Well, we started off the day with a storm! I got up early after our tunnel through time as the sun was supposed to arise at about 6 am and saw a bunch of clouds but no sunrise! I left the curtains open and went back to bed and was just getting settled when all of a sudden I realized it was DARK outside and there was rain hitting the balcony door! We have a balcony above us so that rain is coming in sideways! We went through a torrential rain storm just before getting outside of Apia at about 7 am. At that point, we very SLOWLY were escorted into the pier and up front in the pointy bit above the thrusters it was LOUD. I do not think I have seen a cruise ship move so slowly before and I thought it was due to the lightening and thunderstorm above! However not so once we got off the Noordam and I looked at how it was moored and how we had taken a low bridge to get from the “island” that is the dock!
Andrew and I proceeded to have breakfast and get ready for our Apia Highlights Tour, which included the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum, a tour of the port side of the Island and also the local Fruit Market (which had lots of things for sale). Prior to departing on our tour, a currency person came aboard and allowed us to change US Dollars into Samoan Tala – which is the currency used in Samoa. We were told that Samoan’s will not accept US Dollars. I received $135 Tala today for $50 USD. That is an exchange rate of about 2.70 Tala for every $1 USD. Funny enough, the line that I had to wait in to get the money, where we were almost late for our tour, in the end was moot – almost all Samoan’s took US dollars! They would quote in both Samoan and US Dollars their prices however the US Dollars were often quite a bit higher.
Now safely in port and have cleared customs, it is time to get off! But before, here was the view from our balcony as we entered and the picture of the Noordam as we drove by leaving the terminal area:
We boarded our bus, which took about 18 people plus my walker, and made our way to the Robert Louis Stevenson House first. It was a lovely drive through Samoa where the guide, Sue, explained to us that that are about 10 Islands that make up Samoa, of which there are 2 large ones. She grew up on the other island, which is larger, however the Island that we are on is the one where the Parliament and Courts are, along with the International Airport and is the centre of business. She also went into a bit of the history of Samoa as after WW1 there was East Samoa and West Samoa. East Samoa became American Samoa, which is on the “other” side of the date line. West Samoa became Samoa and changed to the “correct” side of the date line so they would be in line with New Zealand and Australia, who are their main business partners and supporters for industry. There was some more information also about being under German control and then New Zealand control, however now Samoa is its own independent country.
From an education standpoint, all children are educated in English – they are penalized if they speak Samoan at school. School is similar to the Canadian system with Primary and Secondary (which they call College) and then University. Primary school is free and Secondary costs the family to send their children to school about 300 Tata a year or about $150 Canadian (there are about 2 Tata to $1 CDN). For University, a lot of the Samoan students achieve scholarships to attend Universities in New Zealand, Australia or China. The last one was a surprise to me, until I listened to how much Chinese money is “given” to Samoa with, according to Sue, no strings attached. Sue had mentioned that the Chinese had built several buildings in Samoa which I thought was interesting also, however a foreigner is not allowed to buy any land or hold a business license. They can have a business license if a Samoan is the primary on the application and the foreigner is the partner however they are very protective of their country. When it comes to land, it is very similar – there is government owned land, which can be leased, land owned by families which is in trust and passed from generation to generation and then their is public land which one can purchase. However you have to be Samoan or have lived here for 10 years to purchase public lands.
We now have arrived at the Robert Louis Stevenson estate (I would call it that). It is very beautiful and buts up against a hill covered in green trees. There were about 8 tour busses of passengers that were brought to the museum and we were on the last one so it took a while for everyone to be processed through! Finally we got off our bus and went into the “smoking” room of Stevenson, which has one of only 2 fireplaces in Samoa. The other fire place is upstairs! Neither of them were ever used. Stevenson was from Scotland and he had all the building materials for his house, including the bricks, shipped from North America. It took over a decade to build his house for about $20,000 USD which in the 1800’s was a LOT of money! He bought the whole plantation which was about 300 acres for a couple of hundred British Pounds. He named his house Vailima, or “Five Waters,” for the five streams that are on the property. Today the museum is on about 30 acres which comprise of the house, gardens and the hill where on top Stevenson is buried.
