Samoa

Heading to Fiji after a lovely stay in Samoa.

Samoa recap: We met a village chief on the plane over from Honolulu. He gave us a ride to Apia, the capital city of Samoa about 30 minutes east of the airport and then he took us on a short tour of the city. His hospitality toward us turned out to be typical of all of the Samoan people. We checked into our pool side room at a small B&B for two nights and explored Apia: visited the Teuila Festival , snorkeled at the nearby marine preserve, had dinner at the yacht club, and reserved a rental car for our drive through the lush country side and many traditional villages on the way to the south side of the island. There we stayed in an open beach fale for three nights that included family style meals and one of the finest beaches we have ever seen.

Local village decorated for the festival

Beach Fales

Tinned meats and fish are popular staples at the store

Catholic church downtown Apia

737 from Honolulu

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We arrived safely yesterday in a Rav 4 rental car. I drove, on the left side!!, while Lyle continually reminded me not to get too close to the left side of the road, and give plenty of room when passing. The natural tendency is to stay clear of the center line so you won't collide with the oncoming cars. We had our first swim while waiting for our fale (tiny house on stilts) to be ready. A very loud siren went off that could only be a shark attack, an impending tsunami, or luckily, a monthly tsunami test alarm. Whew...The coral has been mostly damaged from the effects of the 2009 tsunami, although there are still some beautiful fish. This photo is looking east from our beach hut. It's just about perfect and meals are included. The only drawback is the "bath" house is across the road and no electric. Still, it was truly paradise last night when the almost full moon was shining on the waves, making them glisten and appear almost fluorescent. There's a constant roar from the high surf, waves of 8-9 feet, that continually crash on the reef surrounding the island. The smaller waves that reach the beach provide a soothing, calm that put us right to sleep.
Hope you're all doing well.
Jan and Lyle