September 12, 2012
Once we got back over the mountains and to the south coast, we turned and headed west, picking up where we had left off. Our first stop was a place called the Virgin Cove Resort. It was a long drive down an unpaved road to a village where we had to pay 5 tala to continue on another long, unpaved road to the resort.
A few years ago a tsunami hit the south end of Samoa along with parts of Tonga, and the area was pretty devastated. Much of the vegetation and the beaches seem to be back, but some of the small resorts (there were only a handful to begin with) are struggling to get repaired and up and running. We weren’t sure if this place would be open, or what we might find when we got there. We did see a lovely stretch of white-sand beach on the way.
Once there we found a “resort” that was empty, but seemed to be open. There was a worker in the restaurant, and the very pretty public restroom was clean and stocked with toilet paper and fresh flowers. The grounds were beautiful, consisting of several small coves with beautiful white sand beaches and fales tucked into the tropical foliage.
A fale is an oval structure consisting of a platform above the ground and poles that hold up a thatched roof, making it completely open air. It is the traditional Samoan building style and can range in size from a room to a house to a community meeting place. It is wonderful for catching breezes but not so wonderful if you like privacy.
The enchanting setting might tempt me to book a room here for a night, but the mangrove swamp behind the resort would mean major mosquito activity in the evening. They probably have mosquito nets in the fale, but you would not want to crawl out from under it for a midnight bathroom run. It might be worthwhile, though, to book a fale just for the day. -Cyndi
