Head Ranger Pua Tuaua, resplendent in his National Park Service lavalava, gave us an overview of the Park (of course, we had already visited the units in Ofu and Tutuila).
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| Head Ranger Pua, flat hat and all |
Then, he presented each of us with a certificate.
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| Linda getting her certificate, then Bill and Susan (I don't know why they didn't each get their own) |
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| A big moment for me |
Even though I had stamped my passport the first day we visited, I felt it was important to restamp on this day.
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| Ceremonial stamping |
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| Success!!! |
SiapoIn the photos, you can see a giant siapo cloth behind us. At the Visitor Center, we saw a film about how this incredible material is made.
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| The one that hangs in the Visitor Center |
Siapo, also called tapa cloth or simply tapa, is a barkcloth made from the inner bark of paper mulberry or breadfruit trees.
In was primarily used for clothing, burial shrouds, bed covers, curtains and ceremonial garments before being replaced by modern textiles.
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| Traditional siapo clothing; Left: PICRYL; Right: Wordpress |
It is still used for ceremonies and is often given as a gift at weddings, funerals and formal events.
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| Siapo; Left: Denver Museum of Art; Right: Spencer Museum of Art |
It is an arduous multi-step process: The paper mulberry tree (u'a) is harvested when the trunk is one to two inches in diameter; the outer bark stripped off with a sharp knife (or, as shown below, sharp teeth); the inner bark layer is moistened and scraped with clam shells to remove remaining bark or green growth and to soften and spread the fibers; the bark is beaten with a wooden mallet (i'e) over a wooden anvil (tutua) to make it softer and wider; and then the u'a is stretched out flat to dry.
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| Making the bark cloth; Photos: Wordpress |
After it dries, the u’a placed on a board known as an upeti that has a design carved into it; the u’a is rubbed with a pad of dye to bring out the design; red clay is used to darken the design; the u'a is wiped with starchy arrowroot adhesive; and small holes are patched with additional u’a and adhesive. Then, a second layer of u'a is placed on top of the first; the rubbing process repeated; and the piece is then lifted off the board and left to dry.
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| Patching undyed cloth; Photo: NPS |
Once dried again, the design on the u'a is highlighted by painting over sections with dye. Larger pieces can be created by joining smaller sections together.
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| Artists working on the siapo we saw; Photos: NPS |
Thirteen symbolic design elements were traditionally used in siapo, including plants, flowers, birds, the trochus shell, starfish and nets. The elements are combined into many patterns. Dyes are made from the blood tree (brown);
burned candlenuts (black); lipstick tree (red) and turmeric (yellow). Purple, made with the sap of a banana tree, is no longer used.
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| This design is more abstract |
Siapo production in American Samoa decreased after World War II when many Samoans migrated to Hawai’i and the U.S. mainland. Those who stayed adopted western culture and abandoned many cultural practices. Now, siapo is made by only a few people, mainly for the tourist trade, and is quite expensive.
More Misses
Our itinerary said we would visit the National Marine Sanctuary's Tauese P.F. Sunia Ocean Center, but it was closed for Juneteenth. Ironic that American Samoa celebrates a holiday about the end of slavery a half a world and over a century away when I seldom see anything closed for Juneteenth at home. But, then, many Samoans are Federal employees.
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| I wish we could have gone; Photos: Tauese P.F. Sunia Ocean Center |
The Center has exhibits on the value of coral reefs, ocean ecosystems, Samoan cultural ties to coral reefs and natural and human threats to reefs. One of the main exhibits at the Ocean Center is the Science On a Sphere®. This room-sized global display system uses computers and video projectors to display planetary data onto a six-foot diameter sphere.
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Science On a Sphere®; Photo: Tauese P.F. Sunia Ocean Center
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When I worked at the Space Foundation in Colorado Springs, we had a Science On a Sphere®, so that would have been cool.
Next we were supposed to take a walking tour of Fagatogo, the downtown area of Pago Pago. Located at the foot of Matafao Peak, it was the location of the first American settlement on Tutuila Island. We didn’t. Perhaps also because of the holiday. I don’t know.
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| Fagatogo; Photo: Wikipedia |
The town of Fagatogo was the administrative center of the U.S. Naval Station Tutuila from 1900 to1951. Only 14 of Fagatogo’s original 105 naval structures remain. Most are on the National Register of Historic Places.
