I arrived in American Samoa late on Monday night, after a long day of travel. I was met at the airport by three of the marine crew who I’d be living with for the next three weeks. I always try to make a good first impression but the lack of sleep and long day of travel stress made me a bit delirious and I ended up saying some pretty silly things right off the bat. Luckily, the marine crew seemed to be pretty cool cats, so they welcomed me despite my inability to function like a normal person and we loaded up the truck and headed back to their house. Upon arrival to my new home for the next 3 weeks, we unloaded all the gear and I was given a quick show around the house. My new roommates generously offered snacks or drinks, then at the mention of the shower, all 3 insisted that I use their soap to shower (I must have smelled really bad!) if I didn’t have any soap of my own (I did).

Tuesday morning started bright and early with leaving for work just after 7. I came to learn that morning that it is the social custom to wear shorts down to the knee and shirts that cover your shoulder. Thank goodness I just happened to have one pair of shorts that reach my knee – looked like I would be getting a lot of use out of those shorts! We headed to the National Park Service office, in Pago Pago Harbor. I was told that most likely we’d be doing towboard surveys to look for Crown of Thorn Seastars (COTS) on the north side of the island. After a morning meeting where I was introduced to the marine crew, we were given our work tasks for the rest of the week. For today, I’d be going out with Bert (DSO and marine technician), Kristin (marine tech/roomie) and Kersten (marine tech/roomie). Towboarding involves two snorkelers being towed along behind a boat at slow speeds, gripping a board that can be used to maneuver oneself throughout the water. Bert was the only one qualified to drive the boat and Kersten was most experienced with the towboard, so she would spend most of the time in the water, with Kristin and I switching off with data recording and towboarding. After being instructed about what to look for on the reef – white patches with yellow scarring, a trail of death from the deep (as described by Tim, the marine boss-man) – we lowered the zodiac in the water and headed out for the day. It took about 5 hours to survey the west half of the north side of the island. Towboarding is good fun, as you’re tugged along through the water and can use your board to dip down 5-10 feet for a better look plus a few other tricks can be accomplished if you try hard enough. Spotting COT marks is a whole lot trickier and takes a refined eye to distinguish a COT scar from old, bleached coral from flora that are just naturally pale (leather sponge). I was happy to have Kersten as my buddy as she was continuously pointing out COT scars and explaining how she knew what they are. And always, if in doubt, you could let go of the board and freedive down for a closer look. When I wasn’t towboarding, I was recording the spots that COT scars were found by making GPS points on the device and writing down general depths and intensity of scarring. When we had reached the furthest point west, we all hopped onboard the zodiac and sped back to the boat launch, where we pulled the boat out and headed back to the NPS storage warehouse (first dropping Kersten at the office to start on data entry). Each day in the field ends with a thorough rinse down of gear and boat before storing everything in it’s place. By the time we had finished putting everything up for the evening, Kersten had just about finished data entry. We met up with her at the office, packed up our things, and headed home for the night. That evening they had plans with a group of palogis (pronounced “palongis” and is the Samoan word for white people, not in an offensive way) to have martinis and watch the new James Bond movie. I had been invited but politely declined because I was so exhausted from traveling on Monday and quickly had fallen asleep by 8:15 that evening.

Wednesday as it turns out was a national holiday so everyone at the NPS office had the day off.  After a really nice sleep in and breakfast together, we make the decision to go snorkel at a local beach about 30 minutes away. We took our time getting ready, waiting for a few friends to meet up at the house. I grabbed my camera gear as well, because you never know what you may see when you go snorkeling! When everyone had arrived, we piled in the back of Mad Max (the truck) and made our way to the beach. Although the weather was overcast, we were all excited to snorkel and the water was still quite warm and inviting. We made our way out to the reef, stopping occasionally along the way to check out a cool fish, pipefish, and turtle. Eventually we made it to the drop off where we snorkeled around, free diving down to check out anything that may have caught our eye.

Before we knew it, 2 hours had passed and we were all starting to get cold, so we headed back to the shore. After a quick dry off, we loaded back in the truck and made our way home for a late lunch. Later that night we had all been invited to a BBQ at Coconut Point, an area where many of the expats live. Before heading over to the BBQ, we made a quick pit stop at a grocery store so I could buy some food for the upcoming week, then we made our appearance at Coconut Point. It was a really nice evening of food and drinks and getting the chance to meet some of the other people on the island. It is a small and tight-knit community, but I was welcomed in it immediately. After a few hours of eating, drinking, and laughing, we called it a night and headed home.

