Samoa -Savai'i

Will and I flew to Samoa last Saturday. We were keen to head straight out to the island of Savai'i, but the last ferry was 4pm and due to the timing of our flights it would have been touch and go whether or not we made it. Instead we spent our first night in Apia. We had a wander around during the afternoon and generally found it a pretty quiet place with not too much going on...

 

The next morning we headed to the wharf and caught the ferry to Savai'i, enjoying the gorgeous colour of the water along the way. We then got a shuttle to the north coast where we were staying 2 nights at the Savai'i Lagoon Resort. This place was amazing, I would highly recommend it to anybody visiting Samoa. It was a pretty small resort and very well run. There was a beautiful white sand beach, and to the left of the stone wall you can see in the pic below was a deep swimming hole. This was brilliant because otherwise you needed to wade out for ages into the lagoon at low tide to be able to go for a swim. The snorkelling direct from the beach was also superb.

We had one of the beachfront bungalows, and the view was incredible.

 



We had stocked up on some duty-free booze on the way in, so enjoyed a nice sun-downer cocktail (or two) in the evenings.

 

The resort had several kayaks that the guests were free to use so Will enjoyed a paddle at dusk

On the Monday we walked to a tourist attraction where you can swim with turtles. I was really excited about doing this, but once I was there, it was actually pretty scary! The water was a bit murky and it was hard to see where the turtle were underwater. I kept bumping into them with my legs and freaking myself out! Luckily a couple of the local kids had fed them a whole lot of paw paw before we got in, so they were less likely to have a nip at me... They had a ferocious set of teeth!



 

I was much happier sitting on the steps where you enter the lagoon, so I didn't feel like they could 'sneak up' behind me! We had taken along a mask and snorkel and it was pretty cool putting your head under and watching them.

You can't see much of the turtles in the pic below, but I've included it because it's a lovely shot of Will.

 

While at the turtles we had a torrential down pour of rain, so we sat and waited it out a bit before the 20 min or so walk back to the resort. You don't mind the rain quite so much when it is still late 20's to 30 degrees!

On Tuesday we travelled back down to the south side of the island. We stayed one night at Lusia's Lagoon Chalets which was a 10 minute or so walk from the ferry wharf.  This place was also very cool. It had bit more of a backpackers vibe. We stayed in an 'over the lagoon' chalet, and as you can see from the pic below, it was just as described! I'm standing on our private balcony, and there was a ladder going down to the lagoon. You could watch fish swim past from the balcony...

There are lots of naturally occurring freshwater springs in the lagoon, and one of them had been made into a very deep and very cold freshwater pool which is (quite literally!) very cool. You see them all over the place in Samoa.

From Lusia's we walked the 15 minutes or so to the local Savai'i market. There wasn't actually much there, but school had just been let out and it was cool seeing the old pimped up buses that they use over here. We started to walk back to our accommodation and a young guy in a ute pulled over and offered us a lift back which was nice of him, it saved us a walk in the heat of the afternoon! All the locals that we came across were incredibly friendly and welcoming, and they all had brothers/sisters/aunts/uncles/children living in Auckland...

 

There is a large communal deck over the water at Lusia's where we spent most of the afternoon and evening hanging out. We got friendly with 2 young couples from Australia and had a very pleasant evening swapping travelling tales and sharing round the last of our rum.

On Wednesday one of the couples we had been hanging out with (and who had a hire car) were catching the same ferry as us, so we caught a lift to the wharf with them. There had been some rain overnight and there was a huge big puddle of mud which a few of the 'locals' enjoyed rolling around in... There are pigs and chickens wandering at will all over Samoa! After just over an hour on the ferry we were back on the main island of Upolu. We loved our time on the island of Savai'i and would be very keen to return one day.