February 9, 2025
PUERTO DESEADO, ARGENTINA
Puerto Deseado is a sleepy little town that gets 1 cruise ship, every 3 months. There is not a lot to do there, but it is home to a large colony of Rock Jumper penguins, seen here. We have to tender in from this port and wave swells are so high that it is not safe for us to tender to port our second day there. This was a bummer for us because a group of about 30 of us had planned and excursion out to see the rock hoppers up close and personal. Several others got to see them on our first port day, so we have their photo's to live vicariously. We did get some amazing sunsets and rainbows the last couple of days despite the choppy seas.
Making coconut cream is such a big part of the Samoan culture I feel compelled to share the 4 step process we were so nicely shown. Every Samoan young and old takes part in this tradition, it is an intrigue part of their everyday lives.
The tour today was focused on the National Park but we also got a lot of insight into American Samoa's history and current day life. Our guide was Nini and she is a college student studying accounting and finance and works as a part-time guide.
Today we took the National Park of American Samoa Tour. It's a unique park - the only one south of the equator and where the U.S. Government doesn't own the land. Efforts to establish the Park go back to mid 1980 over concern about the decline of fruit bats and wanting to protect the tropical rainforests. On October 31, 1988 Congress established the NP of American Samoa. In 1993, a complex arrangement for a 50 year land lease years with seven villages and the Samoa government was signed. We got lucky with our tour - we were expecting an open air bus, but because we were a small group, we got a plush air conditioned van!