First, the house is above Apia, next to a hill. It is in a beautiful open area. As mentioned, it was originally built by Stevenson, however when Germany and then New Zealand ruled Samoa, it was used for their government offices during those times. Once Samoa returned to becoming its own nation, a Foundation was started and restoration work began. In 1994 it was re-opened to the public.
Stevenson is buried on the summit of Mount Vaea, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the home where he spent the last 5 years of his life, in the village of Vailima. The Samoan people, who affectionately called Stevenson “Tusitala” (meaning “teller of tales”), carried his body up the mountain within 24 hours after his death in 1894. Due to the dense underbrush, it was quite an undertaking however they banded together and made Stevenson’s last wish possible – to be buried at the top of Mount Vaea. His wife, Fanny, died in California in 1914. Her ashes were returned to Samoa and buried beside him. Her plaque bears her Samoan name, “Aolele” (“Flying Cloud”).
The Museum employee in the first room we visited (the smoking room) was really powerful – both about being Samoan and how much Stevenson meant to the Samoan people. This is the verse on Robert Louis Stevenson’s tomb, which she recited for us and she told us is regularly sung on Sundays in church.
Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.
The tour, as I mentioned above, once we got out of the 8 tour busses, started in the “smoking room”. Here are both pictures that I took, along with some that Andrew took for me as I could not get up to the 2nd floor to see those rooms! Lastly, I have taken a couple off the internet as some of the rooms where Andrew took pictures were pretty full of people and hard to see what really was in them.
Then, once everyone made it down from upstairs, we all sat on the porch (which was huge) and a Samoan group performed for us, did a kava ceremony and then did a closing song, with audience participating which was QUITE funny! Here are some of the pictures of the dancers:
Now, lets see some videos! I was able to film some dancing until some late comings pulled chairs from behind where I was sitting and sat right down in front of me!
Just to explain the video above – the two “volunteer” ladies above on the right were dressed with a sarong and were following the two Samoan ladies in their dance. They were supposed to be princesses after the prince who is the gentleman on the right, also a volunteer. Now the male volunteer actually did not volunteer – no males volunteered – so he was selected! Then he found out that he had to take off his shirt to be like the Samoan men who were dancing with him. So off his shirt came! Then they told him he needed to stand by the pole so he said he could do that! Then the dancing started including, which I could not see, one handed push-ups by the men which our volunteer male laughed at!! Then the male volunteer, while the woman danced was told to stand by the pole to his right while the Samoan dancer runs to a pole on the left side and tried to mimic how to climb it! Yup, the male volunteer was having nothing of that! Trying to keep my camera still while laughing at these antics was QUITE amusing!
Then the Samoan signers said goodbye and we were off on the busses to visit the “downtown” part of Apia, which included the Catholic Church and Fruit Market.
Down the “mountain” we went and into the waterfront of the town of Apia. We stopped at the beautiful church that I saw from the ship when we were docking, which is Catholic, built by hand and mostly of wood. Kind of reminded me of the wooden site we visited in Thailand, which was still under construction after so many years! I was also very impressed that it had a ramp leading into the church!
The church was amazing. I was thinking back when we were in there as to some of the beautiful churches that I have had the pleasure to visit – from the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain; to the ones in Florence, Pisa and Rome in Italy; and then some in Guatemala and Honduras. So many beautiful, striking churches in this world and I cannot forget the beautiful ones in Vancouver too such as St. Andrews Wesley! I then went outside and walked around and took a couple of more pictures of the elementary or primary school across the road where the children were playing on the field and then of our cute Samoan bus we were being transported in for the day!
