Month: September 2012

September 11, 2012

We had decided early on not to take a guided tour of the island, but we did consider sharing a car rental with other cruisers. Several people had asked us if we’d like to go in on a rental, but in the end I realized that it’s hard enough to decide what to do and where to stop with just the two of us. (Plus, I already have Rich rolling his eyes when I want yet another photo-op stop; I don’t need three people rolling their eyes at me!)

We ended up with a nice, comfortable car with air conditioning. The air conditioning was to be one of our favorite things about our circle-island trip! The driving was on the wrong side of the road, with the wheel on the wrong side of the car. Rich had no problem with this (we saved money by making him the only driver). Soon, we were hitting the road to see the island. We rented the car for two days; so we thought we might make this a 2-day process as it’s a rather large island with a lot to see.

Apia, our starting point, is on the north side of the island. The coastline here is rather rugged, with little in the way of actual beaches. The highway runs along it for awhile, then turns inland and goes up through mountain and rainforest before going back down to the water on the east coast. -Cyndi

 

September 07 – 19, 2012

Apia marina had its drawbacks, but I want to mention here the good things, too. The marina where we stayed was actually very pretty. We had electricity and plenty of water, and the restaurant above the bar was really good. We could get happy hour beer and these small plates of food that made a great dinner. Our favorites were Oka, which is basically Samoan poisson cru only a bit spicier, and these mini burgers (sliders have invaded Samoa, too) that had a slice of beet on them. I would never think to put beet slices on a hamburger, but it’s wonderful. They had a chicken coconut wrap that was great, too. Other good things included some very nice people and frequent visits from a sea turtle. Once in awhile it would rain, and that would cool everything off nicely.

We did complain about the mosquitoes, but after a few days we finally dug out the mosquito net and found it much less difficult to put up than we thought it would be. With the net over our bed, we didn’t have to spray ourselves every night and were much more comfortable. The sales stuff got annoying, but we learned to loudly say “No!” and walk away. In the end, it was the heat that was really driving us crazy, but we even came up with a temporary solution to that: renting an air conditioned car!

 

September 08 – 19, 2012

One of the first things we wanted to do here in Apia, Samoa was revisit Aggie Grey’s, the famous historic hotel that’s just down the street from the marina. We stayed here during our honeymoon 23 years ago and were anxious to see it again.

While the hotel had been modernized in some ways, we were relieved to see it hadn’t changed too much. There was one change we liked: at the front of the hotel they had put a little coffee house where you could enjoy coffee drinks, sandwiches, and help yourself to their collection of magazines.

As it turned out, we probably visited that coffee house every afternoon. It wasn’t because the cappuccinos were that good (although they were fine); it was because it was magically cool. Well, not actually cool, more like less hot. It didn’t have air conditioning, but the ceiling fans, shade trees outside, and a slight breeze off the bay outside seemed to keep it almost comfortable. We would stop on our way back from town, have a large cold water or a coffee drink, hang out a long enough to recover from impending heat stroke, then make the short walk to the marina. -Cyndi

September 10, 2012

When Monday came around, the parade of officials started to come by the boat. By now we had decided to tell the truth about being off the boat as so many people had seen us out and about. They did ask, and we pretty much blurted out that we’d totally been off the boat, that Health had told us we could leave the boat so of course we did, and it was great! I think they weren’t used to such an upfront and aggressive admission. There was a moment of confusion, then they headed on to other topics.

We still had marina people and Immigration to see but we felt comfortable enough now to go to the restaurant above the marina and have lunch while keeping an eye out for them. When the marina people showed up, we just trotted down there and did that process quickly enough that our beer was still cold when we got back.

When the immigration people hadn’t shown up by 2pm, we went downtown to find them. That took some time, but it was a relief to be done with all this and to be truly free. We decided to go celebrate by getting a coffee drink at a nearby cappuccino place. The heat was getting oppressive; so we ended up finishing our drinks quickly and then fleeing to Mc Donald’s, which was nicely air conditioned.

Over our days here, we ended up in town quite a bit as it had decent-sized markets, hardware stores, ATMs, and the place where you had to buy your internet time (for some reason you couldn’t do it online). Town was about a half-mile walk from the marina, and we had a tendency to end up there in the heat of the day. Mc Donald’s became our oasis of cool in this heat as it was one of the few places that was air conditioned. If it was really hot, we might start out there and get cooled off, then quickly run out to the other places we needed to go, then head back to cool off again. We’d then head back to Aggie Grey’s and sit in their coffee house with a large water to cool off again. Then we’d head to the boat, try to find a spot with a bit of breeze, and wait for evening to cool us off yet again. Thankfully it was much cooler here after dark. -Cyndi

(How hot was it? In the boat’s cabin, the one time I looked, I saw it was 98.6F – perfect body temperature. Funny how it didn’t feel perfect. Maybe it was the million percent humidity? -Rich)

September 8, 2012

We arrived in Samoa Friday afternoon and this is the first chance we’ve been able to get internet access to post news of our arrival.

First impressions: officious, HOT, mosquitos, salesmanship.

What we thought might be a three of four week stay is now looking like it may be less than a week.  We’re already plotting our escape.

More soon. -Rich