The Twin Otter didn’t break any speed records, but was just enough over 88mph and thus fast enough to make time travel possible. We landed on Samoa a day ahead of American Samoa. My phone started working again for the first time in days with about a dozen alerts about hummingbirds at our feeder back home and a voicemail from Motu Car Rental asking if something had changed with the flight. It certainly had. Let’s not even get into the fact that my Duolingo streak was snapped mid-flight. That green owl will have a lot to say.
After picking up our rental car at the regional terminal of Apia’s Faleolo Airport, we still had to drive over an hour and a half to the Aga Reef Resort on the southeastern coast of Samoa. There was not much traffic on the road and it went by fast enough. We had finally arrived at a respectable hotel for the first time during this trip. We got an overwater bungalow (Villa One to be exact) which overlooks a reef with the ocean waves behind us.
The lush green mountains provide a nice backdrop to the idyllic setting. After dropping off all of our bags, I immediately changed into my board shorts. It does feel significantly more hot and humid in Samoa than it did on Hawai’i and I was eager to jump into the water. One cannot jump straight from our bungalow into the water as we had done Bora Bora. Doing the same here would result in a bloodied carcass splayed upon the coral. There are, however, nearby steps leading in to the water where one can take a wee swim.
The sun wasn’t all that bright — being filtered through clouds, so the reef wasn’t as luminous as it could have been, but I could still see plenty of fish. I reemerged from the water to get ready for dinner. It was . . .ok. I had a piece of dark meat chicken with chutney and Nicole ordered a pasta that came with a curry sauce — something she referred to as an abomination. We slogged through the dinner, washed down with local Samoan Taula beer.
A passing rain shower gave way to a peaking sunset. Our legs were eaten alive by mosquitoes whilst we ate, but we recovered valiantly. We walked back along the boardwalk to our villa where we sat on the deck of our bungalow listening to the insects and the waves. The sky was pitch black by 730pm, so it seemed much later than it was, but we may drift to sleep nonetheless — ready for a full day tomorrow of relaxation.
passports & pepto bismol 