Ghosts

One of the nights in Fiji we ate at a restaurant that was weird and creepy but was the only place open, yet was devoid of customers. It had a banquet hall straight out of The Shining and so we decided to take ghost photos, here are the results.


The next day we found out Fijians never eat at this place because they actually believe it is haunted...spooky.