Made the mistake of asking the guys at the activity desk this morning whether it would be OK for me to snorkel out beyond the reef.
They just looked at me with bemused incredulity, or maybe it was just a blank stare. “Why would you want to do that?“ “Oh you know, just to see what it was like …” shamefacedly. In short, they advised against it – sharks, that type of thing – but they confessed it was mostly because they didn’t have a jet ski and would have to use a surf kayak to come and rescue me if I needed it. I’d still be tempted to try it except Simon was standing right next to me. Luckily, he had the perfect solution – a deep snorkeling spot just five minutes drive away.
We set out after breakfast to try it out, and it was great. Not sure what the geological explanation was – it’s tough finding any geological information on Samoa, to be honest. But there was a deep hole 10 to 20 metres deep several hundred metres from shore and well within the encircling reef. So, presumably no sharks?
We spent about an hour there before coming back to our unit, getting cleaned up, and heading into town to visit the museum. Google directed us to a huge modern building which seemed pretty deserted. We found an office with a sign saying it was closed but Simon spotted someone inside so he knocked on the door and went in. The very nice lady said that yes they were open, and she unlocked the doors for us. There were only two rooms of exhibits, which took us about 15 minutes to look through, and then we were done. Not sure what the rest of the building was for?
With plenty of time on hand we went for a leisurely lunch at a lovely spot at the end of the peninsula.
It was lucky we weren’t pressed for time, because there was a very impressive wait for our meals – plenty of time for photos, to catch up on plans for the upcoming week, for me to sip on my very acceptable pina colada and Simon to have three bottles of the local beer, Taula, that he’s developed a shine for, even if he can’t pronounce it properly.
After lunch we had a quick look around the shopping area as I was feeling bad that I hadn’t supported the local economy by buying at least something. Sadly, the shops were not particularly inviting or busy. Anyway we’ve been told the tourist numbers are high at the moment so hopefully some of that cash will trickle into the local community.
Back to our unit for a nap.