Blogs from Samoa, Oceania - page 7

80 miles west of Chris and Roisin's last port of call (Pago Pago), lies Western Samoa. This group of islands consists of 2 main islands and several smaller ones. The capital is Apia, situated on the larger of the 2 islands Upolu. These islands are huge compared to American Samoa covering an expanse of 1,137 square miles. On arriving in Apia at 8am, the picturesque waterfront is dominated by their catholic cathedral and the line of public buildings, shops and trading companies. The town feels like a collection of villages rather that a city where 35,000 of the 217,000 islanders live. Today is Saturday 9th October 2010. This is the eve of an annual ceremony dedicated to children called White Sunday. It is celebrated every 2nd Sunday in October and this is a special day for ... read more

And now the end is near and I face the final curtain.........(to travel don't worry I'm not suicidal!) Two and a half years ago one big dopey Welshman with big grin and half a plan set out to see the world, challenge himself and see some amazing places and meet some of the crazy happy characters of the world. Well this is my last week........ I couldn't finish in the cold of New Zealand and I heard good tings about Samoa so at a coin toss between that and Fiji Samoa it was! The frfiendliness of the locals was all I was hearing about so after two days travel from Queenstown to Chritchurch then to Auckland before arriving late in Samoa a day earlier than I had left! (The international date line which would late casue ... read more

After long flight, finally arrived in paradise. My travelmate and I decided to start our travel from Pacific islands, then to go to New Zealand, Australia, China, India, South America and go back to Europe if we survive this heaven:). We landed first in Apia, Upolu island. We are planning to stay 2 weeks and then go to New Zealand. The weather is partly cloudy. Hopefully, the weather will serve us well cos we want to visit savai island also. At the moment we are staying in aggy greys resort which is stunning. We will see how things go and then decide where to go and what to do next:)... read more

WOW! We have departed Bora Bora at about 4:00pm on the 25th headed for Apia, Samoa. The next day, and on the 27th we were rocking & rolling to some incredible seas and winds. Stuff started flying! The ship was going at about half speed to contend with the high waves and deep swells, in what we found out was a Gale 5 storm. Annette and I were having lunch in the La Veranda Restaurant on Deck 11 when dishes and glasses took flight. The staff was doing whatever they could to secure things. With one big wave Doug’s chair went over sideways. “Batten down the hatches”! So, Captain Dag made the decision and announcement that we had to by-pass Apia, Samoa and head directly for Lautoka, Fiji. Fortunately, over the next day, the winds and ... read more

Outside of Apia (and beyond) I finally get off the ship when it’s still AM! So, Dave, the Navigator (2nd Mate), calls me last night to see if I’m still interested in sharing a taxi to go explore and I say, “of course”. I work a bit in the morning, just trying to get the guys off the ship to enjoy the island a bit. Why are we working on the 4th of July again? So after I get ridiculously antsy, Dave is finally ready to leave... we get outside the gate and I greet a taxi driver with a “talofa” (Hello!). We start asking about the going rate to have a taxi take us around for the day and he tells us he knows the perfect guy. We wait for 5 minutes and Misa ... read more