Provisioning-Pago Pago is traditionally known as a good place to stock up on provisions, since there are many U.S. products that you can’t find in many of the other island countries. However, it had been getting some negative press lately, so we weren’t really sure what to expect. But what we found was extremely good provisioning, with the exception of fresh produce. The markets in town had limited supplies, but there was a huge costco type warehouse store that had pretty much everything we couldn’t find in French Polynesia: Canned chicken, monterey jack cheese, Tim’s vanilla coffee creamer, cheap american beer and wine, breakfast cereals, etc. In contrast, thought, we were seriously disappointed in the hard liquor options. Specifically, we couldn’t find Bacardi Anejo, which was my rum staple throughout Mexico, and we were down to our last couple bottles. We were able to stock up on Captain Morgan spiced rum for Tim, and they had a version of Captain Morgan called “private stock” which is excellent for sipping. Steve (Lady Carolina) said he liked it better than Zaya, but I most definitely did not. CM has too strong a vanilla taste, and I prefer the subtle caramel flavor of Zaya.
Harbor Bottom-One of the main reasons cruisers tend to skip Pago Pago these days is the notoriously fouled harbor bottom, which is mostly a result of a 2009 tsunami that caused a lot of destruction in and around the harbor. We love to exchange stories of what sort of items people have pulled up off the bottom with their anchor. While we were there, we saw someone pull up a Christmas tree after their anchor didn’t set the first time.
Laundry-In French Polynesia, laundry was insanely expensive, so we had even started handwashing ourselves. So, Pago Pago was a nice change in that they had a big American style laundromat where you can do your own laundry. I did 10 loads for a total of $30 U.S. (I guess I haven’t mentioned that it was kind of nice to be able to use our own native currency again…)
Gresham Family Exodus 