Day 441-443: December 15-17, 2025 – Pago Pago, American Samoa

Although I have never been there before, arriving in American Samoa felt like coming home. The culture is definitely Polynesian, but it is a territory of the United States, so it felt familiar. English spoken everywhere. No need to fumble with currency exchanges. ATM withdrawals give USD. And best of all, my Medicare was valid here, so I could get some routine medical tests done without paying out of pocket.

Equally exciting was that I got to add another national park to my list: American Samoa National Park. I’ve been on a mission to visit all 63 US National Parks. This makes #44 for me, with 19 more to go. It is one of the hardest to get to, and one of the most unique. It’s the only national park south of the equator, and the only one not federally owned. It operates under a lease from local villages, honoring the traditional Samoan land ownership system. It spans rainforest, beach, and coral. We were here for two and a half days, but I could have spent much longer exploring the park.

At sail-in and sail-away, we were met with these beautiful faces. Even Miss American Samoa showed up to greet us. The pictures below were taken by a photographer from the American Samoa Visitors Bureau and were posted on their FB site.