It definitely has plenty of dings, some trim pieces missing, the engine light is continually illuminated and the passenger window won’t open but nothing that is terminal.

 

 

We had a visit from the French Polynesian Navy ship “Arago” that stopped in Apia Harbour for a few days and they allowed visits one afternoon so we thought we better check it out and had a wonderful tour by the officer on watch.  We were a little disappointed as their only arms where two small machine guns on the bow however, the galley was very impressive.

 

 

It was up early on Tuesday morning to meet the 8am ferry at the Mulifanua wharf which is down on the NW tip of Upolu – approximately 30kms from time or about 50 minutes.

The trip across the strait takes about 90 minutes and drops you off on the eastern side of the big island of Savai’i.  The first thing you notice is the lack of cars on the road as the big island is much quieter than Upolu.

 

 

Our first day took us around the Eastern Side of the island with the first stop at the Saleaula Lava Fields.

The actual island is very volcanic with the latest eruption of Mt Matavanu from 1905 – 1911 which pretty much covered the entire northern side of the island with lava and volcanic rocks.  Everything is made up of black volcanic rocks including the gardens around the houses.  The lava fields is quite amazing to see and one of the highlights was the church that was inundated with lava.  Apparently there where no fatalities during the eruption which is amazing in itself.

 

 

 

 

 

Our next stop was to see the turtles.  We were lucky enough to arrive at feeding time and it would seem that turtles are very fond of paw paw!!

 

 

 

 

We stopped for a spot of lunch at Stevenson’s at Manase which as you can see is in a lovely spot right next to the beach.   We liked the place so much we decided to organise some accommodation for the night in one of their fale’s (which loosely means open building) which are quite a bit more upmarket than the standard beach fale.  It came with its own en-suite which was all very comfortable and was lovely to hear the surf rolling in during the night.    We enjoyed the afternoon doing a bit of R&R.

 

 

 

 

The next day we covered the north and west sides of the island including the Falealupo Peninsula and very much enjoyed the lovely but rugged coastline and the Tree Top Canopy walk in the Falealupo Rainforest Preserve.  The Canopy Walkway is a Local (jerry) built walkway between the trees about 30mts off the ground with one end attached to a 225 year old Banyan Tree which has more steps that take you to the near the top of the tree.  Luckily for us we chose a really windy day and could feel the tree gently swaying in the strong gusts.  It did make for some lovely views of the area.

 

 

 

Wednesday evening was spent at the rather old  Vaisala Beach Hotel which was clean but very basic.  That evening while enjoying drinks on the balcony before dinner we were lucky enough to see a pod of Humpback Whales passing by and entertaining us with breaching and spy hopping.  We were surprised to see them this far north as the water is above 28C.

 

On Thursday we tackled the southern side of the island and stopped into see the Alo Faaga Blow Holes which were definitely very active with the big swell running.

 

 

 

On our travels around we were lucky enough to come across a Kirikiti (local Cricket) tournament so had to stop and watch for a while although we couldn’t quite figure out the rules – although not sure that there are many.  Apparently it is a pre-requisite to be able to dance and play cricket at the same time whilst whistling and clapping hands.  The use a bat which is more like a club and a rubber ball which I am sure would hurt quite a lot considering their only protective gear was a sarong, t-shirt and maybe a pair of flip flops!

 

 

 

 

We also stopped into see the very beautiful Afu Aau falls before making our way back to the Saleloga Wharf to catch the last ferry back to Upolu. 

This was a little more bumpy than the trip across as we were pushing into the SE swell – the car definitely got a salt water douching on the way back.

 

 

 

 

By the end of the trip we decided that Savai’i means “Island of many Fales” as pretty much every house has one!

 

 

 

Yesterday we did a bit of provisioning and went out to the Frankies Hypermarket which was amazing – the supermarkets here are pretty much the same as what we have at home which is very exciting for us and the prices are very reasonable.  We also picked up some meat from Samoa Meat Supplies so looking forward to enjoying a couple of very yummy looking Scotch Filet steaks.

 

 

Today we are going down to the Apia yacht club.  It is their sailing day today and when we stopped by last Sunday for dinner they invited us along to have a sail on one of their 16’ Hobie Cats and as the wind is looking favourable and the sun shining thought we would go down their and enjoy a bit of Off The Beach action.

 

At this stage it is looking like we have some good weather to get across to Wallis Island departing on either Tuesday or Wednesday.  As we still have the car till Monday we are planning to head back to the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum tomorrow and do the walk up to his grave and then start getting ready for the short two day passage across to the small French Island of Wallis.