2explore.net We are Niels and Amy van Dongen and this is our journey. Our home site is http://www.2explore.net. On February 16, 2007 we will leave behind the comforts of our home in Seattle to travel through the South Pacific. On this site you can follow along with us, read about our experiences and view some of the photos we have taken en route. Our insatiable urge to explore, sparked the idea for this adventure. In October of 2005, we had a taste of the South Pacific on a 3-week trip to the Cook Islands and have ever since wanted to go back to immerse ourselves in the South Pacific way of life and record our experiences. With many ecosystems at risk from pollution, global warming and climate change, this is now especially critical. We aim to capture the true character of the idyllic South Pacific through photographs and words in a way that makes any observer of our work feel a connection to this special place and in turn, join us in making simple choices in everyday life that can have positive, lasting effects on the world around us. For a year we will be living as modern nomads – traveling only with what we can carry in our packs, living amongst the locals on the islands we visit, spending time sharing stories and experiences and taking in the captivating underwater world on the occasional dive. We hope to help others along the way and keep a vivid record of this adventure to share with you, and keep at the forefront of our memory. Follow along with us and learn about far away places of natural beauty and rich cultures. Experience with us the big world we call home.

Here we sit in Pago Pago, American Samoa - a place where no one should choose to linger. The road around the island is clogged with oversized pick-up trucks and SUV's and dotted throughout are grease pit restaurants and cafe's spewing out "American food" - mostly fried and very unhealthy. There really isn't much to see and do to entice a visitor. A lot of rubbish lies alongside the road and piled up on the coastline. Pago Pago harbour hosts commercial fishing boats that supply the huge Starkist tuna cannery, regular container ships and a few sailing yachts that sit in the green, murky water and are mostly in a sad state of disrepair. Some have simply sunk and can be easily spotted by their masts that stick out above the surface.

A string of mishaps out of our control have left us stranded here. We knew Tutuila, the main island in American Samoa, was not a place we wanted to spend time in, but we needed to head here enroute to islands 100km to the East, called Ofu and Olosega. Once we got here, all of our planning rendered useless and we found out that due to changed schedules, we would have to stay in American Samoa much longer than intended if we headed to Ofu, unless we were to book a one-way plane ticket back to Apia, Samoa which turned out to be ridiculously overpriced. So, after much discussion and number crunching (it is really difficult to stay on budget here...), we have decided to cut our losses and change course. We'll have to endure the rough ferry ride across to Samoa once again which we are not looking forward to: The way here was an extremely rough, 8 hour ride, much worse than the small cargo ship we took in French Polynesia. Thank goodness for sea-sickness medication - a triple dose was needed to get us through.

On one of our days here in Pago Pago, we hopped on a bus to get out of the rain and the driver immediately offered his bus as a 'tour bus' we could hire to go around the island. In desperate need of something to do and a way to see the place, we jumped at the offer. We were quite lucky to come across the friendly bus driver and ended up getting a custom tour at our leisure, for a fair price. Needless to say, this has been the highlight thus far and all but one of the pictures included with this post are from our 'tour'.

Even though coming to American Samoa has turned out to be a waste of time, the people we have come across here have all been friendly and helpful and we have been able to stock up on some things and catch up on sleep. We are able to use the library here to be online and research our next destination: Tonga. Wednesday we will take the Lady Naomi ferry back to Apia, Samoa where we will have to wait out another week before we can fly on to Tonga where we hope to discover some more -much needed- positive adventure!