There are still a few remnants of American Samoa's navy legacy. The territory was originally brought into the United States as a navy fueling station and then it turned into a full navy base after the start of World War II. Some of the navy infrastructure is still in use today. For example, the High Court is the former Navy Administration Building and the initial road around the island was Navy-built.
Some portions of the Navy infrastructure, such as the pillboxes that line many of the beaches, are sitting lonely and forgotten. The guns that used to guard Pago Harbor are also not seeing any use these days. On a lazy Sunday, we made it a point to hike up the trail that leads past a number of these gun placements lining the West Side of Pago Harbor, on what's known as Blunt's Point.
The walk up the ridge afforded some great views of the harbor
and Fatu Ma Futi. Driving and paddling by these sights on a regular basis has caused me to start to take them for granted. It was nice to get a different perspective from up high and appreciate them from another point of view.
These guns were supposedly pulled off a period battleship and mounted to guard the approach into Pago Harbor. They sit on the ridge rising from Blunt's Point. It's just a short hike up a trail starting next to the "I.B.M" laundromat. (Side note: most of the shops here are known by people's names or initials, which leads to some interesting and random titles.) Following a double-track trail that leads through some breadfruit groves, the hike wrap around the hillside, past a water tank, and around to the first gun placement. The massive gun has gone through a number of rust and repaint cycles, but is still gazing out over the opening of the harbor. The ammunition depot below it is also still there, but the lower level has started to fill with water, so we didn't do much exploring, although the bat biologist in the group went looking for some possible nests.
The trail continued up the hillside and the concrete path that used to lead to the second gun has deteriorated and eroded. The rusted-out stumps of the handrail and a few off-camber portions of the concrete walkway remain to lead the way to the next gun placement. This one was in worse shape: the foundation and
ammunition cellar had plugged up and filled with water. These issues have been going on long enough to develop a fish population in the water. With the way any metals rust under the relentless moisture, salt-spray and temperature here, I can't imagine this gun will last too much longer in its present state.
Further up the hill there was evidence of more development, but the rain forest had reclaimed whatever had been there. In fact, among the odd depressions and remaining cement, Sara and I happened upon one of the largest hermit crabs we had ever seen, who looked extra fierce with his heavily armored brown pincers.
After exploring the Blunt's Point trail, there wasn't enough day left for snorkeling. Instead, after a brief cocktail break at the Goat Island restauraunt, we opted to head out to Vaitogi and watch the sunset from a bluff near Sliding Rock.
We got there with time to spare and grabbed some grass next to a few graves situated alongside the road. We then spent the last part of the day watching some surfers rides the waves, a few of the early-arriving southern humpback whales spout and the sun drift below the horizon. Not a bad way to spend your down day on the island.
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