Samoa was the country which triggered our idea of touring South Pacific Islands. We had already planned to visit PNG, New Caledonia and French Polynesia, but hadn’t really considered the rest of the islands until I came across a picture of the To Sua Ocean Trench in Samoa. As soon as I saw that picture, the first three months of our itinerary changed! And I am so pleased it did! Samoa, with its beaches, waterfalls, people and turtles, did not disappoint.

Our first stop in Samoa was Apia, the country’s capital city. On our drive from the airport to our accommodation, we saw many churches, of all different sizes, colours and denominations. Of all the churches we saw, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Apia was the most breathtaking. The outside was beautifully painted in blues and white, but the main ‘wow factor’ of the building was the inside. The ceiling of the Cathedral consisted of a series of wooden panels, placed together in such a way as to create stars, hexagons and squares, which ended in a stunning painted dome. The walls were filled with painted murals and archways and the floor was beautifully tiled. It may be the most stunning religious building interior I’ve ever seen!

After gawking at the cathedral, we headed over to the Samoan Cultural Village, to join their daily tour. We started our experience by weaving our own plates from long leaves, and finished by using those plates to eat traditional Samoan food (including palusami, my favourite South Pacific food!) On our walk around of the village, we saw a man getting a traditional tattoo, some wood carving, food cooking and the process by which they used to make clothes from the bark of a mulberry tree. Finally, we were treated to some Polynesian dancing and music.

That evening, back in our airbnb and we experienced our first ever earthquake! (It was a little one, so not scary – Raphael wasn’t convinced it was one until I went on the internet to check!) We had wondered if we would experience one on this trip, as we are spending the majority of our time in countries which sit along the Pacific Ring of Fire! Hopefully this is the biggest one we experience, as it was definitely more exciting than scary!

After our day in Apia, we picked up our rental car (which we named Moana) and headed to the south of the main island of Upolu. We were staying in traditional Samoan accommodation called beach fales, which are wooded huts built near the beach! The experience is somewhere between camping and glamping and we had a great time! As it was low season, it was pretty much just us for our whole stay in the Vaiula Beach Fales, which made the experience even more unique!

On the one day when other guests were staying at the fales, we all went on a snorkelling trip, organised by the fales’ bar owner, Nugg. We took a small boat out to the reef of the lagoon, jumped in the water and followed the current alongside the reef. The visibility was amazing! We could see down somewhere between 20 and 30m, the clearest water we have snorkelled in so far! We didn’t see anything too exciting, but the experience of being able to see so far was magical (and made me feel a bit motion sick!)

On our other days on Upolu, we visited most of the top sights of Samoa, including the To Sua Ocean Trench. It was just as amazing in real life as in the photos (so much so, we visited twice!) On our first trip there, we had the whole place to ourselves for about half an hour and we spent it playing on the ropes and swimming through into a smaller trench. On the second time, the tide was in, so I was able to jump off the platform into the water multiple times!

We also visited a couple of beaches (with stunning views of the most beautiful lagoon) and many waterfalls. We even visited one waterfall with no water! Just two small pools – one which you could swim in and the other in which we saw eels (I’ve been trying to convince myself there were no eels in the one we swam in…)

On our last couple of days on Upolu we visited a Giant Clam Sanctuary and a fresh water cave pool with the clearest water. The clams were super interesting and MASSIVE! They ranged in size from small (about 30cm) to huge (at least 1m) and were various different colours. We unfortunately could only visit at low tide, meaning the water was not very clear and we were quite close to the clams (a little bit scary when you think you might accidentally kick one!) We managed to avoid incident, however, and still get some good views.

After visiting the cave pools, we headed back to Apia for lunch, before setting off for our ferry to Savai’i. Or at least, that was the plan! Unfortunately, after eating lunch we got back to the car to realised we had a flat tyre. Even more unfortunately, we realised the car company had not provided us with any tools to change a tyre! FORTUNATELY, we were only a 10 minute drive from the car hire company and they were able to come and sort it out for us! Things got a bit stressful when we then had to go back to the rental place to pick up a new spare and tools (just in case!), but we manage to make our ferry and all was good!

On our first day in Savai’i it was raining quite heavily, so we decided to head to a waterfall in the south of the island (if we were going to get wet, might as well swim!) As with many of the attractions we’d been to so far in Samoa, we had the whole place to ourselves! The water was a bit chilly, but by now I’m used to just plunging straight into cool water, so it didn’t really bother me (Raphael still struggles a bit!) We had a great time exploring the three pools, sitting under the waterfalls and drifting in the currents.

The rain let up in the afternoon, so we visited the Sale’aula Lava Fields, which were just down the road from our accommodation (Regina’s Beach Fales – I’d recommend them to anyone visiting Savai’i). The volcano on Savai’i last erupted about 100 years ago, with the eruptions lasting for 6 years (between 1905 to 1911). During this time, lava flowed down the side of the volcano, towards the sea. The lava fields we saw show some of the destruction and the only building to survive in the area (a church). It was cool to walk on the lava field, and to see the swirls of the lava as they cooled.

On our last day in Savai’i we drove around the whole island (a total of about 3h30, with multiple breaks!) The main sight we wanted to visit was the Alofaaga Blowholes, which were located on the other side of the island to our accommodation! The blowholes are the result of when lava has previously flowed into the sea, resulting in lava tubes connecting the sea to a cliff top. When a large wave comes in, some of the surf shoots up through the lava tube and sprays out on the cliff top. It was a cool sight to see, and we had lots of fun taking silly photos!

In the afternoon, we stopped at the western most point on Savai’i – Cape Mulinu’u. Prior to Samoa changing their time zone to be on the west of the international date line (rather than the east), this was the last beach in the world where you could watch the sunset. It was cool to see, even if it no longer has that title! After visiting the cape, we went on a small canopy walk-way, leading to a tree top view, which was very nice.

Whilst in Samoa, although particularly on Savai’i, we saw A LOT of pigs running around! The pigs are free-range, and allowed to wander the streets in search of food, meaning you often see piglets and their mum running across the road, bathing in mud and snuffling around in the grass! It was adorable!

The beach we stayed at in Savai’i is known locally for it’s sea turtle population. They come every morning and evening to feed on the sea grass which grows near the beach. We had the pleasure of seeing them everyday whilst we were there, and getting to swim with them multiple times. Best experience ever.

Samoa is an amazing country and one I would highly recommend – especially if you love green scenery and jumping into water at every opportunity! It’s small enough that you can see the main sights in 10 days, but varied enough that you wouldn’t get bored spending more time. The people were super friendly and the food is delicious. We had the best time!