Quick transfer by shared hotel bus to my hotel the Aggie Grey's Resort which was less than 10 minutes from the airport. First impression on check-in was that the hotel/resort seemed to be absolutely dead. There were no people around at all, and the staff was moving at about half of normal island speed.
At least things looked promising on the hotel activities board;
Had to try two different rooms to get one with adequately functioning air conditioning...which didn't seem like it should be a problem given the low occupancy. The second room had a nice view of the gardens, looking out towards the ocean:
Beach right outside my room:
Headed to the hotel bar/restaurant to have a beer before dinner, and watch the sunset...which was stunning. After all the sunsets I've seen on this trip, the purples of this one were just stunning and unique:
Some pics of the room. It was nice-sized, but felt quite empty with lots of open space. Definitely met my "Three Cs" though - clean, cool, and comfortable. No complaints at all.
Nothing says "don't drink the water" like endless bottles of bottled water left for you:
Woke up the next morning, and had a lazy start. Breakfast was included with the room, and there was quite a good spread, including eggs cooked to order. Nobody was going to go hungry! I had booked two dives for the day, and we weren't going to head out until 10am, so it was nice to have a nice and relaxing start to the day.
Aqua Samoa was located clear across the resort, a 10-15 minute walk from my room. When I got there, I found out I was the only diver booked that day, so I'd have a private trip with just the boat driver, the divemaster, and myself. That was definitely a first for me! With just the two of us we were in absolutely no rush to get going, so took our time.
Unfortunately, I'd forgotten to recharge my camera so didn't get any pictures from these dives. The most memorable parts were the really cool underwater geography. Both sites featured some really cool 40 meter high coral columns sticking up from the ocean floor, and there were pretty strong currents which allowed us to head down about 25-30 meters and just drift around the formations. We saw a couple of sharks in the distance, but nothing terribly close. The fish life was nothing special, but the dives were definitely unique due to the topography.
Finally made it back to my room just after 2pm, grabbed a quick snack, and relaxed on the beach for the remainder of the afternoon:
Samoa had an absolutely amazing sunset in store for us again. I think when this trip is over I'm going to need to put a post together with just the sunset pics:
My last day in Samoa I had planned a daytrip to American Samoa. The flights to Pago Pago leave from the domestic airport in Samoa, which is about a 45-50 minute drive from the international airport and the resort. Once a day, Aggie Grey's runs a free shuttle into town for guests so they can explore the city. It worked out reasonably well for my departure time and would save a $30 or more taxi ride, so I headed into town with the hotel van. Chatted on the way with a nice couple from New Zealand who were originally from Fiji, and it was really interesting hearing their different perspective on the resort. I was a bit disappointed how quiet it was and how little there was to do, but they were thrilled with how quiet things were and how relaxing it was...while still having nice facilities.
Picture of Aggie Grey in the reception area:
After about 50 minutes we were in downtown Apia, and I had about an hour to walk around before I needed to grab a short 10 minute cab to the airport. Downtown church:
Apia harbour:
Samoan government building:
Clock tower roundabout
:
After walking around for an hour and having some coffee, it was time to head to the airport for my daytrip to American Samoa!