Tuesday 26 September – off to the neighbouring island Savai’i

The only tickets I could buy for the car ferry were for a 10 am departure today returning at 8am tomorrow. The ferries go every couple of hours in the morning, but the car slots get booked out quickly. At least we can do it in a relatively relaxed way and have a night in a bed. Some of the yachties do day trips over and say it is too exhausting. It is not possible to go there by yacht. We had to get to the ferry terminal an hour before departure which is a 50 minute drive – the other end of the island closest to Savai’i. It all went like clockwork, even though the sea was quite rough it was fine as we were going with the wind and waves. The crossing took us an hour and we were off the other side going clockwise around the island. Marina had given us the best options for accommodation and sadly the first three were all fully booked, we finally managed to book the Amoa resort through Expedia, as we can’t make calls and none of them have their own online booking system.

Boarding the ferry in our hire car

Gorgeous colour water, you can see the channel cut through the reef on the right side, just a slightly darker blue

A tricky path through the reef without a lot of room on either side

Breaking waves on one side

Really shallow reef next to the channel

We started our trip clockwise around the island, this island is meant to be a lot more traditional than the main island. It certainly looked a slower pace, it was a beautiful road again with gorgeous coloured Fales, well maintained verges, and very little litter. Just like the main island Opulu, there were hundreds of churches. Our first stop was Afu Aau waterfall. Although it looked like it was threatening rain it was incredibly hot, so we were very happy to go for a swim at the scenic falls. Interestingly there were quite a few visitors, half islanders, half tourists – the falls on the mainland we had to ourselves. The swim was a great way to cool down, it was so hot, the water was a refreshingly cool temperature.

The river below the falls

A string of smaller falls

We swam in this pool under the waterfall

About half an hour further along the island we came to the Alofaaga Blow holes. This is an area with no reef and the waves hit against a lava flow that forces water up all the nooks and crannies where the lava has eroded. The spouts of water were incredible. The lava that we were standing on had little bubbles coming through tiny cracks in the lava. We saw it at a spectacular time as the swell and waves are still incredibly big. When we first arrived there were some guys throwing coconut shells into the blow holes and when a wave hit, the coconuts went shooting high up into the air along with the water. There was a long stretch of coast with blow holes and crashing waves along it. We paid to get in, the local village has worked that one out, but they deserve it. We bumped along for a couple of kms, mesmerised by the force of the water. It was really impressive. We were drenched with salt spray by the end.

Big rough seas

The bubbles coming through tiny cracks in the lava, the red line is to stop people going too close to the edge

We finally drew ourselves away from the mesmerising blow holes and continued further clock wise around the island, it was just under 2 hours drive to the next site. It was a magnificent drive, through the lushest dense vegetation, the verges all strimmed, no edges to the tar, roads in good condition so very easy driving, plus very few cars. Amazingly no wildlife in the dense vegetation, just birds, with invasive Indian Minor birds everywhere.

A more modern looking Fale

We finally got to the Saleaula lava fields at the Mauga Village. We paid a small 20 Tala entry fee and found loads of ladies sweeping the lava fields, clearing it of leaves and debris. It was a wonderful sight through a smoky haze from their little bonfires. The molten lava is from an eruption from Mt Matavanu in 1905 that flowed for 6 years until 1911. Five villages were buried under the wide lava flow. The half buried London Missionary Church is still standing full of lava. The flow of the lava looks like burnt treacle, with the black soft folds. It is an incredible sight, surprisingly no one died in the eruption. The lava flow was so slow that it took a year to reach the village, so villagers had time to escape by canoe to the main island, Upolu.

Ladies clearing the lava flow

The churcch ruins

The London Missionary Church filled with lava

Soft and gooey looking lava

The flow inside the church

More Lava in the church

From the outside, the soft folding shapes in the lava are incredible, easy to picture it slowly trickling through.

The Virgin’s grave never got covered with lava

It was a half hour drive to the Amoa resort, they seemed amused to find us booked in with Expedia and said we got the last room, they were fully booked. I guess they don’t have many late Expedia bookings. It was a lovely resort built around a large pool, and the guests seemed to be mainly Aussie and Kiwi families. It was great to be able to make a good cup of tea in our lovely big room. We had a very good meal, we opted for a beef fillet as it was locally produced, the island is known for its beef, and it was very good. They had a great live band playing with great voices, we enjoyed a delicious large cocktail – it was a great way to end the day, especially in our enormous bed!

Tucking into our coconut cocktails