Airport Beach

     You may recall that an earlier post showed you Tisa's Barefoot Bar; a sublime place to go on Sunday.  The choices for a palagi on Sunday are indeed limited since virtually all land is private and activities on Sunday are much discouraged.  But the other good choice has to be an expedition to Airport Beach.

     Take a calm, quiet lagoon with surf breaking out at the reef.  Fill it with tropical fish – the kinds you see in aquariums – and several varieties of coral.  Add the occasional turtle, a few small reef sharks, and some shellfish – cones and cowries.  Now put it out at the end of a half-mile walk along some of the most spectacular blowholes and lava rocks, with breakers crashing and foaming, that you can find anywhere.  Add a backdrop of mountain peaks rising straight up along the ridge of the island.  What do you get?  Airport Beach, our favorite place for snorkeling and swimming.

     I've mentioned Airport Beach in an earlier post.  Airport Beach is OK on Sunday because it has no villages or homes anywhere nearby.  We've now been there a number of times, including this past Sunday.  OK, one of the drawbacks is its location; you walk along the airport runway (outside the fence) in the hot sun, there are no trees, and the trail is rough.  The ubiquitous Samoan trash and garbage is evident all around.  But nothing can really hide the sheer beauty of this section of American Samoa.  In any other place, this would be preserved, a park maintained and coddled so that all can see.  Here, it's seldom visited by the locals, at least not much past the first 100 yards or so.  Mainly we palagis appreciate it.

     You drive up a potholed road to a small parking area and leave your car.  Locked, of course, so your valuables and battery stay put.  Here are some photos of the walk along the blowholes, which start right away on your walk.  Be careful; you can get doused if a big wave hits just as you pass by:

Arched section of shore

Clear, aquamarine water

Another set - double arches!

Waves erupting on the shore

A long channel in the lava rock

Crab scuttling around, they are all over

Pillar in the water

Looking east toward Airport Beach

Looking back west from whence we came

Wave action swirling through

White line in distance are breakers on the reef

More wave action

Yet again.  The rocks are 15 feet above the ocean yet see how high the waves blast

More wave action

The trail runs, as I said, along the runway:

Along runway, follow the fence

New fence being built.  TSA money!

     After this you follow a path past some shrubbery.  There is no shade, no trees, anywhere along the route.  Keep going right next to the airport fence until you arrive at a small, maybe 30 foot long, patch of sand and coral debris.  That's Airport Beach.  Tiny, not fancy, no snack shop or bar.  Just a place to drop your bag, put on your fins and mask, and swim off.  The coral starts within 10 feet of the water's edge!

Keep following the path.  Little choice here!

Train with Matafou overlooking

Getting close, beach is in sight

West end of the lagoon

Part of the lagoon, looking west.  Note breakers on reef out there.

Airport Beach, looking back west the way we came in.

Here it is, Airport Beach.  Coral rubble sand.

     There is a lagoon between the runway - which was created with coral fill - and the reef.  This lagoon contains coral formations and tropical fish as nice as any you can access out here.  Occasionally a reef shark, turtle, or maybe a barracuda swims by.  I haven't seen that, but others have.  There is little current and no rip tide, so the snorkeling is pleasant.  There are some deep holes up to maybe 15 foot, but many areas are shallow enough to stand up if you must.  On with flippers, masks, and off you go into the lagoon to see what is there.

     OK, the beach is pretty underwhelming after that buildup.  Actually, its small, hot, and rather ugly.  But the trip out here, and the snorkeling, make it all worthwhile.

     The airport didn't exist until around 1941.  Before Pearl Harbor, the Navy foresaw that Japan may be a problem pretty soon.  So they upgraded their small fuel dump in Pago Pago Harbor, brought in a bevy of Marines to fortify the place (that's when those small concrete pillboxes were built, never actually needed), and built an airstrip.  The only flat ground was about 6 miles from the harbor in the Tafuna plain.  So that's where the airstrip had to go.  Over the  years it has been expanded and upgraded to now taking the biggest of commercial and military aircraft.  That required a big runway extension, built into the lagoon with fill.  The two runways in fact extend well into the lagoon, and alongside the major runway this tiny beach continues to exist.  We give thanks.

Driftwood along the route

Storm out to sea

     A sad fact of life here is the overall state of the reef.  This island was hit by several cyclones over the last 30 years, and several of them in the 1990's really impacted the reef.  Some estimates are that up to 90% was heavily damaged or destroyed.  This isn't pollution or man's doing; the cyclones were quite destructive to many things apart from the reef.  Several groups are working to preserve and restore the reef here but nature will have to take her time.  At Airport Beach we can see up close what the reef can be, and we hope will be again.

     Other areas on American Samoa have reefs and lagoons, there are many areas to jump in and see what is to be seen.  But few match what is here right in front of you.  I have no underwater camera, so you will have to use your imagination to see the corals and fishes.  But out here they swim free and grow as they always have done.  Think of an aquarium without glass, and you are one with the fishes.

      I have some videos of the area, will try to download them in a separate post.

     Next:  We climbed Mt Alava again - first time for Cyndi - and it was a bright sunny day.  Stay tuned for more photos, faithful readers.