Recently I had a chance to travel to American Samoa, and to the Manu'a Island group in the eastern portion of the territory. Manu'a is comprised of Ofu, Olosega, and Ta'u islands. Hawaiian Airlines goes in and out of Pago Pago on the main island of Tutuila, but past there it's all twin otters and tiny boats. Local flights often get rescheduled or cancelled, boats are dependent on whether the island(s) in question have any gas that week, and the one ferry was out of commission altogether during our visit. Fortunately, we were able to piece it together to get to all the islands.
Runways on Ofu (Z08) and Ta'u (NSFQ) are sporty- 2,000' and 2,350' respectively, with ocean on three sides and jungle-covered cliffs on the fourth side. Polynesian Airlines runs twin otters daily to Ta'u, and weekly to Ofu. The Ofu flight is limited to 5kg of luggage per person due to the runway length on landing.
Manu'a is gorgeous, and the folks we met were extremely friendly. On one flight I was handed a baby to pass down the aisle by a complete stranger.
I know there's others here that are familiar with American Samoa. Feel free to chime in.
-DP
