17 October2007, Tuesday
Pago Pago, American Samoa
We are getting around on the brightly colored, wood interior and individually decorated little buses, family owned aiga buses, which run on an unscheduled service from Fagatog to outlying villages. It is an easy way to get around. Fares vary from .25 for kids to $1/pp, depending on where you are going. We spent today touring the west side of the island on these buses. Visiting the ACE Hardware, True Hardware, the Airport (twice) and the Cost U Less (branch of Costco Warehouse with no membership fee). This tour certainly was a wonderful way to see the neighborhoods of Leone, Tafuna, Faga’alu, Fagatogo and Pago Pago.
The Nu’uuli shoreline and Coconut Point was beautiful and the waters were as clear and blue as some we saw in the Society Islands. We saw one person surfing, but few were on the beaches. Use of beaches is not commonplace and wearing ones swimsuit can be a bit offensive as most of the locals who do swim, are in their knee lengthen shorts and T-shirt.
Not much cruiser social life, but no matter, we have a lot of our own stuff to get together: including starting the new school year, fixing the gooseneck, minor repairing of the Main Sail and Jib, eye exams for the girls, major restocking and provisioning and many more boat projects.
Many thanks to the assistance of my cousin, Margaret and her friends, who have made it easy for us to get some necessary chores done and underway quickly. Yes, we hit the road running upon arrival….
Optical Care for the girls: We were able to get exams with Dr. Issac Kaopua, whose office, Pacific Vision Center in Pago Plaza is within walking distance of one of the dinghy docks (Pago Gas Station). Luckily, we arrived on a day when he was on the island and had two available exam slots. He only comes to American Samoa from Hawaii once a month. So, the girls have had their exams and their new prescription glasses are on order. It will take two to three weeks to get them made in Hawaii and then sent back here. He was very professional and we would recommend his services to other cruisers. He's been serving American Samoa for thirteen years so he has examined many cruisers over the years.
Provisioning: Food prices are comparable to USA, but after the South Pacific, it feels inexpensive. Same medium size bag of bok choy sold for $5.00 in Tahiti, cost me $1.75 here. Fifty-pound sack of CALrose rice from Australia is about $16. On the other hand, a bag of frozen white tail shrimp from Thailand cost us $6.00 in Tahiti and is $25 here. We are finding less of the delicious, New Zealand apples (miss those Queens and Rose varieties), the canned butter nor the Arnott Crackers. Otherwise, I think I'll be able to find everything except tetra pak Tofu (fresh Tofu is available), molasses and real Maple syrup, but we've lived without these for a very long time so we'll survive.
Koreans and Chinese own the local stores so the product shelves contain many familiar Asian products on their shelves. And the best news is that they have a store just like Costco called Cost U Less. Walking into it we felt like we’d flashed back to the USA, South SF. As we went up and down the aisles, we caught sight of familiar brand names like Krusteas, Marie Callendars, Nestle Chocolate Chips, Kirkland, Crisco, Bisquik and others.