Tisa's Barefoot Bar

So last weekend Jay and I decided to check out one of the most raved about local hangouts - Tisa's Barefoot Bar. It's on the Eastern end of the island and quite a ways from our home in Freddy's beach, so we took a few pictures of our drive along the way.

This first shot is of Pago Pago harbor looking west and back toward the town and our office. The second shot is Faga'itua bay, which is farther down the coast line a few coves over from the harbor.

As we continued along, we came upon this fun little island, which becomes a peninsula when the tide is low. Tutuila has several such islands, one of which we pass every day on our way to work called Fatu Ma Futi or "the flower pot." Then we actually passed Tisa's and headed farther on to Au'asi, which was farther east than either of us had been. Because it was Sunday, there were next to no cars on the road. Samoans are a very religious people and on Sundays, nearly everyone is in church. By the same token, it's considered disrespectful to swim at a beach near any village on a Sunday. So as not to disturb the locals of Au'asi, Jay and I parked toward the end of the beach and walked away from the village to enjoy some time on the coast before heading back to Tisa's. As you can see from the below pictures, it was pretty spectacular.

We checked out some blue starfish and filled our pockets with sea glass and shells as we walked along. Sea glass (i.e., broken beer bottles) is everywhere here, and as a result, shoes are required on certain beaches. Just before we were about to leave the beach, three dogs from the closest house began to approach us and were barking fiercely. Fortunately, it only took a couple of thrown chunks of coral to dissuade them from coming further.

Having defended our territory, we perched on some lava rock beneath the palms and had a snack of toasted nori. Among the rocks, we found more hermit crabs than I have ever seen in one place. In fact, upon closer inspection, at least half of the shells on the beach were moving if we watched for a moment or two. Pretty neat stuff.

Finally, we decided it was time to head back to Tisa's. Tisa's is - you guessed it - a bar and restaurant owned by a Samoan woman named Tisa. Tisa herself was not around that day, but her husband "Candyman" and several other staff were available to see to our pina colada needs.

Pina coladas are among the specialties at Tisa's, and I think the fresh coconut may have spoiled me for life. Tisa's sits on a bay nearly unto itself and is one of the few beaches we've seen which is totally free of glass. It's a thatched roof and deck structure which sits on stilts out over the beach. Needless to say, the views we enjoyed with our pina coladas couldn't be beat.

I went for a swim in bathwater-warm ocean and then headed back up to the deck to poach some of Jay's yellowfin (caught the day before - ah.ma.zing) and share in some banana fries. The bananas here aren't the Costa Rican variety we're used to, but instead more of a potato-esque dense starch. Delish.

Another funny thing about Tisa's: I had only been on-island for a total of 6 days and I managed to see someone I knew. Ahh, island life... After 5 hours of serious R&R, Jay and I had another swim and packed up to head home. I'm thinking this may become a Sunday tradition.