Vatia Tidal Pools

     The north coast of Tutuila, American Samoa, has many bays and coves.  Only a few are accessible, and most of those by boat only.  The mountains descend steeply into the sea, and the waves (having built up over a few thousand miles of ocean) crash into shore.  Few villages are here; its not hard to imagine this as just the way it was a thousand years ago.  A stretch of coast and mountainside has been acquired (leased, mostly) by the National Park Service to form a part of American Samoa National Park.  A few sections are accessible by car and footpath.  The tidal pools near Vatia are among them, but it isn't easy.  First you must drive up a steep road, across the spine of the island's mountains via a pass right under the Rainmaker Mountain north of Pago Pago Harbor, then descend almost to the tiny village of Vatia.  A small hut and sign mark the trail down to the coast, very rugged and steep, though thankfully only about a half mile long.  You are rewarded by views toward Vatia and then the Cockscomb, a steep rock formation which is a bird sanctuary now.  The point on which you stand has some tidal pools, down a poor, very steep and rocky trail right to where the waves hit.  At low tide you can cross over and swim in the pools.

     Here are some photos of our recent day trip:

View to East from atop the cliff

NPS descriptive sign

View from atop cliff to the west; the Cockscomb

Crashing and swirling waves below

     We met with my co-worker Joe and his wife Sarah.  Her parents had flown out here for a week, so they came along as well.  Jerry Spring is a retired airline pilot, and Joan is still flying as a flight attendant.  Great people and new friends.  All of us went down the slippery path through the rain forest, coming out on a rocky point which we descended to reach the pools.  Here's what we saw on the way:

View east from down below

Village of Vatia, to the west

Shoreline with cave/grotto.  Can't get to it!

Your blogger climbing down

The group preparing for the tidal pools

     To get to the pools from this point you must clamber over some slippery rocks and coral, very sharp.  Coral can cut you up quickly.  These pools can only be accessed at low tide, the waves are too strong otherwise.  We cut it almost too closely, as you will learn.  Here, at last, are the pools.  The photos make them look small, but each of the larger ones is the size of a room, and quite deep.  There are fish, other sea life in them.  We brought along our snorkels to see it all with.  All in all we spent about an hour paddling around in these pools:

First pool, very deep, enter left.  About 30' above here.

2nd, 3rd & 4th.  Yet another is just past these.

Same, pan to the right

Another shot, looking east

      Some videos will follow, these give a better idea of the wave action.  The only access to the pools is a narrow rocky shelf where the waves come in - and over, except at low tide.  We dallied a bit too much; as Cyndi tried to judge the waves for her climb out, she got blind-sided by a rogue wave that knocked her back into the first pool, all the way to the far end.  She was cut up by the coral somewhat, her swimsuit torn, and she got some bruises.  But thankfully no serious injury and she was able to climb out on her own.  All in all a lucky break.  The rest of us were far more careful and definitely more respectful of the wave power.  Next chore, the climp back up to our car:

The climb back up

Samoan friend wanted his photo taken.  Cyndi was happy to oblige!

     Jerry had an underwater camera, so watch for future notice, I'll post some of his photos when I can get them in.

     Here is also a video panorama of the scene from just atop the tidal pools.  Anyway it was spliced to be a panorama but longer videos won't upload so I have to leave it in three segments:

This starts to the far left, Vatia is across the bay under the mountains, and continues past the Cockscomb to end looking straight north across the ocean.  There is nothing that direction for thousands of miles except maybe a couple small scattered islands, up to Alaska.

The next video starts where the above left off, and pans around toward the east:

The last video shows the pools and the access point, as we started out.  When we left the waves were coming in higher and stronger:

So now you have seen the Vatia tidal pools.  When I get photos from Jerry and Joe I'll put up a notice and add them in.  Keep checking in!

Future posts will show my village, Leone; a sampler of Samoan churches from across the island; flowers and other visual delights; a walk along the coast; and much more.

