Saturday morning a group of about 13 of us decided to take a trip to Anu'u, which is a small island off the east coast of our island of Tutuila. We all decided to meet at Aaron and Naomi's house before we set sail on our Saturday adventure. They live on the east side of the island and knowing the drinking habits of this group, there was no way everyone would be on time for a 10:00 am departure. Slowly but surely, everyone trickled in. Aaron made real coffee, which was a treat since most places in American Samoa only sell the instant stuff. As we waited for everyone to arrive, we sat out on their porch, which overlooks the ocean. It was so peaceful I could have sat there looking at that view all day. Eventually everyone arrived and we made our way to the docks where we took a water taxi across the ocean. Our water taxi and the docks:
Here's a view of Anu'u from the water taxi as the ride over begins:
And although this isn't from my trip, here's a video of the water taxi ride to Anu'u:
I know what you're thinking...beautiful view, crystal clear water, ocean breeze blowing in your hair, what more could you ask for, right? Well, let's just say I have a "small" fear of open water and the big blue ocean. So while everyone else was enjoying the scenic boat ride, I was white knuckling the railing with my stomach in my throat and praying the boat wouldn't wouldn't flip over with the next gust of wind. Normally for that short of a ride I think I'd be fine, but this boat felt like it weighed about 10 pounds and was only moving at about 8 MPH (I figured, because if it went any faster it would capsize with the next swell of the sea). Despite my fears, we made it to Anu'u and spent the day hiking all over the island. Here are some shots of our journey...
The two shots above are both views of our island of Tutuila from the shores of Anu'u. The next few shots are the beginning of our hike around Anu'u:
I don't have any shots from the bulk of the hike in which we went up and over the highest point on the island because we were trudging through the mud uphill for most of it and you basically have to watch your feet the whole time to make sure you don't fall. I had my camera in my hand for part of it, but LTM made me put it away because she has come to learn what a klutz I am and knew that at some point I very well may fall and we didn't want to destroy the camera on the way down. Half way through the first part of the hike, we arrived at the cliffs on the other side of Anu'u. They were georgous. See for yourself:
We hung out at the cliffs for a bit just taking in the beauty.
Here's Luke (an attorney from New Zealand who also works at the AG's office) taking a break.
Here's another shot of the sandy wall along the cliffs just below where Luke is sitting:
After our little rest stop at the cliffs, we continued our hike back through the jungle of Anu'u. When the jungle cleared, we found ourselves at the perfect spot for a swim:
After a while it looked like some rainclouds were rolling in...
So we headed out in search of the infamous quicksand lake. We found the turn-off that led to the lake and walking through tree covered path felt like we were in another world entirely. It was very Blair Witch....
Because the last ferry back to Tutuila leaves at 4pm, we had to hustle back to the docks to make sure we weren't stuck there over night. So we had a Grizwald-Grand Canyon kind of moment and were back on the trail.
That night we had a poker party at Aaron's house for Markus' bachelor party. I was the first one out. Oh well. Aaron also make some fantastic pizza's for dinner that night. I didn't know he had it in him. I was pretty impressed with his chef's skills. However, Aaron is a bit of a hot sauce fan, and he made one pizza with a CRAZY hot sauce. So hot...that just touching the bite to your lips sent your face on fire. So hot...that after eating one tiny slice, Matt went to use the restroom and because he hadn't washed his hands before he used the facilities, the burning fire was transferred to other parts of his body. So hot...that the bottle of the hot sauce Aaron used on that pizza had a freakin' skull & cross-bones on it! Duh, last time I checked, that meant poison! Or here, burning flesh for the next several hours. Needless to say, I'm sticking to the regular pizza from now on.
That was Saturday.
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