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Surf Forecast
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surfing in American Samoa |
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Plus: consistent south swells, powerful surf waves, uncrowded reefs, warm water
Minus: for experienced surfers, sharp and shallow reefs, expensive travel, rain during summer, no surf spots on the north coast.
Pago Pago has one of the best natural deepwater harbors in the South Pacific Ocean, sheltered by shape from rough seas and protected by peripheral mountains from high winds
American Samoa is very sensitive to the tides as all the breaks are fringing coral reef or lava rock and even at high tide the water may still be only a few feet deep while at low tide the reefs may be totally exposed! But it is not a ‘high tide only’ place as some would have you believe. In fact, your best bet is to check it out as much as 3 hours before peak high tide as that is usually when it first starts to show. At the very least, you can suss out the situation and make your call, but try not to wait until high tide to show up as it may be over with by the time you can even wax your board. Also, really high Spring tides tend to wash out the reefs, the waves back off and, because the breaks are all fairly close to shore, there may be a lot of backwash making for bouncy rides. Best are neap tides because there is less tidal variation (neither too low nor too high) and high tide occurs mid-day, allowing for maximum water time. Since American Samoa is located close to the equator and is a small island with nothing to delay or buildup the tidal flow (no continental shelf), high tide closely follows and occurs within an hour or so of the moon’s rising and setting (typically true for all South Pacific islands). This means that you don’t need a tidal chart to keep track of the tides if you can see or are aware of the moon’s phases. Also, be careful because the water may be seriously polluted from rain run-off and it rains an awful lot there! This run-off washes crap from the over 35,000 pigs on-island and household toilets (over half of which are not hooked up to the sewage system or even a septic tank), into small streams and the ground water all of which drains, untreated of course, directly into the ocean! Also, tons of trash, including dead animals, have been carelessly strewn about the place. Beware also that surfing in American Samoa has a kinda ‘Wild West’ atmosphere to it and many of the expats tend to be rather aggressive out in the water, maybe because for the most part there are no local Samoan surfers to keep people in line. The funny thing is that the few local Samoan surfers there are tend to be much cooler than the expats!
Fortunately visiting surfers don’t experience this because not too many new faces come through so usually newcomers and visitors alike are treated more with curiosity and friendliness than anything else.
American Samoa is much too expensive a place to just hang out waiting and hoping for the right conditions (unless you are on a yacht) and there are no surf camps there so it will never attract the crowds that plague Fiji, Tahiti, Indo, etc.
There are quite a few other things to do besides surf in American Samoa which you should plan on doing since the surf is often flat or blown out! You can snorkel, dive, fish, hike the National Park (National Park Headquarters in downtown Pago Pago), rent sailboats and sailboards at the Pago Yacht Club. American Samoa is extremely overpopulated with over 60,000 people on a steep and rugged island 57 square miles in area! The majority of native American Samoans (actually less than half the population) more or less live off Uncle Sam performing meaningless do-nothing government jobs, while the tuna canneries provide nasty low wage jobs cutting up fish brought in by the tuna boats for cheap imported labor brought in from nearby Western Samoa and Tonga.
Many times I was just walking down the road board under arm when Samoans would stop to offer me a ride, oftentimes going out of their way to make sure I safely got to wherever I was going!
Wanna add some info about surfing in American Samoa: Let us know. |
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Surf Spot |
Photo |
GPS |
Quality |
Direction |
Type |
Frequency |
Level |
| 1 |
Alofau |
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left |
reef-rocky |
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all surfers |
| 2 |
Asili |
1 
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right |
reef-coral |
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all surfers |
| 3 |
Fatuuli (Black Rock) |
1
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right |
reef-coral |
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experienced surfers |
| 4 |
Matu'u |
2
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right |
reef-coral |
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experienced surfers |
| 5 |
Pua Tree |
1
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right |
reef-coral |
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all surfers |
| 6 |
Sliding Rock |
11
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left |
reef-coral |
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experienced surfers |
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Photos |
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American Samoa at a glance |
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Location: Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about half way between Hawaii and New Zealand
Geographic coordinates: 14° 12' S, 170° 0' W
Coastline: 116 km km
Climate: tropical marine, moderated by southeast trade winds; annual rainfall averages about 3 m; rainy season (November to April), dry season (May to October); little seasonal temperature variation
Terrain: five volcanic islands with rugged peaks and limited coastal plains, two coral atolls (Rose Island, Swains Island)
Elevation:
Natural hazards: typhoons common from December to March. limited natural fresh water resources; the water division of the government has spent substantial funds in the past few years to improve water catchments and pipelines
Currency: US dollar (USD)
Population:
Languages: Samoan 90.6% (closely related to Hawaiian and other Polynesian languages), English 2.9%, Tongan 2.4%, other Pacific islander 2.1%, other 2%
note: most people are bilingual (2000 census)
Capital:
Divisions:
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comment by quinn@haberpacific.com, 2006-12-22 09:55:37