Tag Archives: MS Oosterdam

Mountains in Clouds

Today I promised something a bit different — a look at American Samoa’s Pago Pago Harbor in stitched panoramic images.  First off is the Samoa Tuna Processors plant in Atu’u across the harbor from Fagatogo:

Samoa Tuna Processors

Here we have an image of Pago Pago Harbor and Fagatogo taken from a high overlook:

Pago Pago Harbor

This next panoramic shot shows the shops along the southern edge of Fagatogo Park, as well as what appears to be an amphitheater to the left:

Fagatogo park

This final panoramic stitch was taken looking back toward village of Aua (note the blue-roofed church near the center) from Pago Pago near the Fagatogo Port and it’s fishing boats.

Mountain Mists above Pago Pago Harbor

Shrouded in Mist

Of all the islands we visited on this transpacific cruise, the island of Tutuila stood out to both Ursula and me as one place where we wouldn’t mind spending a year or so living the tropical South Pacific life.  Tutuila is the largest island of American Samoa.  It is also home to Pago Pago, the capital city of this unincorporated territory of the United States.

Pago Pago Harbor

Our ship MS Oosterdam arrived into Pago Pago Harbor on April 25.  Despite the name, we actually docked in the village of Fagatogo, which is within easy walking distance of Pago Pago.

MS Oosterdam in Pago Pago Harbor

But don’t dismiss Fagatogo in favor of its more famous neighbor.  We found Fagatogo a very charming and colorful community with much to photograph.

Fagatogo Park

All in all we found the whole Pago Pago experience one well worth repeating at some future date.  And did you know that Tutuila is home to the western-most U.S. National Park?  That would be the National Park of American Samoa, and I’ll show you this jewel a week from Wednesday.  That’s right, American Samoa offers enough sights for two weeks’ worth of blogs.  This Wednesday I’ll be offering up something a bit different — an entire blog post of stitched panoramic images of Tutuila, five in all.  Over the next several posts you’ll also see images of some incredible flora and fauna, including some impressively large bats, the Samoa flying fox.  Until Wednesday I’ll leave you with a couple of images depicting Samoan homes built into the hills:

Pago Pago Homes

Homes built into the hillside