After being back in Chicago for 6months we were ready for a vacation. We were itching to go back to NZ to visit friends, and decided we’d spend a week in Samoa along the way. We wanted to go to independent Samoa, not American Samoa, a US territory. Both countries share the same language and customs, but why travel all that way to some place that has become “Americanized”? According to the guidebook, independent Samoa is “Polynesia at its purest and most traditional”.
So, we flew from Chicago to LA, then nonstop on Air New Zealand to Apia (the capitol) on the island of Upolu. Upon arrival we hopped into a taxi van headed to Sinalei Reef Resort http:www.sinalei.ws on the south coast near a small village called Si’umu. It was about a 45 minute drive across the interior of the island. We were so excited to see where we would be staying… much butter than we had imagined! We were in Suite D. We had our own air conditioned unit with bedroom, separate living area and open-air bathroom. Just to the front of the suite was an outdoor soaking tub (kind of like a hot tub, but who needs that when it’s 95F and humid), and a private veranda with a thatched roof, two chairs and a table. Best of all, we were no more than 20 feet from the water’s edge!
Since the flight arrived at about 5:30am, we then headed to breakfast. The resort’s Laumosooi Fale restaurant was open-air, overlooking the ocean, with just a thatched roof above. The pancakes with coconut banana syrup were amazing!
Then we walked down toward the water to meet Vanessa, our soon to be dive guide, at the dive shop called Liquid Motion. She was originally from South Africa, but had been living in Samoa for over 3 years. We booked our dives for the next couple days. The rest of our first day there was spent exploring the resort, relaxing by the pool, eating and drinking.
The two days of diving were beautiful. The dives were all leisurely: calm, warm waters, good visibility and perfect weather. We had 2 to 3 dives each day at sites called Anganoa Wall, Perfect Pinnacle and Garden Wall. The last two sites are just off a small island called Nu’usafe’e. The dives were all about 25 meters deep or less. There was no shortage of brilliantly colored coral and fish. Some of the most memorable sights were large sea turtles and some reef sharks. Again, too far away from the sharks to get a good photo. Maybe that’s a good thing?
On day 4 we hired a car to drive around the island. We headed east along the south coast road. The first stop was at the Togitogiga Recreation Reserve, and the Togitogiga Waterfall. Not a hugely impressive waterfall, but very nice park area. Some other travelers had told us about a place further down the road called. To Sua. It’s giant hole in the ground. You can climb down on a ladder and go swimming in the crystal clear blue water. It had rained a bit before we got there, so the water was murky and not so inviting. So, on to the next stop for which we had high hopes. We had been told that the beaches of Lalomanu, a town on the far southeast end of the island, were second to none. Come to find out, the beaches are privately owned, so there is a fee to use them, but it was well worth it. The road along the beaches is lined with cafes and small fales, pronounced FA-lays (huts) for rent. We stopped in a café to pay our beach fee and order two large bottles of Vailima, the Samoan beer. There were very few people on the beach, so we had a huge area to ourselves. The water was clear, warm and calm and the small, colorful fish weren’t shy. The beach couldn’t have been more relaxing. From there we continued north along the short east coast, then west along the north coast to Apia. With the exception of Apia, we thought Samoa was very rural and underdeveloped, which added to its charm. The countryside is green and lush, and dotted with thatched roof homes. The harbour of Apia is nice, but to be honest, the town itself really isn’t anything special. We were glad we had decided not to stay in town! We had some sandwiches for lunch at a café, then found some bottles of wine to take back to the resort with us.
That night at the resort was island night. There was a huge buffet of Samoan food that was absolutely delicious. The entertainment consisted of live local music, traditional and fire dancers, and of course, kava drinking.
The Samoans are very friendly, and eager to show you their traditions and way of life. We asked ourselves when we were there: If we had been born there any didn’t know any other way of life, would we think it was a good, happy life? We both answered “yes”.
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