Savaii

For my 25th Birthday Ben and I went to Savaii. Savaii is the largest island in the Samoan Archipelago but it has about half of the residents of Tutuila.

There used to be a flight directly from Tutuila to Savaii but it stopped running several years ago. These days you have to fly to Upolu (the main island in Western Samoa) and take a ferry over to Savaii. We landed at 9:30am and rushed to try and catch the 10am ferry. Our taxi driver did everything he could (including running into the ferry terminal to try and get us tickets) but unfortunately we just missed it. We weren't too upset though because it meant we got to go back to Aggie Grey's for a drink by the pool.

The ferry ride over was a little bumpy but it was over fairly quickly. When we got to Savaii we rented a car and headed East. Our first night we stayed at Siufaga on the East side of the island. We had the most incredible lobster dinner at the hotel restaurant. I would strongly recommend stopping here!

On my birthday we headed North to Manase. On the way we stopped at a reserve and went swimming with turtles.

We also went on a short walk through a lava tube. Apparently no one has ever been to the back of the cave but our guide couldn't really explain why.

That night stayed at Jane's Beach Fales. Jane's had a great little beach bar and we had a really yummy dinner prepared at the hotel. After dinner we went to a hotel down the beach for desert.

On our third day we drove around the rest of the island. Our first stop was a church that was destroyed during Hurricane Ofa in 1990. The plaque reads:

With the Village completely destroyed, the villagers swam to Falealupo Primary School to the North. This Church remains a monument to the courage and love to the people of Falealupo.

Further up the coast we stopped at the rock bridge. The waves were spectacular.

We also climbed a giant banyon tree. There used to be a canopy walk but apparently one of the boards broke and someone fell last year so the canopy walk was closed.

On our last night we tried to stay at a surf resort on the west side of the island but they didn't have any availability so we had lunch and headed back to Siufaga. This time we tried the BBQ chicken pizza for dinner and we definitely were not disappointed!

On our last day we went swimming at the waterfall and climbed a crater.

Before we got on the ferry we had a wonderful (albeit rushed) prawn lunch near the port. It was pretty much the best 25th birthday a girl could ask for!

Western Samoa

Last weekend Ben and I joined the Simonsons on a trip to Western Samoa. We spent one night in town and then headed to the south side of the island for the rest of the weekend. We jumped off water falls, climbed into trenches, dove off piers (ok Ben dove - I belly flopped), ate great meals and relaxed on beautiful beaches. Not a bad way to spend a weekend!

Our fale in Vavau on the south side of the island.

Waterfall with an unbelievably long name on the cross island road.

We had a little (ok a lot) of trouble with this little car. The battery died TWICE (once when we were about an hour and a half from the rental place), and when we got to the airport to trade the car for Ben's passport there was no one there. We called several times and were assured that the drivers were "on their way." Finally 20 minutes before the last flight of the day departed for American Samoa the guy shows up with the passport.

We arrived at this waterfall with just enough time to take some pictures and jump in before it started raining. It was still nice sitting in the open fales watching the waterfall listening to the rain. While it was raining we started talking to a Samoan who was at the falls supervising a group of American teenagers. He told us he worked for the Coral Reef Academy, an off-shore treatment program for troubled teenage boys. We talked to a couple of the guys and they all seemed like pretty decent kids. Amazing what a couple months in the South Pacific can do!

The pier at one of the resorts where we had a very yummy lunch of chicken curry and pineapple pizza before jumping into the ocean.