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| Surrounding area at the Trench. You can swim in the pools and dive from the rocks, because the water is deep and clear. We plan to return when Sooz gets back and make a day of it. |
Hello all; Samoa is a fascinating place which lies in the heart of the vast South Pacific. Samoa is composed primarily of high eroded volcanic islands, with narrow coastal plains. It has two main large islands, Upolu and Savai'i. We are in Apia on Upolu. On the heights of Upolu and Savai'i grows tremendous forest vegetation: tree ferns, grasses, wild coleus, and Epiphytic plants. The magnificent "aoa" (banyan tree) dominates the higher landscapes. We are still exploring beautiful Upolu with it's many waterfall, expansive beaches, sink holes and more. I took a 3 day trip to Savai'i with two new friends from a neighboring boat; Bruce is captain and owner of Far Fetched and Olivia was his lovely friend from San Francisco, visiting for 2 weeks. I need an entire post devoted to the adventure on Savai'i.
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| Great day at the Trench, an awesome place-Western Samoa |
The Trench, on Upolu, is a large sink hole (see pix below) with a very scary ladder descending to a platform from which you dive into a luscious salt water pool. The ocean has made passages through the rock and if your brave, you can swim through the cave underwater, stopping for a breath above the rock cave before coming out of the hole into the sea! Alec does it without mask or flippers! I was content to stay behind for a long swim in the sea pool.
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| The Trench |
I didn't think it could get any better, but the islands just keep getting more and more beautiful. Western Samoa is breath taking and very affordable. Robert Louis Stevenson spent the last 4 years of his life here with wife Fanny, before he died at age 45, from TB.We visited his plantation home on Upolu, and got the guided tour.
Samoa is beautiful and the Samoan people are gorgeous, friendly, and rich in culture. Unlike American Samoa, Western Samoan is self governed.
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| little girl in fale where we stopped to ask for breadfruit from their trees. I used it to make latkes for Olivia's birthday dinner. Olivia had never had breadfruit and since she is Jewish we opted for latkes. She loved it (see pix below) |
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| Robert, Fanny, Fanny's Mom Fanny's two kids from a previous marriage (Robert and Fanny had no kids together) and their Samoan family that took care of their plantation. |
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| Robert Louis Stevenson |
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| Bob's dinning-room |
Robert married later in life to Fanny, who was a doctor and treated him for his TB. Fanny, with kids and mother, traveled with Robert by ship through the South Pacific, settling in Samoa, where the climate was excellent for Robert's condition. The plantation was awesome; now owned as a museum by a man in California and maintained by the Samoan government.
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| Robert liked to Jam. Here we have Zithers, Piano, and Ukelele |
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| What a face |
And now for a story regarding a time when Samoans were cannibal's.
It wasn't so long ago that Samoan chief's feasted on young lads from surrounding villages. The missionaries were not the one's to stop such practices but rather one powerful Chief who had a shake up so profound he declared that all Samoans eat only fish. The story goes that King Ulilamatutu was feasting everyday on young warriors from villages all over Samoa. Now this was a great honor for the young men and they gave themselves willing. The men were wrapped in palm leaves and presented to the King. After the King's approval, the men were clubbed over the head and cooked over the fire. One day, the King's fine young son overheard the lamentation of two young men bemoaning their fate. Although they were honored to be a meal for the King, they cried for their life. The King's son decided to go in their place as he felt so sad for them. When the young man was brought to the King for approval, upon seeing that it was none other than his own son, he shrieked for his son to explain why he had taken the other mans place. Upon hearing the pain in his son's voice for the life of the young men, the King declared that from that day forth all Samoan's would eat fish. True story and here's the statue to prove it.
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| Chief Malietuy Ulilamatutu with his son wrapped for dinner |
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| Man with fishing pole |
Concerning American Samoa: We spent a week there and will return for a week in early September. It was not the haven for yacht's that we imagined, however, some good did come from the week we spent there. Captain Sean made friends with some locals that turned out to be the main fellows on the island that work on converters, water-makers, and auto pilots. After a look at the auto pilot they were able determine the bushings were bad and promptly repaired it for very little expense. The water-maker is also being repaired by these clever fellows and the converter is also in their competent care.
The boat yard catered mostly to the tuna fishing boats because the Starkest Tuna plant dominates the town, as did the horrid stench that emanated from the place. "Sorry Charlie, only the best tuna"??? Yeah right! We had to anchor as all dockage space was filled by, you guessed it, large fishing boats equipped with helicopters for spotting tuna. The schools of tuna do not stand a chance against such technology.The Tsunami of 2009 devastated the town and the population was still trying to recover. There were two large boats sitting in the fields, left there by the tsunami.
The Samoan's are warriors and their long boats seat as many as 30 strong men; they maintain the old ways, as demonstrated by fire-dancing, long boat competition and fighting between villages. In Apia, there is a bridge by the marina and boys from the village on one side can not venture to the other side unless they are prepared to fight.
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| Fire Dancer |
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| Long Boat practice was pretty much daily with drums and row chant |
Fire dancing is huge here, with young men aspiring to be selected for performance at the resorts. The ice cream parlor across from the marina has Tuesday night performances for free. Captain Sean is trying to get on the roster, which would be cool, as he has his own style of South African fire dancing.
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| Man with coconuts |
Coconuts are a staple for the Samoan diet, used for the juice, meat, husks, and copra.
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| Flowers Flowers Everywhere |
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| Gracious lady who gave us breadfruit from the trees on her property. her fale was very colorful. |
Every family has a fale where they gather in the day and evenings to share meals, hangout, and pray. There are so many different churches here and when driving along the roads at dusk, the village men stand by the road with sticks to enforce that it is time for evening prayer. Each village has a different color Lava Lava (the skirt worn by the men) that represents their village and maybe their sect of Christianity. I did not see any Synagogues,,but you know what they say; "Jesus saves, but Jews invest". However, I am spreading the good food word and have given my Breadfruit latkes to a few island folk and they really loved them. (I served it up traditional, with sour cream and applesauce.)
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| Man on jungle trail. He had such a beautiful face. |
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| Bruce, Olivia, Sean, Alex and me taken long arm style by Alec at the trench. Ron and Sooz were back in the good ole USA. |
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| Sean and the cook after a swim in the trench |
Bruce was from Far Fetched and Olivia was visiting for 2 weeks. I went to Savai'i with them and need an entire post to cover all the fun we had there.
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| The boy's took a smoke break |
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| Olivia's Birthday latkes |
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| Happy B-Day Olivia |
