We got a little bit of the tourist bug, so we ended up doing some land touring, which is something we hadn’t done since we were in New Zealand. We paid a taxi driver a couple hundred bucks to take us around the island of Upolu to see some of the popular sights. There were many options, but we ended up narrowing it down to the following itinerary:
Our island tour itinerary
- Villa Vailima – The Robert Louis Stevenson Museum
- The Baha’i Temple
- Papapapatai Waterfall
- Coconut Beach Club
- Togitogiga Waterfall
- Saletoga Sands Beach
- Resort (for lunch)
- To Sua Ocean TrenchVailima = carry water in your hands
Taula, our taxi driver and tour guide, was talkative and friendly, and clearly knew his way around. He must not have been used to taking cruisers around though, because we told him we were more interested in seeing villages than resorts, but he took us to resorts anyway.
Villa Vailima is The Robert Louis Stevenson Museum, but it’s actually much more than that. It’s actually the preserved house that he and his family lived in during their time in Samoa. With this stop we could count the day as a school outing, since Brenden was reading RLS poetry and was about to start a non-fiction book about his travels across America on an immigrant train. RLS had a stepson named Austin who here when he was 8, and he was homeschooled and then he returned back to the U.S. when he was 12. So, I suspect he and Brenden would relate about a few things.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s house
The bedrom of RLS’s step-son, Austin
There are two fireplaces in RLS’s house, and these are the only two in all of Samoa. Of course they are, it’s freaking hot here! But it turns out these are just facades anyway to give them the feel of home. There aren’t even chimneys
Since there are only 8 Baha’i Temples in the world and it was on our way anyway, we decided to take a peek. To me Baha’i seems to be an interesting alternative to the other monotheistic faiths, but it still has all the trappings of a religious organization. The monk inside who talked with us was gentle and courteous.
The Baha’i Temple near Apia
When we stopped at Papapapatai Waterfall and got out and walked around, the lush green scenery reminded me of being in Hawai’i, and to be honest it was every bit as beautiful. It was damp and foggy, but we were still able to enjoy the view.
A foggy view of Papapapatai (that’s two papas) Waterfall
Coconut Beach Club. All we did there was walk around.
The Togitogiga Waterfall was *way* more our style. Brenden was the first in the water, big surprise, but the time we left even I had jumped in.
The Togitogiga Waterfall -Brenden was the first one in
The Togitogiga Waterfall
Saletoga Sands Beach Resort – where we stopped for lunch
The last stop of the day was the To Sua Ocean Trench, and it was definitely the highlight. The entire property is beautiful, and the market it for weddings and such. But the main attraction is a 30m deep swimming hole that is fed from the ocean through a cave.
Tim and Brenden made their way down first, but eventually I made my way down too. Alex was a bit grouchy, at least at the time I thought it was grouchiness, and he just hung out in one of the fales above. I chose to swim around the area you see in this photo below while Tim and Brenden went through the underwater tunnel leading out to the ocean. Of course they did.
Brenden had a lot of fun, but more than once he wished out loud that his boat kid friends were with us. “Then it would be really fun!”
Tim and Brenden climbing down into the trench
The view from the To Sua grounds
The drive back to Apia was a couple hours long, and sometimes quite winding. This was how we found out that Alex wasn’t grouchy, he was actually sick. Taula made an emergency roadside stop and just barely missed a huge mess in the back of his car. We weren’t sure if it was something Alex ate or if he was just carsick, but he was fortunately pretty much fine after that.
A few days after our tour we took a taxi back up to Villa Vailima in order to hike up to RLS’s grave. It wasn’t a long hike, but it was basically straight up, and because of all the rain it was muddy and slippery. That didn’t slow down Brenden, though. He made it to the top in 10 minutes. Barefoot. I brought up the rear, and it took me 25 minutes. In my running shoes. At the bottom of the trail is a waterfall and swimming hole, so we all had a chance to cool off for a while.
The grave of Robert Louis Stevenson
We made it to the top! The view from the gravesite of RLS.
Playing in the swimming hole at Villa Vailima
We decided to walk home, but that ended up being a poor choice because we got caught in the rain. We pressed on with our sights set on a yummy pizza launch at Giordanos. When we finally made there all soaking wet we hung our heads to find out they were closed until dinner. So, we caught a taxi back to the marina and foraged on Exodus.
We returned to Giordanos that evening for dinner with Emelie and Fred from s/v Nefertiti and had a great evening with great food and company.
Gresham Family Exodus 