Hotel Sadie Thompson Inn Pago Pago

... these children never made it.<br><br>I spoke with a worker at the McDonald's who told me that a local fisherman buzzed in and warned them that a huge wall of water was heading towards land. The five workers managed to quickly flee to high ground. From there they watched as the tsunami rolled in and devastated the town. They will remember that day for the rest of their lives. <br><br>Walking out of the secure port ...

... br>It's amazing how quickly I've gotten used to things anymore. I don't really even see the ocean or the gigantic volcanic mountains on the walk to school anymore. I guess that's to be expected, but remembering how in awe of everything I was on that first day, it's wierd that I don't even think about it anymore. Before I retell the happenings of the last few weeks I think I should give a few more details about life on the ...

... sea turtle. On the saturday of our second week we finally moved out of the tech school where we were staying into our new houses. I was excited to finally have my own place, but at the last minute, we found out that we would be housing 6 other volunteers who would be teaching on an outer island and couldn't fly out for another week. This actually turned out all right, because our house is enormous. I have my own master bedroom with a connecting personal bathroom. The ...

... calc at the biggest high school (it has about 1300 kids) on the main island. The island only has about 55,000 people on it and it's only about 20 miles long, so it's fairly small. The people here are enormous. I bet the average guy is abou 6'4, 250 lbs (and a lot of the women aren't that much smaller). They love football, and have a couple guys in the NFL. <br><br>Hopefully that will suffice for a brief intro to the island ...

... rent a car for use here on Tutuila. Between last night's umu feast and today's planned foray into the National Park, we figured that use of the local bus system wouldn't work to our advantage. We were referred to Friendly Rent-a-Car and were told we needed an SUV. Momentarily suppressing our gag reflex, we rode this theme out and were shown a small Suzuki. OK, no problems here - it is small enough and probably is pretty good on gas ($4.13/gallon here). The attendant ...

... view of Sunu'itao Peak (the jagged peak in a lot of our photos). We bagged a couple of photos, then tried a new part of the National Park beach. Once again, our snorkeling expectations were exceeded...this stretch has the reputation for having the best sorkeling in Polynesia, and I believe it! A couple of shots here, but they sorely lack the drama and beauty of being here. Alas, we did not have enough time to see the Manta Rays, Reef Sharks or Sea ...

... views without a lot of houses. It was the wrong time of day to get great pictures, but the views lived up to the billing. When we return to Honolulu at the end of September, we may do this as an early morning run. Turns out the loop wasn't as there was road work...we turned back and went to the airport, turned in the car and got checked in at Hawaiian Airlines for the flight to Pago Pago. Surprisingly, the flight was PACKED...I overheard the attendant say ...

... visit at the moment. Dennis is still full of cold and a chesty cough, he has been to the docs and is now on antibiotics hopefully he will recover soon, or I am chucking him over the side. Tomorrow we lose a day (Monday 11th Feb immediately becomes Tuesday 12th Feb) as we are going through the international date line and we will be in Fiji that day. NZealand will be the next port of call 15th Feb.

... to take in the panoramic views. We visited lion's park and many of the outlining villages. Jesse pulled up at a local store so that we could purchase garlands for tonight's tropical party. . Everywhere we went people would wave to us and cars would sound there horn in a gesture of friendship. The people are so friendly and laid back that the passengers on our bus were bemused and joined in the fun. Everywhere you went you were surrounded by coconut trees and ...

... As we settled in that night on our mooring ball there was more strong wind and waves slapping at the sides. It took a bit to get to sleep. However having had my share of sleeping on boats with loud annoying noises, I later woke up later sensing that things had changed... the wind didn't sound quite as loud and the waves had stopped smacking the boat as hard. As I debated whether to climb out of bed to investigate, and watched ...