March 14th, 2024
Apia is the capital of Western Samoa and Samoa consist of 4 neighboring islands. This was another new port for us. We docked close to the center of town and the cruise line provided a shuttle for the .8 miles it took to get to the center of town. I had researched this port a little bit and knew that we wanted to go snorkeling in a marine preserve which was pretty close to the cruise port.
The town of Apia. The large white building is the Sheraton hotel.
We got off around 9am because to snorkel at the marine preserve high tide is best and high tide was at 7:23am. Low tide was around 1:30. We took the shuttle into town and THEN I checked google maps and realized that the marine park I wanted to go to was actually in the opposite direction. Instead of taking the shuttle back we walked the .8 miles. We went past the cruise port and there was the marine park shortly after. The entrance fee was 5 US each. Not sure what made it a marine preserve. Almost looked like someone’s house that they were letting you snorkel from.
Our snorkeling spot and Kathy found a nice bench in the shade.
We went out and snorkeled for about an hour and as we were snorkeling it was getting shallower and shallower as the tide continued to go out. It was nice snorkeling but nothing spectacular. After snorkeling we sat on the bench in the shade enjoying the view and breeze while reading. A little after noon we walked back to the port with the intent of picking up a taxi for an island tour. We ended up having to take the shuttle back to town where all the taxi drivers waited to entice you as soon as you got off the bus.
We negotiated a trip to one of the cave pools the island is famous for and off we went. The driver was nice enough and we were able to ask questions about the cultural of the island.
He took us to Piula Cave Pool which is on the grounds of a Catholic Theologian school. You pay a small entrance fee and the college maintains the property. The cave pool is 20km outside of Apia. We had a nice coastal drive.
The water was crystal clear but low tide.
We were not sure what to expect at the cave pool but it was very nice.
It was fresh water, crystal clear, cool and nice sandy bottom. It was only locals when we were there. We swam in the pool for about 30minutes and then dried off and headed back to town.
I took this picture for 2 reasons. One is that every yard was manicured with fresh plants and they use old tires everywhere on the island as part of their landscaping. The black elevated cage/platform is where the locals put their garbage. They have so many dogs on the island they wanted a way to stop them from getting into the garbage and with cans they could knock it over so they came up with this idea.
Our driver dropped us back off in town and we went into the very beautiful Cathedral which is the Immaculate Conception Cathedral.
The inside of the church was all wood and hand carved. Also lots of stained glass windows.
All open air and very nice breezes coming through.
After the visit to the church we decided to walk back to the boat.
We had a nice view of the harbor from our balcony.
The one thing that our driver did tell us was that the Chinese and Japanese were buying up a lot of land on their island.
There was this very old Chinese fishing fleet docked next to us and none of the boats looked sea worthy.
We sailed away right at 6pm and before we went to dinner we looked off the balcony and we were surprised to see the eclipse. We knew there was an eclipse we just did not think it was visible from the part of the world we are currently in so that was a very nice surprise.
We ate in the buffet on the back terrace so we could continue to watch. It did get cloudy so we did not get to see the whole thing but saw enough of it.
We are now about 16 hours ahead of the east coast. Our next port is Sunday and we will be ion Fiji. Another new port for us.