Airport Beach

On Friday we went to an excellent snorkelling beach. The beaches around here are really not named, they just get their names from crazy palagi's (white people) who visit them a lot. In fact, I think Samoans don't really go to the beach nearly as much as palagi's do. Some of our friends haven't been to the beach in years! And they live here!

Anyway, a lot of beaches we end up going to require a hike in order to get there. Airport Beach was no different. But this time the hike was fairly enjoyable. We went with our friend Mark Hales, who has been to this beach several times. We basically walked along the airport fence until we arrived at the beach.

We passed blowholes all along the way. We walked along the lava rocks that looked out over the ocean. Occasionally, a nice big wave would enter a blowhole and spit water up in the air from 5 to 15 feet. You had to kind of watch your step, or you'd fall into the water in an area that wouldn't be favorable to your frail body. We made it out all right though. Here I am looking down into a blowhole.

It's fun when the water shoots up and you have enough time to snap a picture!

A few times we had to walk through some kind of brush.

I was able to take lots of nice pictures.

I know I've mentioned the pillboxes on the beach from WWII. But here's an even better shot. And I could finally see inside the back hole where the soldier would shimmy in to get in place to protect the island (nothing ever happened in American Samoa during WWII by the way).

Finally we made it to the beach, which was wonderful. We mostly enjoy the snorkeling aspect of beaches (more than the sandiness). Perhaps it's because snorkeling here is good, but beaches on the whole are not so good.

And the snorkeling here was awesome! The water was the cleanest I've experienced, there were tons of fish and the water was super calm. We had a great time.

On the way home, I got a little more nervous about Jaydn stepping too close to the edge. He was safe, though.

So, we had a great day at the beach. I forgot the lotion, though. So I apologized profusely to Jaydn and Jessi, who did not have a swim shirt, as I had. But I still got burned. I even got burned through the holes in my Crocs! I couldn't believe it!

Here's a final shot of the walk back, on which you can see the Malia Mai resort (which is a terrible beach resort).