A paved road turns off the main highway at Spenser's Store in Pago Pago and leads up Vaipito Valley, across a ridge, and down to Fagasa, a village huddled beside picturesque Fagasa, or Forbidden Bay, on Tutuila's wild north shore. Legend says that porpoises long ago led a group of three men and three women to safety in Fagasa Bay, which has long been a porpoise sanctuary.
With the assistance of some local village children, we removed the kayak from the roof and placed it gently inside the reef. After a quick gear check: stove, sleeping bag, air mattress, tent, food, scuba gear, fishing spear- we located the ava and paddled out of the bay. Coral reefs usually have an ava or channel through the reef, where water ebbs and flows . Rain fell upon our shoulders as we steered westward out of fagasa bay, destination unknown.
There is scare information available regarding Tutuila's remote northwest shore. The lonely planet makes it seem as it there are only 3 sides to the island, yet in recent history villages dotted the northwest shore of the island. Unfortunately, due to modernization, warfare, and remoteness these were abandoned in the recent past.
Around the island, no one ever seemed to talk about this region of steep forests, clear rivers, and psychedelic reefs. I had been to the north a handful of times, hiking over the spine of the dragon as the central mountain range is known as. The hike down from the central ridge is very difficult, 5-6 hours, as the trail becomes overgrown and the hiker can become disoriented. From our launch we hoped to reach the campsite within an hour, although these were uncharted waters.
The rain slowed as we navigated along the rocky shoreline, as waterfalls cascaded in the background. We passed several coves until we came across the secluded Fagafue Bay. A white sand beach was interrupted by a cool flowing river off to the left. We landed the klepper and proceeded to unpack the supplies. After collecting firewood & making camp, we were treated by a full moon & a bottle of pinot noir.
The next morning we paddled over to the abandoned village of A'asu on massacre bay, site of a french genocide on local Samoans in the late 1800's. The only artifacts were an old house, vacated several years ago by the last remaining family. A waterfall can be viewed by wading 200m up through the stream. The white sand on this beach is very fine, almost powdery in texture. We paddled back through the ava and continued our surveying of the north coast.
The next cove for exploration was A'oloau Bay, where my dentist friend has a rudimentary shack for boar hunting expeditions. The water visibility was excellent, as we could see many beautiful corals directly from the side of the kayak. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to try spear fishing, it couldn't be that difficult, could it?
As soon as i jumped in the water, i sensed that the fish new what was up. They must have thought, does this palangi really think we don't notice that 4 foot spear in his right hand? The fish moved extremely quick, as i awkwardly stabbed into rock after rock. Not wanting to spear Minos for dinner, i reluctantly let go of my cave man hunger for fresh meat and rejoined the kayak. The sun was vibrant as we paddled in tandem back to the forbidden bay and said goodbye the wild coast, we shall meet again another day.
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