Pago Pago, American Samoa

Today I was in American Samoa.  I got some nice scenic shots, but I chose to put the one above in the blog because the thing you'll remember most about Samoa is the people.  They are almost certainly the most welcoming and friendly people in the world.  I was looking forward to coming here because I knew that the people would be great.  (I knew alot of Samoans in college).  This is another pretty Polynesian island.  At first I thought it was like the north shore of Oahu 30 years ago when I was in college.  Then I realized that it is actually more modern and developed here, than the north shore was when I lived there.  We only had 5 hours in Samoa. I went on a 3 hour tour around the island to all the hots spots and then had some time for shopping at the pier.  As it is Sunday, alot of things weren't open.  The people are VERY religious and everyone goes to church and closes up shop on Sunday.  Wouldn't it be nice if it was like that at home?  Just as my tour was ending it started to downpour.  Even with my umbrella I got pretty wet.  Of course, it only lasted 15 minutes.  This was our last South Pacific port which is kind of sad.  I love Polynesia and wish we were going to spend time on more of the islands.  Tonight we will cross the international dateline.  That means that I will go to bed tonight (Sunday) and when I wake up in the morning it will be Tuesday.  No February 20th for me this year!  We have 4 sea days coming up and then we'll be in Sydney, Australia. I can't believe how fast the trip is going!  I'll be getting off the ship for 4 days at Sydney to go explore the interior of Australia.