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!
