Blogs from Upolu, Samoa, Oceania - page 3

Geo: -13.83, -171.76We're scheduled to arrive in Apia at 8am this morning. With no tendering, this should be simple. The only problem we see is that our CC tour person John, unlike others, has provided no details regarding who and where to meet after disembarking. We have our usual breakfast and exit the ship just after 8am. We see no one with any tour signs. I walk around and ask and when I approach what appears to be a tour guide and ask about our trip, he says, "This is it. Where are all your people?" Hey buddy, I'm not running this thing. Two by two, our group slowly finds us and gathers at the bus. This tour has been full for several months but apparently, unbeknownst to the tour operator, John has added people on ... read more

Just got back from our shore excursion to Apia, Samoa - independent Samoa, not American Samoa. About 40,000 people now live here, but one it's famous residents was Robert Louis Stevenson, who came here for relief from his probable TD in the late 1800's. He built a lovely home which is now a museum. Got to see a Samoan dance/singing show there. And a tour of the downtown of Apia with a stop at the huge indoor flea market - it was hot and humid. Luckily no flies - they were all at the fish market down the street where we did not go. Leaving here in a few hours and then off to Fiji where we'll be after another day at sea. Looking forward to a longboat ride there. Tonight some of the Indonesian staff ... read more

Access to Nu’utele Island is only possible from Lalomanu at high tide because the reef has no channel so the sea needs to be high enough for the boat to ride above the reef. Fortunately the high tide today was at 8am, perfect for going birding. An Austrian chap called Walter from the place I was staying was also interested in going to the island for no real reason, so in the morning Foki picked us up and we set off in his little tin boat. I’m a bit erratic when it comes to sea-sickness: sometimes I don’t get it at all, and sometimes I get it bad. It’s only about thirty minutes across to Nu’utele’s beach but I was already feeling pretty queasy by the time we got there. I was going looking for the ... read more

Another up and down day. I had been going to go to Lalomanu at the eastern end of Upolu today but it was Sunday and there are no buses on Sunday, so I decided on a return assault on the Vaisigano watershed. The head worker that I’d got a lift from yesterday was named Phineas and he had told me that I was on the right trail down to the valley (annoyingly!) and he arranged for one of his workers, called Alibut, to take me back there today so I could actually get to where the birds were. That’s Alibut as in the Samoan version of Albert, not the Pirate version of a large flatfish (“Arrh matey, I’ve ‘ooked meself an ‘alibut! Pieces of eight, etc”). So in the morning I arrive at Phineas’ house at ... read more

Today was a most excellent day for birding. Also there was a partial solar eclipse which isn’t something you see every day! I looked at it through sheets of microfiche so I’ll probably go blind. Or blinder. In the morning I took a taxi to the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum, about 3km out of town. On the way I passed the hotel a friend had recently stayed at, Le Manumea. Looked a bit upmarket for me!! Especially given that the room at the place I was staying had a naked bed, a desk, a fan, and linoleum on the floor, and that was it. The Museum is set in a very nice tropical garden, but of more interest is the forest-covered Mt. Vaea Nature Reserve behind it, on the summit of which is Stevenson’s now graffiti-covered ... read more