Savai’i – The Big Island

We quickly found out why Savai’i is indeed the less touristy island.  It was tough to get around the place, and difficult and expensive to make any travel or tour arrangements.  The hard truth is that Savai’i really doesn’t have much to offer the tourist – or at least not as much as the island of ‘Upolu.  If you’re pushed for time I’d suggest to travelers to stay on ‘Upolu.

A traditional Samoan wooden bus.  They look like fun, but we never traveled in one with fewer than sixty people aboard…  Yuk.

We stayed in Manase along the north coast and organized a taxi for the day with another couple to go around and see Savai’i.  We spent the day doing a clockwise tour around the island, seeing all the sights (good and crap) along the way.  Good was the lava field and underground lava tube.  Crap was the "giant’s footprint", black sand beach and a piss-weak "canopy walk".  Awesome was the waterfall swim and the chance to swim with sea turtles.

Beautiful Olemoe waterfall on Savai’i.  It was a bit of a walk to get there and a scramble down the cliff, but definitely worth it for a refreshing swim!

Lava flowed through this church and destroyed it – a sure sign God isn’t a happee chappee!  Plants are now just starting to reclaim the lava fields, 80 years after the eruption.

Adriana gets up close and personal with a huuuuge turtle.