Samoa

Western Samoa is made up of two main Islands. Upollu in the east and Savaii in the west. We spent our first week or so on the south coast of Upollu at a surf camp called Maninoa. The camp had traditional Samoan accommodation called Fales (Far lays). It's a wooden hut, raised off the ground sometimes with sides and sometimes not. We were lucky not only did we have sides, we also had a door(as we were the only Fale with a female in). It's the perfect place to stay, you really don't need any more. We had a mattress on the floor under a mosquito net and our own balcony. The best feature was that the fale was situated right on the beach. The camp was sandwiched between two luxury resorts that were happy to let you use the facilities as long as you were buying a drink. Our accommodation included two meals breakfast and dinner. Both very ample and satisfying,usually consisting of some form of fish and local fruits. Paying a little extra also got you a boat trip out to the surf each day. The resort was in front of a lagoon and the surf was on the outside over the reef. The boats went everyday except Sunday. Samoans are very religious and believe you should do nothing on Sunday so many waves are prohibited to surf and if you do go out you must usually paddle (which can be along way). The resort had been pretty devastated by the 2009 tsunami that struck Samoa. A local surf guide from Hawaii described to Ruth what happened. It was 7.30 am and he was out with a group of surfers on the reefs when an earthquake was felt. The next thing they knew the tide was ebbing rapidly and the reef was becoming dry. He quickly got most people into his boat including his 9 year old son and his son's other 9 year old friend. They headed out to sea. The reef was so dry it had exposed a shelf that had never been seen before. They then waited out at sea whilst a series of 4 tidal surges raced in over the reef. Three surfers who had panicked and paddled to shore were found later bruised and battered and clinging to trees. Fortunately there was a warning system in place so most people were able to run to safety. One German lady was killed. In total 143 people lost their lives in Samoa that day including many children. Despite this the place has rebuilt it self and the atmosphere is a very happy one.