Last night Tony and Stella went to the opening ceremony of the Pacific Island Games. For 5Tala (about 3NZD) they got to sit with all the local people in the mud. It was a joyful upbeat extravaganza. The athletes were doing their cultural dances competing for bragging rights. NZ did an average haka to the crowd. After lots of dancing, singing and speeches the evening finished with a fireworks display that Andrew and Sue watched from the boat. After 7 days anchored in Apia Harbour not being able to swim we were all eager for the break in the weather.
This morning started with a trip to shore for a quick shower and Andrew went to Immigration, then Customs to clear out out of port.
Friday, 5th July. During our weather forced delay, this week we all did different things to enjoy being in Samoa.
Tony went by bus to the northwest of Upolo to an area called Manono-uta where he was picked up by Leota, his brother and grandson on their family catamaran and taken to their fale resort on the amazing island of Manono. Manono is a reef enclosed haven that takes approx 1.5 hours to walk around. Tony was shown generous hospitality. A highlight was joining in the family’s short service before their meal with prayer, meditation and harmonious singing.
On return he was so tired out, went to sleep about 9.30pm only to wake at 2am with a very uncomfortable left elbow. Tony had somehow picked up an infection that by 4am had caused the elbow to swell to about the size of an egg. Having to be fit for our upcoming Monday departure for Wallis, Andrew and Tony headed off to get to the hospital asap. After a 2.5km taxi ride and resting in the waiting room until 6.30am, Tony was seen by the doctor and given antibiotics, all up only costing 46 Tala. As you can’t keep a good man down Tony and Stella headed off to shop more exploring of Apia, spending time at Robert Louis Stephenson’s mansion, gardens and climbing up to the top of the hill to visit his grave. Apart from short visits to the city centre, Andrew and Sue have spent time on getting boat ready for our next lot of travels to Wallis and Fiji.
The marina in Apia is pretty full with everyone waiting for breaks in the weather. Although we are anchored out we paid a small sum to the marina so we could leave our dinghy there when going ashore and to utilise their shower and toilet facilities. A note for any boats visiting Apia if you anchor in the harbour you have to pay a fee to the Apia port authority. It has been great also meeting other yachties and their families particularly with so many boats in this week. The Seafood Gourmet restaurant across the road from the marina has had a lot of patronage this week and the adjoining ice cream shop has been so busy they have run out of some TipTop ice cream flavours until the next supply comes in about a month. No it’s not just us but Apia has been busier this week with athletes etc arriving for the Pacific games that starts with the opening ceremony this Sunday. They have been rehearsing this week so we have been treated to some light displays and some interesting music!
We are still in Apia. Having a look at the weather before setting off, showed the swell was predicted to get higher than previously predicted. This would have made it an uncomfortable trip to Wallis, so Andrew decided to leave departing till the next weather window. A good decision after talking with other yachties just arrived who’ve had high winds and swells, some even sustained damage on their way here. The next weather window at this stage looks to be next Monday at the moment.
Time to do a bit more exploring of Upulo and to catch up on some work on the boat. The South Pacific games are being held here commencing 7th July so there is a lot of athletes arriving and a lot of work being done by the Samoans to welcome the athletes. Had torrential rain yesterday followed by a stunning sunset last night.
We are getting recognised in Apia – Stella by the samosa guys and Andrew by the homemade lemonade guy!
Sunday 30th June. Arrived back in Apia Friday afternoon. Dropped off some laundry to be done then some supermarket shopping. We went for a relaxing dinner at the seafood restaurant across the road from the marina (mostly frequented by locals). Had a great dinner, sat back and enjoyed the breeze. Stella tried the local delicacy Oka which is raw fish marinated in coconut cream and onions. Tony chowed down on a seafood chowder, Sue had seafood platter and Andrew had lobster mornay (a very late birthday present from Sue!!). There is an icecream shop next door which also happens to be part of the restaurant. They have a wide range of icecream and a good selection of cheesecakes but we were too full to have any dessert that night.
Saturday we headed off to the markets early to try to beat the heat. We came across the bus station with the wonderful local buses. After the markets we headed back to the boat to get away from the heat. Tony stayed out for a bit longer to check out the stadium for the Pacific Games which start next week. That evening Sue and Andrew headed back to shore in the rain to check out the icecream shop whilst Tony and Stella stayed on board to watch a movie. Saturday evening the rain started and hasn’t stopped since. During the night there was high winds, thunder and lightning.
