Sliding Rock

I managed to take another little trip today. Sunday started off slowly, the residents of American Samoa are very religious. The missionaries started coming to the islands 140 years ago and were particularly effective at converting the natives. As a result churches hold a huge sway with the local population. Most residents of AmSam spend Sundays in church, all of Sunday in church. No businesses are open and there is little to do in any of the towns or villages besides eat and pray (at the church).

Not being much of a church goer myself, I spent most of Sunday reading, cleaning the house and prepping food for the rest of the week. After wrapping up those tasks I took a little initiative and swam a few turns in our modest and semi-clean pool. Our noted risk taker from yesterday found me there and suggested an outing to Sliding Rock. With nothing pending for the rest of the afternoon, I accepted the offer.

We hopped into a car with the risk taker, his son and two guys. Along the drive out we gathered another vehicle of people and headed out to Sliding Rock. The second car was filled with three generations of a family, the grandparents were visiting the island, the adults worked here and their three children were all along to the Sliding Rock trip.

The locals who live nearby charge $5 for parking right at the site, so we drive a quarter of a mile further down the road and parked at a turnoff. There were two options to hike to Sliding Rock scramble along the rocky shore or hike through the forest, we opted for the forest. The hike took us through a Samoan family graveyard and past two fales under construction. A short scramble down steep slope and were we at Sliding Rock.

Our destination was a series of tide pools that are normally calm at low tide. There is a large series of rocks that protect the pools from most waves, with a small opening that allows an occasional wave to break and the runoff to feed the pools. Today wasn’t a typical low tide. The waves again were coming in with 15 foot swells. Instead of the occasional waves feeding the pools most waves were breaking through the opening, keeping most people out of the closer to the ocean, larger pool. Placing my backpack and shirt on a high spot, I opted to take a few jumps in the big pool. After a quick dip, I got out to explore the rock wall that was on the ocean side of the tide pools.

The rock was mostly soaked and looking out to the ocean you could see large waves rolling in from the south. They would frequently crash against the natural sea wall with enough force to splash through to the first tide pool. Occasionally ones would come in with enough fury to splash some water into the second, further inland tide pool where the majority of the group was wading around.

Our risk taking leader opted to jump off the cliff on the ocean side. He had to wait a long while to find the right lull to climb back in on the rocks. Showing I learned something from my trip yesterday, I opted to play spotter to this adventure rather than make myself a full participant.

Once we made it back to the tide pools there was some good relaxing hangouts. I moved my stuff to higher ground due to the pounding waves I had spied from the ocean-side, rock wall. Soon enough we did start to get waves that were crashing through inundating the big, close pool and splashing over into the pool where everyone was. A few people’s things got caught in the tidal wash and a small amount of panic ensued. Once the kids were spooked people packed up real fast and our trip was over a little sooner than I would have liked, but I did get to experience another great spot. Next time I just need to make sure the waves and tide aren’t going to be a deal breaker.