Suva - Pago-Pago & Room

Monday, April 30th

Stateroom – Suva, Fiji – Pago Pago, American Samoa With sadness, we sailed out of Auckland harbor and after two days at sea we arrived in hell! Suva is a small but very dirty and crowded city. We knew that it wouldn't be terrific here and that was why we had decided to rent a car. Our arrival did not produce a Budget Rent a Car person to greet us, but we got a taxi at the port gate and for $1.62 we were dropped at the Budget door. She was waiting for us and informed us that she did not have a small car left, but she would give us a larger one for the same price. The Gods were with us as we drove off on the left side of the road in a Mazda King Cab 4X4 5 speed pick-up. I only say this because the holes in the road were SO BIG that we would have been lost forever in a small car! We drove about 75km east out of Suva, looking for the "beautiful paradise". You will see in the pictures that we never found it! We really didn't find ONE pleasant thing in or about Fiji. Dirty, dirty, dirty. The most exciting part was when we stopped to fill the tank. Jack filled up and went in to pay. He came out with that "I screwed up" look and said that they didn't take credit cards and only Fijian cash. We had no Fijian cash! So, without thinking, he left his Mastercard! We now drove like on fire through the city to find a Westpac bank where we could get some Fijian cash. It was a huge event weekend and every school bus from the entire island and also from the outer islands were there in the city! Traffic was insane and we were lost! Time was also running out for our appointed time to return the truck! While the stress level climbed, we found a parking space and Jack ran the 4 blocks to the bank. Back on the road again, we couldn't find our way back to the BP gas station. Finally we found some faintly familiar dirty places and we made our way back to the BP. Finding the rental places was easier, as it was close to the port. When we got there, the doors were locked so Jack had just enough left on his cell phone to reach the Budget lady, who said she was on her way! We finished there and then she dropped us at the port gate. NOTHING looked prettier than that big, clean white ship! And NOTHING looked better than the sight of the open sea away from Suva, Fiji! After another restful day at sea, we arrived in Pago Pago, American Samoa. As we stood on our balcony at 6:00am, watching our arrival to the island, were got drenched by a sudden deluge of rain, before we could stumble back into our room! Pago Pago turned out to be a much cleaner island, although with room for improvement. By this time we had been away from home for two months and this was the very first time that a preplanned event went wrong! We were supposed to meet a lady from Oceanic Travel at the port gate and she was to have a car rental waiting for us! Never Happened! The local tourism people tried to find her and the local Police Officers assigned to the port gate also tried calling here many times, to no avail. It was Sunday morning and all islanders were in church! There were very few cabs and either the other rental companies had no more cars or they were closed! Everyone was very helpful, but to no avail. Finally one of the Officers said he knew someone who might drive us around, so we said ok! When he arrived, quite quickly, his taxi was stormed by a mass of other ship people looking for a ride. The Officer made it clear that this taxi was for Jack and I, however the group was not pleased! So off we went on our private two hour tour of eastern American Samoa. We have to say that it was much more pleasant than Fiji, and the locals have a great deal of pride in their homeland! Today we are at sea again, on our way to Rarotonga, where we will join our first "stomping stampede" shore excursion of the cruise! We slept until 9:30am, went for coffee and came back to the room for Jack to work on his pictures. By noon it was time to eat lunch. Now it's time for me to sit on the balcony and enjoy the wonderful peace of the lounge chair and sea sounds. Jack will go to the computer center and send this note and pictures. Stacey, we have finally included some pictures of our stateroom! The pictures don't do it justice. It is a very comfortable place, with plenty of room for everything, including us! We have eaten lunch at the table on our balcony. Our room steward, Eric, from the Philippines, is terrific. We still have not had our Champagne Breakfast in Bed as we are saving this for later on. And yes...we are still getting our goodies every afternoon, one day h'ordourves (even spell check won't help me here!) and the next day sweet goodies! We will email again soon...we hope