Field Work on Ofu and Olosega Islands

I have been to Ofu and Olosega Islands a couple of times to complete ground truthing field work for our habitat mapping project. Ofu and Olosega is definitely one my favorite places to visit - nice beaches, snorkeling, scenery and one of the most relaxed and peaceful places you will ever visit.  Some photos taken during our trips to Ofu....

Map showing GPS trail and sites visited during our field work.

Segaula landing at the Ofu Airport, pucker up!

Beach at Mafafa on the north side of Ofu

Beach at Mafafa looking east towards Olosega

Foi and Josh enjoying niu after a hot day of hiking.  Niu are young coconuts that are better for drinking. 

Peta preparing the traditional samoan umu for important guests visiting Ofu.  Rocks are laid on a hot fire and heated.  The food is then placed on top of the rocks and covered with banana leaves until cooked.

Preparing the pig for the umu

Squeezing out the coconut cream.

Preparing crabs for the umu

Dance at  Peta's house.  Kids letting loose on the dance floor

Returning from a successful night of coconut crab hunting

Montane moss forest at the top of Piumafua Mt, highest point on Ofu/Olosega.

Me Josh, Foi and Dyna at the top of Piumafua

Descending down the east side of Piumafua through thick Freycinetia scrub

Wollastonia and Scaevola scrubland vegetation on Maga Point, Olosega Island

Because of the steep terrain we had to observe some of our ground truth sites from an alia boat using binoculars.  Northeast tip of Olosega looking back towards Ofu

Maga Pt. on the southeast corner of Olosega

Humpback whales spotted during the around the island boat survey

Pisonia coastal forest along Oge beach on the south east corner of Olosega. 

Foi, Josh and Dyna taking a break on the beach

Josh and Dyna hiking up a landslip on south side of Ofu

One of the benfits of visiting Ofu, fresh seafood - parrot fish and spiny lobster

Amazing overlook at the top of Tumu Mt, highest point on Ofu

Video taken from overlook on Tumu Mt

A visit to Ofu wouldn't be complete without a picture of beautiful Toaga beach.  There must have been some unexplained sampling error because one of my random ground truth sites happen to fall here in the water.  So I put on the snorkel gear and checked it out for a few hours.