Way back at the beginning of the year, we had no plans to travel anywhere and then we saw a sale on fares to Samoa. For that reason we had a two week gap between returning from our unplanned Asia trip and heading off to a Pacific Island. It was a long day travelling as we needed to be on a 7:30am flight from Queenstown to Auckland. To be in Queenstown in time for that flight, we were up before 5am. Then some hours sitting in Auckland before the Fiji Airlines flight to Apia via Nadi (plus some hours sitting in Nadi transit area). Also noting that Fiji Airlines were very good with very good service, on very new feeling aircraft.
We had been picked up at the airport and driven to Le Vasa resort in the dark. We woke up and could hear the sea. The night before we had staggered into the room, and promptly went to sleep. In the morning we found we had a room with a deck out over the sea and uninterrupted views.
We went for a couple walks and it was nice to have people smiling and asking if we needed help -genuine niceness. At the local shop the lady deliberately changed one note so that we got a nice tidy note compared to the slightly scruffy one. Just a little thing, but representative of what we saw over the whole trip.
After a relaxing 2 nights/1 day we were dropped off at the ferry terminal to get the ferry across to Savaii Island. The trip was quite calm and only an hour. We didn’t buy any pies or local baked goods we had seen at the terminal but we should have- because our lunch was random food we had acquired in our travels, found in the bottom of our backpacks.
Savaii Lagoon Resort was an hour’s drive from the ferry terminal, along the coast and through tropical bush. There were a lot of little settlements and as expected, no shortage of churches. What was surprising, was the number of horses tethered in front of people’s houses.
Savaii lagoon resort was a small, quiet place – ideal. The beach out front was calm and clear.
It was a delight to go out snorkeling and see colourful fish everywhere. So many fish! One morning we ended up in the middle of a school of fish that numbered in the thousands. Initially we thought 10s and then 100s of fish but they kept coming. There would easily have been 10,000 swimming past and back round. And another day we saw a turtle swimming along in the bay.
The food was really good and Andrew finally ate raw coconut. I can’t believe a man in his 70s had never eaten raw coconut. His verdict however was not positive – apparently he didn’t like the texture and having to work so hard to chew it.
After our time on Savaii, the ferry back to Upolu was slower and bumpier, even though it was a fine windless day. Our driver to Salatoga Sands was a treat. He had lots of conversation and for second half the 1:45 drive he sang song after song for us. He used to be a music teacher and had a deep resonant voice
Salatoga Sands is a bigger resort, lovely but a little impersonal. The snorkeling off the beach was average. Most of the coral was damaged in the 2009 September Tsunami. The water is clear and there is evidence of regrowth and where there is regrowth more fish. We happily snorkeled and kayaked about.
The fiafia buffet and local show night was great fun. The staff do the performance and they appeared to be having a great time. Andrew certainly perked up when he saw the fire dance performance.
We took a taxi to the To Sua Trench – one of the island’s biggest tourist attractions. The resort had an organised van but the price was more than 2 times what we paid to do it ourselves by arranging a taxi to take us there.
The trench is a deep swimming hole and it was absolutely stunning. The only downside was climbing down the wooden ladder. It was sturdy but certainly took some concentration. The water does flow out to the sea but you keep away from that end – as the idea of being sucked out to sea in not ideal!
Overall the weather was great for the 1st half of our 10 days away. On the last 2 days there was rain and a big overnight storm with plenty of debris blown about.
Service could be a little slow, but staff were totally lovely. This is one of the 1st destinations we have been to where New Zealanders were in the majority of travellers: most people we met were Australian or New Zealander. And the idea of seeing NZ supermarket brands (Pams was everywhere) in the small shops and NZ cereal boxes being opened at the breakfast buffets was a novelty for us. It was not a cheap destination, it is an island and most foodstuffs need to be imported.
The waters where we were were clean and clear and there was no obvious sea rubbish pollution. Samoa was a great destination and we would happily return.