 

Thursday was back to work, so we were out the door by 7:10 and on our way to the office. It was another day of towboarding for us, as we had the east side of the island to survey. After doing the GAR (Green, Amber, Red – the daily risk assessment that is completed before any and all field work), we loaded our bags and headed to the warehouse to get the rest of the gear. We put everything we needed on the boat, hitched the boat to the truck, and headed to the boat launch. We got everything in the water and quickly started our surveys just off the boat launch. This time we had a bigger crew onboard – it was Paolo, Kristin, Kersten, Ian, and myself – and I started the towboard surveys with Paolo, who also made a great effort to point out scarring and explain to me how to look for it. Almost right off the bat, as we slowly surveyed out of the harbor, Paolo and I both spotted a lava lava (the cloth Samoans traditionally wear tied around the waist as a skirt)! Paolo freedove down and picked it off the seafloor, letting me keep it as my own! After an hour or so, we switched out and I spent some time doing the data recording. We slowly made our way along the coast, stopping a bit after midday to take lunch and rest for a little. We worked until 5 or so, making it all the way past the Pola (one of the characteristic islands off the north side) and almost to the end of the defined National Park. I found it commendable that although the marine crew is only required to survey and control the Park, they choose to survey and regulate the enter north side of the island. After all, COTS are mobile creatures so by only focusing on a small portion of the reef, you aren’t being as effective as you could, which is why the marine crew tries to cover as much ground as possible. We had made a lot of progress that day, surveying almost the entire park, so we headed back before it got too late. After pulling the boat out of the water, we dropped Kersten at the office and went to the warehouse for the usual cleaning and storage of gear. It was another day of field work and I knew I was going to enjoy the upcoming weeks with the NPS – they are a hardworking, but fun crew and we all got along really well.

Friday was the usual day off (due to long days of field work, the work week for the marine crew is structured as 4 ten-hour days, with a 3 day weekend), so after a nice sleep-in, we sat around the kitchen table and debated what we wanted to do with the rest of our day. I had begun to come down with a runny nose and a cough, but still was game for an adventure. After ringing up a few palogis we made plans to visit a small island just off the east coast. When everyone had arrived, we loaded up Mad Max and headed out, jamming as we cruised along the scenic road bordering the coast. We got to a small parking lot and walked to the dock, where a water taxi was waiting. We loaded up and made the short journey to the island, which had a small village of about 60 people. We walked down a dirt trail to a beach that Kersten and Paolo knew about, stopping to pick coconuts off a tree to have later as a snack.

We finally reached the beach, where we relaxed in the sand, busting open the coconuts and resting in the shade. The group decided to snorkel but I declined, opting to lounge in the hammock that Kristin set up between two coconut trees. With my congestion, I thought it best to stay out of the water for a day to try to let my body recover a bit.

After an hour or so of rest, the snorkelers came back to the beach and we slowly packed our things to head back. At the dock, we set up a slack line across part of the small harbor, which drew in quite the crowd of local kids. We spent an hour or so playing around with the slackline, letting the kids give it a try as well! It was made especially fun, being set up over the water because when you fell, it was into the warm water! Finally , it was time for us to grab the water taxi back to the mainland and after a short ride, we were back at the carpark.

Saturday we woke to rainy weather and spent a good part of the morning trying to figure out what to do. We decided that first and foremost, we’d go grocery shopping, allowing me to finally get all the proper groceries for the week. Grocery shopping in American Samoa is just like on any other tropical island – you have to visit at least 2-3 different shops to get everything you need. Once that errand had been run, we headed up to the National Park to do a hike with some friends. It was a short hike up and over a ridge to get to a pebble beach, with a great view of the Pola. Although overcast and a bit drizzly, it was a calm day and we spent a good part of 2 hours snorkeling around and drifting in the gentle waves. After a late lunch on the beach, we headed back to the trail, making our way once more up and over the ridge and back to the cars. We spent the rest of the night watching a movie at the house, which we could project up on the living room wall for best viewing.

On Sunday, we decided to do nothing in the morning, as we had a social engagement to attend that afternoon. One of the expats on island was having a baby shower, so we used the morning to help Kersten bake a cake (and by help her I mean, we all hung out in the kitchen and taste-tested). After a small lunch, we headed out to the baby shower, where we spent the rest of the day socializing, eating good food, and playing silly games. By 9 pm we loaded up to head home and catch some rest before the upcoming week of work.