Tropical experience

Travelling to Samoa was a totally surreal experience for me as I had never really thought I would go to such a place and it was simultaneously so similar to but so different from the brochures, advertising and images that are conjured by traveller’s stories. There were of course the palm trees, banana and coconut trees as well as all the other gorgeous bright tropical vegetation and flowers but there was so much more to every aspect of the country and its people that I hardly know where to start.

I guess firstly I would have to admit that my experience was not exactly comprehensive in any respect but I feel that the experience I had did change some of my perceptions of the country as well as confirming some impressions and things I already knew. I think to do my trip justice and to give an informative description of the country and my experiences I will probably break it into several posts to this journal.

Starting with the geography of the country; it is made up of two main volcanic rock islands called Upolu and Savaii, with 8 other islets in the surrounding waters (some inhabited and others uninhabited). Both main islands are mountainous at their heart with narrow inhabitable coastal plains. This is where most of the population live and work, most people live on family and community land, growing coconut, papaya and bananas as well as other food crops like bread fruit, taro and manioke. The capital Apia is on the northern edge of Upolu which is where the international airport is located. We flew into Apia International airport at about 1.30am on a Saturday (in July 2012) and it was approximately 26 degrees Celsius with quite a high humidity, although it is considered the ‘dry’ season at this time. We found out that although it was the dry season it actually ended up raining almost the entire time we were there on the southern coast where we stayed, which apparently is a reasonably recent change to the climate of the island. As Apia and the northern part of the island had apparently got sun for most of the same days, which we were told by locals at the resort that this had been the reverse pattern until several years ago. But despite the rain there really wasn’t any reason not to go out and enjoy the water and the scenery, as the temperature remained in the mid to high 20’s even without the presence of sun.

The islands are surrounded by coral reefs which mean most of the beaches are fairly sheltered, though there are still dangerous currents and undertows/rips that swimmers and snorkelers still have to watch out for. Also when swimming or snorkelling it is a really good idea to wear light canvas boat shoes or something like that as there are sharp coral and rock formations as well as the potential for things like stone-fish or other injurious sea-life. As well as the dangerous sea life, (which are few) there are many beautiful and non dangerous species to enjoy observing. Although I am not able to swim or snorkel due to my condition my family did enjoy the water on my behalf, taking part in the snorkelling, swimming and kayaking. They were fortunate enough to swim near sea turtles on several occasions in the waters near our resort and saw a variety of diverse brightly coloured coral fish. It was concerning to hear that what I think was the Crown of Thorns starfish was extremely evident along the reef. This along with the huge damage from the 2009 tsunami and other activities has and is having a hugely negative impact on the health of the reef and the ecosystem.

I got the impression that most of the fish that is caught in the area is from the reef or just outside of the reefs with only charters or big commercial fishing boats heading out to the deep water well outside the reefs. This is just what my Dad did as he is such an avid fisherman, taking a charter trip and catching and big yellow fin tuna. Another participant on the same charter boat caught a Masi masi which is a large green fish with a blunt squarish shaped head; it seemed to be quite a popular fish to eat and was served as the fish of choice at the resort. The other type of fish used, that I think was more often eaten by the locals was the Parrot fish which is a lot smaller then the grown Masi masi. I will talk more about the local crops, our trip to Apia markets and travelling around the island in my next entry.