Larson's Bay

Cyndi is here! She arrived last week and we have been exploring this beautiful, strange and interesting island. She is running Wyndmere from here, thanks to the internet, a variety of connections, and of course the wonderful people at Wyndmere who keep the place going. We ride to work together; she is established in our office library. Every day we go to lunch out by Pago Pago Harbor – well, almost; it's the rainy season and it rains a lot, so sometimes we get wet. Here's a couple photos of the views from where we hang out:

Pago Pago Harbor

Sailing past The Rainmaker (Mt. Pioa)

The ship was a Princess Cruise liner, in town for the day. The next week was the turn of the Queen Elizabeth III, on its first cruise ever, all around the world. I don't have photos of it as it was tied up to the dock all day, here's one from the net:

QE3 (stock photo)

It is considerably larger than the Princess; huge, in fact. Said to be 3 times larger than the Titanic and opulent throughout. Again, passengers from the QE roamed all over the island for a day while it was in port. We were then visited by a small French Navy vessel, La Railleuse:

La Railleuse

About 170 years ago 37 French sailors were killed and the French were driven off by Samoans. The French send a ship every year to memorialize at a place across island fittingly called Massacre Bay. The Samoans call it, I think, Tuesday. The ship comes over from Tahiti, spends about a week, then returns. Tahiti is about a thousand miles east of here, its an overseas territory of France. We plan a hike to Massacre Bay the next weekend day where the weather cooperates.

Last weekend we went out to Larson's Bay, or Fogama'a as the Samoans call it. We started from an area of blowholes and crashing waves called Turtle and Shark, named for an old Samoan legend. Here's a few photos and a couple videos from Turtle and Shark:

Guess who?

Wave action

Shoreline at Turtle & Shark

Across the coral

Cyndi's flower and beach panorama

More waves on the coral

Cyndi getting a good view

 

We then hiked up a hill, around, and then down to Larson's Bay. About a half hour hike.  The trail took us through a banana plantation, a wrong turn, and back downhill to a medium sized cove. There was no one there but us, and it was far enough off the beaten path for there to be no garbage. Here are some photos:

The beach at Larson's cove

Larson's Bay - looking out

Rocky cliff - note small arch opening

Looking back toward the west end

Cliff with palm tree - west side of cove

This cove was great – sandy beach, moderate waves, sun, palms, and complete isolation. No one was there. We had this tropical beach all to ourselves, for the price of a half-hour hike. Pretty darn nice!

Afterward we headed over to Airport Beach, passing more blowholes (I've shown a few photos in a past posting; will save this area for a full post later on). Some storm clouds were rolling in so our snorkeling was cut short here. Even so, we saw fishes only seen before in an aquarium. All in all, a nice day.

Sunday it was mass in the local church, where the choir was absolutely great, then a trip up-island all the way to Tisa's for a genuine pina colada at the beach. Cyndi got a pretty extensive tour of the island this weekend. I don't think she ever wants to return!

Next: Massacre Bay, or perhaps some other exotic adventure. Stay tuned, gentle readers.

Wait, that's Rick's flipflop, where did he go?  Will he ever return?

American Samoa Courts, Part 1

     I don't yet have a firm grasp about the American Samoa legal system  Eventually I will post more about it. One can critique; there are flaws and issues,but it functions. The legal system can be, and often is, indeed harsh and difficult, yet every day it seems I see another facet. Some are good, some not. It's a target that keeps shifting and moving. Today was good; a few days ago quite the opposite. I need more exposure here, and will post when I have that. Let me at least start with the very basics.

     American Samoa has its own court system. It is not a US Federal Court. It is not a part of any circuit court of appeals. It is completely home grown. It has very, very little to do with American courts, and there is little to no connection between them.

    There are three levels. At the basic level there is a District Court. This handles all misdemeanors, first appearances in felony cases, juvenile and child neglect cases, and most driving (DWI) felonies. Here is a photo of me standing in front of the District Court building:

Rick at District Court one fine January morning.

That is customary court attire. No, I rarely wear it, almost always I wear slacks, a dress shirt, and a tie. Jackets are never worn. Nor shoes. Everyone wears sandals or flip-flops to court. It seems strange until you see the judges take the bench with bare legs beneath the robes, and flip-flops on their feet. Let me repeat for you snow-bound denizens of frigid Minnesota who might be tempted to snicker: I WEAR FLIP-FLOPS EVERY DAY TO COURT. ALL WINTER LONG. So there.

Here is the District Court building:

American Samoa District Court building, Fagatoga

District Court, old High Court (to be repaired)

It survived the tsunami pretty well. There is one courtroom, rather large, and one really small one. They usually handle juvenile cases in the small one, insuring privacy because no one can fit inside except for the parties. I rarely do misdemeanor cases here, but I appear here sometimes for felony arraignments and probable cause hearings. They make a big deal of those p.c. hearings; elaborately questioning the defendants to make sure they know what an important right it is. No case in living memory has ever been found not to have probable cause; so those who waive it lose nothing. I've had several; they call an investigator who reads the complaint into the record. Then the judge finds p.c. much as he did when he signed that same complaint a couple days before. Most get waived. You tell me any effective difference?