Today, Sunday is lazy day with everyone trying to catch up on photos, emails etc with a slight interruption when we looked out the window and found a big red tugboat almost coming to join us for morning tea! The red tugboat was anchored with a large barge next to us. The tugboat communicated with the boat anchored on our port side suggesting it moved as the barge had dragged an anchor. After a while the boat came back and advised they had to wait for captain and crew to get to the boat before they could move! We were watching as the barge came closer to that boat and Andrew decided we should probably look at moving and giving the tug and barge more room to manoeuvre. Two hours later we re-anchored only a short time later to hear the tug advising it had to go out again as something had jammed their prop and only one of their engines were working. They have now re-anchored and we are back to finish off today’s blog.
Tomorrow we are looking at leaving Apia, weather dependent, for the Isle of Wallis which is about 3 days sail away.
Savai’i, Samoa is the poor cousin to Upulo with a small port to receive the ferry from Upulo with several villages scattered around the outskirts of the island. The island has a range of tourist attractions so we hired a car for a day and set off to explore some of them. Samoa’s information centre in Apia does a good job of promoting all the tourist attractions on both islands. Regrettably they don’t all stack up to the hype.
As we toured around the island, like on Upulo, Samoan’s are not big on signage and the signage that is there is not always correct. Despite that we managed to find the attractions we wanted to see. On Savai’i we started with the rainforest canopy walk. A steel spiral staircase took us up into the treetops to a suspension bridge which led to a large banyan tree which we climbed higher into the canopy for views through the trees. Health and safety would have a field day here with the tree viewing platform and the stairs up to it held to the tree with ratchet tiedowns as the bolts have rusted away.
Next was the Alofaaga blowholes. Lava shelf just above sea level with a few holes in the lava to allow waves from the sea to surge through and create the blowholes. Travelling on around the island we then stopped at the Afu Aau waterfalls for a refreshing swim in the cool fresh water. Too cool for wimps Andrew and Stella but Sue and Tony had a great swim. After a quick stop for lunch near the port we discovered pigs on the island were quite intelligent as we saw one holding up the traffic as he sauntered across the pedestrian crossing.
Our last stop was the Saleaula lava fields. We got there about 4.45pm and they closed at 5pm but the lovely Samoan lady told us to go in and she waited until we came back before packing up and going home. Must say out of all the places we went to this family put some of the entrance fee money back into improving the attraction and upkeep. It was one of the tidiest and cleanest places we went to. Also the only one that took the time to explain how to get around and the history regarding this site. This site is where the village used to be before the volcanic eruptions between 1903 and 1907 when it covered the village in molten lava with no fatalities. We saw where the molten lava flowed through the church and onto the coast. We spent about 5 days in Savai’i. We decided that the best anchorage for us was Matautu Bay so we based ourselves there and explored from there. This was also a great spot for swimming, snorkelling and most of us saw turtles at one time or another. Left Thursday afternoon to come back to Apia where we have to clear before leaving Samoa.
Friday 21st June. Yes we are in Samoa. We arrived in Apia on Monday, went through the arrival procedure and went to the information centre where we were treated to a cultural dance and food. We got all the brochures and spent the next day sorting what to do and see.
After looking around town and getting some internet data, we discovered that when catching a bus, if the bus is full you just go and sit on someone’s knee or expect to be sat on. Andrew thought that was great, you find a beautiful Samoan woman to sit on his lap. Not so good when a large Samoan woman wants to sit on his lap.
We hired a car for a couple of days to get around Upolo Island (the main Samoan island).
Our first stop was Piula Cave Pool. Unfortunately an earthquake a few years ago collapsed the cave stopping anyone from swimming through. We then followed the coast road, meeting some of the locals and getting some fresh papaya straight from the tree, along with some fresh cucumbers. Because of the South Pacific games next month many of the villages have signs up along with coloured flags welcoming the team they are hosting.
We continued our drive to the eastern side to Lalomanu beach where we had lunch at a resort. Next on the itinerary was Sua Ocean Trench. A giant sink hole with a lava tube creating an underwater cave entrance. The climb down into the sink hole was via a giant ladder. We hadn’t taken our masks so we didn’t attempt swimming out to the ocean, so we just swam in the clear water (note the steps are very steep and if you enter this attraction and decide you can’t do it and go back out within a few minutes, they still charge you the 20 Tala). Sue stood and argued (after all there was no information or warning about the steepness of the stairs, nor any notice prior to paying the fee), and they got the Manager on the phone and agreed to refund it.
Day two started with a short Bush walk to the Ma Tree followed by a look at the coastal walk (the heat of the day making it too hard to complete). 2km down the road was Togitogaiga Waterfalls. A great, cool water stop. 15 minutes west we found the Ocean Club (between Sinalei and Coconut Beach resorts). This was a delightful stop where we had lunch (one of the best so far) and relaxed before heading back over the mountain to Apia.
Today we left Upolo for the Samoan island of Savai’i
