Sam Napa
After a fire ruined most of a traditional ocean canoe (a vaka), remains of the boat ended in the garden of Sam Napa. It is now part of the Pa Ariki's Takitumu Palace Museum, owned by his family. Situated on the Southeastern coast of Rarotonga and close to the Avanaa fishing port, the museum exhibits a collection of portraits, paintings, photographs, maps and documents that refer to the family's genealogy and the history of the Cook Islands. Quite central in the exhibition is a map of the Vaimaanga Hotel development, locally known as the Sheraton Hotel project.
Sam Napa Jr.'s authentic name is Tupeariki Rangatira. His mother's the 48th Pa Ariki or paramount chief of Vaka Takitumu. The Ariki are the hereditary chiefly and influential class in the Cook Islands. They assemble in the House of Ariki. "We represent the spirit of our nation," Pa Ariki once said, "whereas parliament represents the will of the people."
Sam Napa Jr overlooks the family's important properties in real estate, and most prominently the 70 acres (28 hectares) at Vaimaanga. With lawyer Tim Arnold, he has been fighting for years to clear that site of bad vibes. Many attempts to relaunch the building of a hotel resort there have failed. They all added to the site's reputation and the "urban myth", in Tim Arnold's words, that a curse hangs over it.
Maritime and sea related activities also keep Sam Napa Jr. very busy. He is the president of the Sailing Cook Islands Federation and a member of the Voyaging Society. These last years Sam has been engaging with the government's deep-sea mining project. In December 2019 he joined an Ocean Minerals expedition to its Limited Reserve area, north of the island of Aitutaki, on board the MV Grinna II. He remained in close contact with Ocean Minerals (locally known as Moana Minerals, an American company) afterwards. At the same time he is one of five members of the Seabed Minerals Advisory Committee, and says that he'll use all his networks to "get the word out about seabed minerals." He hopes for the seabed minerals industry to grow and develop.
