Savai‘i - What a Beautiful Island

Heading to Falealupo took me 1.5h with the scooter, but driving through the paradisic island and the colourful villages made it a beautiful drive. Once I arrived, I met up with Fernando who was already there and we checked out a nearby old church that was heavily damaged by a hurricane and subsequently abandoned in the 1990s, I believe.

Afterwards, we took advantage of a gorgeous day and headed for some snorkeling right outside our beach fale accommodation. Since beach fales are literally on the beach, snorkeling really became a daily habit again - similar to my time in Fiji. Anyway, the snorkeling was beautiful, with a colourful reef and plenty of fish.

By the time dinner was ready, Ares and Anna from Manase had also arrived and we sat there and chatted for a couple of hours before heading to bed. Since we were the only guests at the beach fale, we had the entire place all to ourselves.

The next day was Sunday, i.e. church day in Samoa when an already slow life grinds to an almost complete halt. So, we all dressed up a little and went to attend a church service. While the service was in Samoan, occasionally, the priest switched to English and at the end he blessed our travels in English and he and his wife came over after the service to thank us for stopping by and to have a little chat. It was a beautiful start to the day.

Even though it was Sunday, we were nonetheless yearning for some adventure. So we hopped on our scooters and headed towards a cave we saw on an old-school physical map. It wasn't easy to find and we needed the help of some locals to get to it. When we arrived, the owner of the property on which the cave is located, took the time and guided us towards it. While the first cave was not really great, the second one was really cool, with a hole in the roof that lets sunshine illuminate the cave. We walked through it, said 'hi' to some bats, took some pictures and generally enjoyed the time together.

By the time we left the cave, we were all hungry. But since it was Sunday, lots of places in Samoa were closed. We found a restaurant by the beach, however, that was open and so we drove there, had lunch, rented some snorkeling gear and went into the water again. It was a decent snorkel with some distant turtle spotting, but nothing really to write home about.

Fernando and I did want to do a sunset snorkeling at our beach fale as well. So we drove back and went straight into the water again. Yeah, it pretty much was a day that I would summarise as follows: Church, Caves and Snorkels.

Since it was our last evening together, we had dinner (still the only guests), sat on the beach, watched the stars and talked for hours about life, adventures and travels. We had such a great time together and being with the three shows that travel is not just about seeing things, but meeting people from all walks of life and experiencing adventures together.

After saying goodbye the next morning, I was heading to my last stop on Savai’i and to the main attraction of the island (although for me, the shipwreck dive is difficult to beat) - the Alofaaga Blowholes. Essentially lava flows have created a series of tubes connecting a flat clifftop of lava rock with the ocean below. Waves breaking against the lower end of the lava tubes send water at high pressure up through the tubes, creating fountains that spray every few seconds - these fountains of water go up as high as 40 meters. I spend at least 40 minutes there to soak it all in - also got soaked by the water and wind. It truly is a phenomenal feat of nature and I can see why it is regarded as the highlight of Savai’i. Truly spectacular.

With that, my time here on Savai'i has come to an end. After a night in one more beach fale, I rode my scooter to one more little beautiful waterfall that cascades into the ocean, before returning it, walking to the ferry and heading back to the main island, Upolu.

I will give proper feedback on Savai’i and Samoa after my Upolu adventures, but I can say that Savai'i was pure blizz. Colourful villages, incredibly friendly people, a laidback vibe, awesome diving, beautiful snorkeling, interesting nature, fascinating history and great beach fales. This is what I will take away from my time here in Savai’i. I've had a really fantastic time. It reminded me why I travel and why I travel far - to experience places like these.

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