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| The church we attended is in Fagatogo |
Instead, we went to tour a local organic farm. This was quite odd. Peter said it was something new he was trying. We started walking along a narrow path beside a chain-link fence surrounding a water tank while a very nervous teen-aged girl showed us a variety of herbs and medicinal plants growing rather free-form beds.
Then, behind the tank, the plot of land dropped into a deep valley and we started to descend a slippery stone trail over which a stream plunged to create a waterfall.
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| It would have been fine with the right shoes and a walking stick (maybe) |
We were heading to the owner’s home for tea, but the trail was really treacherous and none of us had the right shoes or walking sticks or any interest in plunging to our deaths. So, we aborted the visit.
Peter apologized, admitting that he had not ever been down the trail at the farm.
We returned to Sadie’s by the Sea where we had more free time. Since the waves were much calmer, Caty and I decided to try snorkeling in Sadie’s lagoon.
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| Well, it was calm! |
It was disappointingly murky, so we aborted that as well. I am not sure if it is always so murky, but that may have been a holdover from the previous two weeks of rough surf.
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| We saw fish (that's a Vagabond Butterflyfish), but the water was kind of creepy |
That night we went to a different restaurant (I can't recall the name). It was one of those laughable situations where they were out of many items on the menu and the waitress (bless her heart) didn’t seem to know much about the offerings (or the difference between red and white wine). After rescinding my fish sandwich order because I don’t like swordfish (the waitress didn’t mention that they were subbing swordfish for tilapia until long after I had ordered, so I had to call her back to make the change), I got pizza that was really quite good. It was a fun evening that made us miss Goat Island Café.
A Final Walk
The next morning, we returned to the National Park for a guided hike with Ranger Pua to get a better look at the base of Pola Island.
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| Looking down toward our goal |
It was hot and sticky with occasional sprinkles.
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| Probably the most humid weather we encountered |
But, the trail was relatively easy ...
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| Bill, Linda and Jim starting out on the hike |
... until we got to the bottom that went steeply down some rocks to a rocky beach.
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| At the bottom |
Along the trail, Pua showed us ruins of ancient peoples, the first we had seen in American Samoa.
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| Because most homes were made of organic materials, little remains |
There was actually little to view: an ancient grinding stone, known as a foaga, and an almost undiscernible foundation.
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| Samoans used foaga to make basalt stone tools and weapons like adzes and axes |
The trail went through true jungle ...
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| Palms and ferns |
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| Impressive roots |
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| Thickets and dense trees |
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| Yellow Crazy Ants, named for their their frantic, erratic movements |
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| Green, green, green |
Along the path got a better look at the futu seed – the one that paralyzes fish.  |
| The poisonous futu plant |
The locals would grind the futu seeds on lava rock to create a pulp that was placed in fishing areas during low tide, after which the poisoned fish float up to the surface to be harvested by the villagers. Apparently, eating fish caught using this method is safe for humans because the active toxins do not accumulate in harmful amounts, though ingesting the raw seeds or concentrated plant pulp directly is toxic.
When we reached the bottom of the trail, about half of us opted not to climb down the rocks to the shore. We could see fine from where we were.
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| There's a sea arch at the end of the beach |
The rocky beach was interesting. Listen to this video to hear the interesting sound the surf made as it rolled the rocks around.
Up at the trailhead, I finally got a photo of a Many-colored Fruit-Dove. It was a female, which is not as colorful as the male, but it was still beautiful.
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| Thanks, Caty, for spotting it! |
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| And, we also saw another Pacific Kingfisher |
Farewell
That evening, we had a farewell dinner back at the Goat Island Café before leaving to catch our late-night flight back to Honolulu.
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| Our home away from home |
It was nice that OTBP arranged for us to keep our rooms until we had to leave for the airport so that we could repack and shower.
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| Goodbye, Pago Pago |
The airport was one final reminder of the role of family in Samoan society. I swear that every employee at the Pago Pago airport knew – or even more common, was related to – every Samoan who was flying out that night. This included gate agents, immigration officers, TSA agents and flight crews. Lots of hugs and personal conversations. It was crazy.
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| I understand it is crowded for every departing flight |
Our flight was an overnight: we left at 9:20 p.m. and arrived in Honolulu at 5:45 a.m.
Once there, we went through immigration (even though we were traveling from a U.S. territory to a U.S. state), retrieved our bags and went to another terminal to collect gear Caty had stored at the airport. We then checked in for our 9:35 a.m. flight to Kona, where we met up with Becca, who had arrived the night before.
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| The ocean as we were landing |
We'll talk about Kona next.
Trip dates: June 7 - 29, 2026
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