We have been continuing to enjoy exploring the island of Upolu since the last update.

After having a few days checking out the town of Apia when we first arrived I was preparing to get on with some boat work last week Tuesday when Gill, another friendly cruiser docked here, came to invite us to join a group of cruisers who had rented a van to tour round the island for a couple of days. They were departing in 10 minutes! The crew had other plans for going into town but I ditched my plans and jumped in the van.

We had a great day with a crazy bunch of 13 cruisers of all ages driving round half the island. We stopped to see Robert Louis Stevenson’s old house/museum and went on a short hike there, visited the Bahai temple of Samoa, took a look at Papapapai-tai waterfall, had lunch at a resort on the south coast, a swim under the waterfall at Togitogiga Falls and then drove back through the mountains by another route home. We also got to drive through/stop in many Samoan villages all along the way with their traditional fale homes of a roof supported on posts but with no walls – just woven blinds or maybe some tarp that can be put down occasionally if it rains hard.

Us at Togitogiga falls the first day:



The following day was an earlier start for day two of the van trip and all of the Sea monkey crew came along this time. We drove through the villages, palms and mountains for an hour and a half down to Lalomanu in the far south east corner of the island to enjoy the beautiful beach there. There is a small fee to rent a beach fale for the day from a family who live across the road which provided us with a nice shady base plus our own changing rooms and showers!



After we had our fill of relaxing on the beach, snorkeling, eating our picnic lunch and either playing scrabble or walking up the beach to buy a cold Vailima beer we all hopped back in the van. Next stop was a little roadside shop for everyone to buy an ice-cream cone, then a short hike through the forest to an enormous old Mai tree and finally a quick swim back at our favourite Togitogiga waterfall pool.

Not quite done with the van we took the opportunity to make a short trip across Apia that evening  to visit the Samoa Yacht Club and have a drink out by the water and then a joint cruiser mission to go and fill fuel cans the following morning.

Phil