The same day, twice: My real-life Groundhog Day in paradise

My first hint of Samoa from my cruise ship Regatta is great dollops of cloud and screeching seabirds. Then the island of Upolu heaves low jungly hills out of the emptiness of the Pacific Ocean.

Surf grumbles on its fringing reef. Soon I can pick out churches, then Apia’s low buildings hunkered under the parasols of palm trees. I’m in the middle of a Pacific journey with Oceania Cruises and about to explore two ports I’ve never seen before.

Scenic tree-topped rocky outcrops rise from the lagoons of American Samoa.Credit: iStock

Many passengers head off on excursions to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Museum or the island’s scenic outliers. I head for a snorkel at Palolo Deep Marine Reserve, a five-minute walk from the ship.

Then I’m back on board for lunch before my afternoon’s exploration of Samoa’s capital. Immaculate Conception Cathedral has fabulous timber ceilings and stained glass. Government House is an ugly modern building that resembles a 1970s Las Vegas casino.

It’s Saturday, and Apia is quiet. A few shoppers flip-flop along the pavements. Teenagers slurp drinks from fast-food outlets. The rush seems to be over in the market, where old men are playing a board game akin to checkers. Samoans are chatty people with New Zealand-like accents.

As Regatta sails out of Apia, rain cells drift across the lagoon. Clouds turn to billowing orange, then towers of black as darkness descends. Terrace Cafe at the ship’s stern is a grandstand on the spectacle over another top-notch buffet dinner.

I don’t need an alarm clock. I’m up early for the sail into Pago Pago in American Samoa, only 108 nautical miles (125 kilometres) away. In the night, the ship has crossed the international date line. I’m about to relive Saturday and, as in the movie, this Groundhog Day experience is the same but subtly different.

Cruising on Oceania’s Regatta takes the hassle out of visiting far-flung places.

I get my shot of caffeine at Baristas Cafe and carry it onto the deck. Pago Pago beats Apia as an arrival: it hunkers deep in a bay surrounded by old volcanic landscapes. Church steeples are the same landmarks, though, poking through lush vegetation.

The cruise “terminal” is the same: a concrete quay in a working harbour. The welcome is the same, provided by a choir of grinning youngsters, and the same smiling Samoans spruik tours in the same heat.

But things are different too. American Samoa is smaller, richer and untidier than Samoa. Pago Pago isn’t so much a town like Apia as a string of coastal villages. Government House is a colonial-looking white weatherboard mansion on a headland.

The fish market in Apia.Credit: iStock

I’m told American Samoans like gridiron and baseball rather than Samoa’s rugby, but I pass a field where kids are playing cricket. American Samoans drive big pick-up trucks. Others ride around, like me, in open-sided buses decorated with feather boas and vibrating with Samoan-language rap music. The bus passengers are chatty people with American accents.

I head for a swim at Fatu ma Futi, where scenic tree-topped rock outcrops rise from the lagoon a few kilometres from the ship. Then it’s time to explore.

It’s Saturday, and Pago Pago is quiet. Shoppers wait at bus stops in flowery dresses. Workers at the fish-canning factory are taking a break, thumbing their phones. This is what I love about cruising: snapshots of far-flung places without any hassle.

Pago Pago, American Samoa.Credit: iStock

The sail away is another dose of very welcome Groundhog Day. The same slosh and foam of waves against the reef, the same evening rain cells staggering across the ocean to collapse against steaming green hills.

I have a cocktail at Waves Bar on the pool deck. Then I head to the same upmarket buffet at Terrace Cafe but, this being Oceania Cruises, tuck into entirely different dishes. Life is good, and I’m looking forward to the same, only different, tomorrow.

THE DETAILS

Oceania Cruises sails worldwide and has many itineraries in the South Pacific, including trans-Pacific, French Polynesia and New Zealand cruises. Several itineraries take in Samoa and American Samoa, among them an 18-day Papeete to Auckland cruise on Regatta’s sister ship Nautica that departs on March 7, 2025. From $10,970 a person. See oceaniacruises.com

The writer was a guest of Oceania Cruises.