Seeing as this week was Emma's Spring Break from school, we decided it was a good time to check out the island of Aunu'u. Paul took the day off of work and we headed out. It is over an hour drive to go the 15 miles to the boat dock on the far east side of the island.
We arrived at the dock and promptly caught the ferry boat. In this case, the ferry is a little island fishing boat. The fee is only $1 to get to the island. After a quick 5 minute boat ride we arrived in the village of Aunu'u. It is the only village on the island and has less than 500 residents.
One of my favorite things about Aunu'u is that it has no cars on it. Traffic on the one main road around Tutuila can be just as bad as any big-city rush hour traffic. It was such a nice change to get away from all the cars and buses with loud music!
We walked through the village and found the trail that loops around the western half of the island. After a liberal dousing of bug spray, we started out. The trail lies between the ocean and the rain forest. After a short walk, we came to a side trail to Pala Lake. It is one of 2 freshwater lakes on Aunu'u. We walked through a swampy area and saw a heron as we came out to the lake's edge.
We continued on and arrived at a beach with a natural rock arch on it. It was too rough for any snorkeling so we spent some time looking for shells. Unfortunately, all the good shells were home to hermit crabs. In fact, there were so many hermit crabs that Emma declared, "This is hermit crab mania!"
After the beach, the trail headed inland, deeper into the rain forest. We spent over an hour tramping through the rain forest. Along the way Paul made friends with a toad and also decided that we need a houseplant. The same plant (a Hoya) that we once bought at Target was now ours just by pulling a vine from a tree along the trail.
We headed to the east side of the island to a beautiful spot called Ma'ama'a Cove. Here we ate our lunch and relaxed before making the trek back to the boat dock. 
3 comments:
Perhaps I'll cross paths with you when I visit at Christmas. I'm planning my trip to AmSam which will include visiting my father's village Anuuu. Thank you for your good post, it helped me a great deal and the pictures give me a lot to imagine.
Truly,
Melodi
I enjoyed reading about your trip to Aunu'u. My family and I were the first palagi to live there when I opened the (then) new Aunu'ufou school in 1965. I STILL miss it!
Look for some stories about Aunu'u at ghastings.blogspot.com
I also enjoyed reading about your trip to Aunu'u. I hope you and your family have a great time in our island, thanks for visiting. Secondly, Mr. Hastings sorry for not knowing you, the only thing that I knew is that my Grandfather, HTC Taufi said, there was a palagi man used to live in Aunu'u with his family , he was the first palagi principal at Aunu'u Island. So, hope in the future that we'll see each other at our Fantasy Island. It's good to have this conversation with you guys on this site. Have a nice day.
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