     Then there is High Court, where all felony cases go after the silliness of a p.c. hearing. High Court is the domain of the Chief Justice, the lord of this realm. High Court is where I go almost every day.  The Chief Justice handles most of the felony cases. There is an Associate Justice, who does some, but he mainly handles civil cases. Here are photos of the High Court:

High Court (temporary)

High Court, break time

This is a temporary building, the real High Court is adjacent to District Court and got severely damaged in the tsunami. Here's a photo of the old one:

Old High Court, a moldie oldie due to tsunami

You may recall the story of the frozen files (see Tsunami). They sit in the parking lot, right. As a big surprise, at least to me, they say this building will be rehabbed soon. Mold experts have been brought in, plans made. I have no idea where money to do this will come from, as the government is reducing employee hours and raising all kinds of taxes just to keep operating. There is no money here. Stay tuned.

UPDATE:  As of mid-2011, the old High Court building is back in use.  I am bummed out, never having had the opportunity to appear in this building.

     There is a group of Samoan judges, about 5 or 6. Some are lawyers, some aren't. Every case has the main judge and (usually) two Samoan judges. The Samoan judges don't participate in criminal cases, save in one respect. They are consulted as to the sentencing. The main judge decides it, but the Samoan judges have some influence. They can, and do, temper to a wee bit the overall harshness of the law here. The Samoan judges do control and decide internal cases, mainly of property disputes (traditional family lands have very fuzzy borders) and titles. Every family, every village, has ranking people, usually men but also women, who get titles. The highest is matai, the top chief. There is a bewildering (to me) number of lesser and related titles and ranks. The Samoan judges hear cases when a title has to be granted, usually by death of the title-holder. So they are busy; these are court trials with evidence taken.  I find the Samoan judges to be very friendly, quiet and decent fellows.

     Finally there is the Appellate Division. That consists of one of the other main judges (apart from the trial judge) and two assigned judges from the USA, often federal circuit or district court judges. They come about once every two years, hear some appeals, then leave. I'll have more to say about appeals later. Suffice for now to note that appeals are infrequent, costly, far to strung out, yet even so too often embarrassing (in their eyes) to the regular judges here. Overall, except for the amusement value, appeals are insignificant.

     Here are a couple photos of our office:

Central inner area, that's Steph and receptionist Flo

Rick and Joe, the new guys, hard at work. 

PD entry and reception area.

I will generously describe the facilities as “spartan”. Supplies are few; I use my own little travel computer as there is no other for me. The phone lines buzz, the AC often dies, the carpets make “threadbare” a step up. Best of all, if you work late (i.e. pretty much anytime after 4:00 p.m.) you are not alone; furry little friends scamper in, and occasionally out, of the walls and ceilings. We PD's always get the raw deal, you say? Well yes, but this is the Executive Office Building, the best on the island; the Governor's office is just down the hall. My colleagues are highly dedicated lawyers and a pleasure to work with. OK, not as experienced as my favorite A team back home, but super people indeed.

     We are about a half-mile from the courts. We drive to & fro in PD01 and PD02:

PD-01 at District Court

PD-02 on the wharf outside High Court

They really are PD01 and PD02 – check the license plates (PD-02 is hanging from the rear window!). They both make funny noises, both badly need service (no money for that!) and somehow, both stay running. Elegant, they are not.

     The jail, where most of our clients reside, is a good news-bad news deal. The bad is that it's about 20 – 30 minutes drive to get there. The good is that the drive is along that glorious stretch of ocean I pictured in my former post A Day In The Life. Here are photos:

TCF - the jail and prison, all in one.

Front entry to TCF; this is all the fence there is.

Note the front gate, right of photo. The door isn't locked – it simply has a latch. Usually not engaged. Inmates can walk out. Sometimes they do; they always return. I recently had an escape charge – my client left (he went over the fence out back), went home for dinner, then snuck back in. He was hungry. They only caught him because somebody saw him walking down the street.  He'll get 5 years for having dinner with Mom.

     Jail transport is a hoot. The van brings prisoners in orange jump suits up to Court. They get out, then mill around in & out of the court building. Families, girlfriends, kids are there and they get together, hug, and talk. If I need to speak to a client, I take him outside, we talk, I bring him back. The jailors don't seem to get bent out of shape about it. Then, in High Court, when they go into the actual courtroom all are shackled hand and foot with big chains. They can only shuffler aound, and can't even sign their names if required. Once they leave court, the chains come off and they meander outside back toward the van. Weird. But, where would they go? They're wearing an orange coverall and it's an ISLAND!!

What about the cases, the actual work? Another post for that. Think harsh, often absurdly harsh. Don't get arrested here.