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Published: December 19th 2016
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Next stop, we are four hours north of Auckland, welcome to Samoa. I imagine some asking, why Samoa? Why not, I've been lucky to visit few times French Polynesia, plus Tonga and Fiji, so Samoa was next on the list. Soon, I should in the few years go diving in Solomons and climbing an active volcano in Vanuatu. These two are seriously high today on my wish list. I have to admit, what is not on the wish list are Nauru and Tuvalu!
So here we are flying Virgin to Apia. It was not as bad as expected just another low cost airline...still not a fan of cramped seats, but we managed to get a free middle seat for more comfort. Would have fly Air New Zealand for the lounge benefits...but even booking 3 months ahead, these are seriously not cheap! Way more expensive than Virgin for a pretty identical onboard none-service. We made it late evening to Apia airport and the staff of the Sheraton was waiting for us. They have two Sheraton on Upolu island. Both are the historic Aggies resorts who were in need of some serious upgrade. We are staying 5 nights in the
capital Apia, and the last night at the "resort" on a beach next to the airport.
The rainy/cyclones season starts here on the 1st of November...and we are three weeks into it. So we had some rain, but never over 90 minutes of it per day...who actually mind a good warm shower?!? Good to announce, we were actually too early in the season to face any cyclone. But this would result in seeing very few tourists around. Occupancy in the hotels must be well below 40% over this week.
I remember how welcoming the people of Tonga or Fiji are. Here, I can tell you, the Samoans beat even the Kiwis. The island of Upolu is the main one. Just below two hundred thousands people live here, for around 40,000 on Savai'i island next door. And every single people we met is saying hi or welcome...imagine, even while driving the scooter...cars coming in the other direction wave...I have to admit, driving a scooter and having to wave at every single person you see end up being a weird experience, but a great one!
So what to do in Samoa? Well, actually
a lot. We went to play golf at the Royal Samoa Golf Club. Fun place for few holes. We play the newest 9 holes....with at least 3 sticks in place of the flags on three holes...local tradition! But here too people are amazing. Fun to see the green-keepers following us for 3 holes, just to explain where to hit the balls!
I also went diving two mornings. Well, first time there was another diver, but second day, it was Ben the local DM and I alone. Sadly, El Nino has stricken badly here. 90% of corals are dead. Ocean temperature has risen by 2 or 3 degrees, and this was alone to bleach most corals We had a water temperature of 31 degrees! This place must have been pretty cool some 3 yeas ago, but today, it's just a coral cemetery! Still we had few turtles, but the macro live is depending on the corals to feed, so this too is long gone. It could take three or four years for the corals to fully regenerate. But this only if they don't have another water warming coming to hit the island!
I
dived with the people of Aqua Samoa. These people are great...wish them to get back their reef pretty soon, they need it! They also rent scooters...and we did a truly fun day driving around half the island one day. Don't think we could have done the full island in a single day. We had to stop few times due to occasional showers....but this is too another great way to meet the locals. The center of the island is pretty hilly, and it did get chilly and foggy in the middle of it...just another weird experience, driving on a tropical island, being suddenly engulfed into a deep fresher fog!
We went to the highlights if Upolu. We stopped at few waterfalls. They have a lot of waterfalls all over the islands. Some of them are treated as public sights, some others are on private land and you therefore have to pay an entry fee to access the view point.
The main goal of the day trip was to visit To Sua Ocean Trench...impressive water hole just few 100s meters inland. This is just an amazing place. You can go
down a ladder to swim in it. So now I'm facing my fear of high, in slippery flip-flops, on a slippery ladder just after a nice rain shower. I have to admit, I never went down...I have not intention to experience a fall while slipping out of the ladder. Let say there are some risks I don't like to take!
Apia, the capital of Samoa is a pretty calm affair. We had dinner twice at the best restaurant in town, I name Paddles. Pretty decently priced food. This place is way cheaper than anything in Australia or New Zealand. First day, we both went on for the seriously well-known tuna steak. This must be the best tuna steak I have had in my life...just amazing!
You can go cheap in Samoa too. We had dinner at a local "steak house" one night. 6usd would get you a huge plate of meat....with some rice. Not the best I ever had, but it was cheap. They also have a Mc Donalds, claiming to be the most westerly ans isolated Mc Do in the world. Not sure they don't have one next door
in Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa. The little cousin of Samoa is just few hours by boat to the West. They were officially in the past on the other side of the date line, but they since changed few years ago their local time to be on the same time, and day with Western Samoa.
On our last day, we spent a night at the Sheraton Resort by the airport. Nothing much to write about this place. Not much of any upgrade available. The architecture of the resort is less than impressive. But the local management was nice and surprised us with a romantic dinner for our last night in Samoa!
That was a week. What we loved Samoa was first the fact that the local people are amazing. They are not that many tourists around, but we are very well taken care....all day long! They also have churches everywhere...few of them for any single village! Prices were actually pretty low when you compare what you are paying these days in Australia and New Zealand. The beaches may not be "picture perfect", but the experience feel
more than fully authentic.
If you are after meeting amazing people, want to do a lot of different things in a single week...and want to really feel in the middle of nowhere, I think this is the place to come!
Next, we are back in NZ...for a week-end!
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