Apia, Samoa

 

February 16, 2025

We were invited again to a Captain's 7:45 PM cocktail reception exclusive for the world cruise sailors like ourselves. 

Sea Turtle Ice Sculpture

We made the mistake of eating first and than going to the reception which featured some very nice prawns and sandwiches to go with the provided cocktails of champagne, white and red wine, and gin and tonics.  They also had a quite impressive turtle ice sculpture. 

We were not hungry but we did partake in the cocktails. 

Sue enjoying white wine

It was really warm and when we finally scored a table I took off my jacket draped it over the back of my chair.  Not long after, the lady at the table next to us somehow managed to upset the table with a lot of red wine and other various cocktails and splashed my coat with the aforementioned red

Before wine spill incident

wine!  Glass breakage, spilled wine everywhere and waiters scrambling to clean things up and one of the crew took my jacket and stateroom number and said they would have it cleaned for me. No apologies from the lady were forthcoming who acted like this was a normal thing for her.  We finished our drinks and after the captain appeared and did her little speech, we headed back to our stateroom.

February 17, 1025  Apia, Samoa

Our arrival time in Apia was 8AM and we were up well before that and showered and dressed before heading to the breakfast buffet.  After eating, I managed to video our surroundings on the upper decks.  It looks very inviting and the temperature is a very pleasant upper 70s.  Our excursion doesn't leave until 10AM so we have plenty of time to prepare.  

https://photos.google.com/search/CgZWaWRlb3MiCBIGCgQqAggBKP6OseLRMg%3D%3D/photo/AF1QipP9sf7NRcY_l7XBQY11OqnOgFaE-ywxEgMm4psl 

A little bit about Samoa, as opposed to American Samoa, witch is on the other side of the Equator.   We are on the island of Upolu which is the 2nd largest island of the Samoan's but it is the most populous with three quarters of Samoa's total population.  Apia is the capital.  An interesting sideline is that the author, Robert Louis Stevenson, best known for his novels: Treasure Island, Kidnapped, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, lived here and was much revered as there is a museum dedicated to him.  He died early from complications of tuberculosis at the age of 44, and is buried here on top of one of the mountains.

Polynesia, which Samoa is part of, is loosely described as a large triangle of islands with Hawaii, New Zealand and the Easter Islands at it's corners.  

We gather in the theater, as do all tours here, because there is not much room on the pier.  We are the last group to depart and there are about 60 of us which are loaded onto three mini-busses.  We board the bright green one which holds about 20 persons, two seats on one side and one on the other.  Sue and I sit on the single seats on the left. 

Samoa drives on the left hand side of the road, like New Zealand.  This was not always, they switched from RHD to LHD in September of 2009!  They did this because they had a strong relationship with New Zealand and Australia and their cars were a lot less expensive than the American cars.  The change went fairly seamlessly as a lot of preparation and signage had been done in advance and it was well planned out.

Our Green Hornet tour bus

A little cramped, but the A/C was good!

  From Wikipedia: "RHT (Right Hand Traffic) is used in 165 countries and territories, mainly in the Americas, Continental Europe, most of Africa and mainland Asia (except South Asia and Thailand), while 75 countries use LHT, which account for about a sixth of the world's land area, a quarter of its roads, and about a third of its population."

Off we go and thankfully our bus has A/C which some do not.  We travel through the populated area and it is rich in colorful plants, coconut and papaya trees, lots of flowering bushes.  People here are poor, but they take care of what they have and it is inspiring to be witness to it. 

Inside the cathedral

Our first stop is a cathedral with some awesome stained glass and architecture.  The island is mostly Catholic and as we travel around, there are churches in abundance.  I see very few taverns or other places that would test your temptations.   

My coconut drink

On our way to the next stop, we go through some rural areas before stopping at a flea market which is not only for tourists but for the locals as well.  I take advantage and buy a fresh coconut which she hacks an opening big enough for a paper straw and I can enjoy the sweet coconut liquid inside. 
The last time I enjoyed this was when I was with the 73rd Combat Support Hospital.  We were deployed to Central America and we were staying on the Dole banana plantation.  While we were enjoying the pool area, a native was mowing the grass with his machete and he offered to open a coconut that had just dropped from a nearby palm and he hacked it open with his machete and gave it to us.    

I also took a picture of this lady at her fruit stand.  I could not identify all the fruits and vegetables she had there but I'm sure they were very tasty if you knew how to prepare them.  I do know that locally ripened bananas are so much more sweet and tasty than the ones we are used to getting in our supermarkets that are ripened by gases.

 

I'll post some pictures that I took through the bus window as we headed toward our next destination.

The one below shows a typical residence with the elevated garbage cage to keep the omnipresent loose dogs from ripping the bags apart.  These were everywhere and I did see a garbage truck collecting the bags at one point.

I think the thing to take away from this is the lush greenery you see everywhere and the flowering plants and shrubs.  It is quite colorful and what you might imagine a Polynesian island to have.  

Elevated garbage cage

Local Medical Clinic

We arrive at our next stop which is on a peninsula with a great view of our Queen Anne in the distance.

Our Queen Anne, home away from home!

A very good local beer.

  We are served champagne and they also have a bar which I take advantage to sample their local beer which was very good,  Sue takes advantage of the beach area to dip her feet into the South Pacific waters which she said was very warm.  

Sue, testing the waters!

 Not surprising as the ambient temperature was in the 80s.  There were also what looked like a local father/son enjoying the waters just off shore.  

We board the Green Hornet and head back to the pier.  We try to get the bus to let us off in the downtown area but they say they are not allowed to do that so we disembark at the pier and catch a ride on another bus to the downtown area.  Sue has spotted an Adventure Lab which we do.  I can't connect with my phone so I am just along for the ride on this one.  Sue completes it and we hire a taxi to take us back to the pier for $4, he wanted five.  

We head back to our stateroom and relax for a couple hours before dressing for dinner.  We decide to do the formal dining and enjoy a nice meal of Beef Stroganoff.  Problem was there were no noodles.  How can you have stroganoff without egg noodles.  They substituted rice of all things.  We do not appreciate the English way.  It was OK, I don't want to disparage it too much.  But I am rapidly getting hungry for some real American food!

Next stop Nukualofa, Tonga