Sliding Rock

Sliding Rock on Tutuila's southern coast is a broad shelf of black lava where the swell comes across the flat rock and drains back off it, and at the right state of tide and sea people are carried across the surface and into pools at the inner edge. It is exactly as dangerous as that sounds when the sea is up. The shelf is otherwise a place to watch the surf break, with the ocean stretching south beyond it.

What you actually see

• The lava shelf - the flat black rock the swell washes across.
• The pools - the basins at the inner edge the water drains into.
• The surf - the swell coming in unbroken onto the shelf.
• The southern coast - the open ocean stretching away from the rock.

When to go

May to September is the calmest window. Heavy swell makes the shelf lethal and it should be avoided entirely. Low tide reduces the wash.

Honest expectations

People have been swept off this shelf and drowned; it must not be attempted when swell is running. There is no supervision or rescue. The lava is sharp and cuts badly.

Nearby

Vaitogi is nearby, and Pago Pago is northeast.