Next our driver and guide took us for a little drive to some sights around the Apia area, which is the commerce hub of Samoa and where the government and courts are located. We saw the old government building which is being made now into a hotel and the new building plus the court house next door. We then drove past some monuments which were graves for some royalty who had passed away. Here is a picture of one of them plus the view from the shore.
Here are pictures of the government buildings – old Government Building (now going to be a hotel), new building and court house.
Now we were off to the Fruit Market! I was really looking forward to this part of the trip as I heard there are handcrafters also at this market. It was a HUGE open air market which was awesome! The weather was warm and pleasant and it was great to have a nice breeze when shopping! I wanted to see if I could get a dress, however after spending about 15 minutes looking for one I aborted that mission. The fabric they use, while they say it is cotton, is a poly/cotton mix and I just do not like that against my skin. Also, some of the dresses were painted dresses, which are very beautiful, however they do not last! Trying to get away from the sales lady was a bit of a challenge though. I am just not good at saying NO and walking away!
Next we got back on the bus (I could have shopped more but I was good) and returned to the Noordam. I still had about 125 Tala left to spend, which I knew I could exchange back on the ship back to US dollars, however there was a HUGE artisian tent where we were dropped off, so I decided to check things out! In there I found a cotton dress to my liking plus some earrings that cost 125 Tala – exactly what I wanted to spend! That would have been about $45 USD. I kept 10 Talas for my currency collection. The interesting thing is that if I had paid the US dollar prices I was quoted, the dress and earrings would have been $85 USD! They definitely prefer their own currency and not US dollars.
Back onto the ship to relax now and ponder just exactly HOW was this ship going to get out of the dock? I had mentioned previously that it took a LONG time for the ship to dock this morning and I thought it was due to the weather. However when we went across this small bridge to get to downtown Apia, I realized that the Noordam had BACKED into the pier along a very narrow area of deep water and then used the Azipods or thrusters to snuggle up to the dock. I just love my “technical” word of snuggle. Sorry dad, no other words come to mind! Andrew and I are sitting on the balcony and the Noordam is getting ready to leave at this point. The thrusters are obviously on as there is a patch of churned up water going out to the side of the ship that is dark brown colour. The tug which is off to the port side where we are sitting, is protecting the shoal where it is obvious the ship cannot go as waves are breaking there. Here is what we see –
I just realized – there is a barrier of rocks in front of us! Now, I need a better view of this procedure of getting out of Apia, Samoa! So down to the Promenade deck I went to view the departure! In addition, there is a ship off shore that I am interested in getting some more information on…
Now, for the mystery ship I mentioned! I saw this ship off shore when we were driving around downtown Apia and I asked the tour guide about it and she said that sometimes New Zealand ships come to visit their port. I thought the ship looked pretty strange with the “hollow” inside to it – it could not be a freighter as all the containers would probably fall into the ocean. Then, when I was down on the Promenade Deck, a lady came up to me and asked me if I knew what was happening with the “gray” ship? I said I was told it might be from New Zealand military. This lady was from Australia and told me that it was being scrapped at sea. Okay, interesting – I thought that kind of work was done at a dry dock and there are specialty ports where that happens. NOW my curiosity was really piqued! I then took some pictures including its name and flag when we passed by and came upstairs to our cabin and did some research! Here are the pictures of the ship first and then what I found –
It ends up being a United States Navy vessel named John L Canley which has been in service now for about 2 years. It is an expeditionary mobile base (ESB) which was named after a Medal of Honour receipient named John L Canley for his service in Vietnam. The structure of the ship really intrigued me so I found out some more information on the ESB type ships which is talked about in the following video, which is about 6 minutes long. The first 2 minutes talks about the ship in general and then different specialists talk about their areas which I also found interesting!
https://www.dvidshub.net/video/913099/uss-john-l-canley-esb-6-virtual-tour
When clicking on the above link it will open a new tab and you might have to click on the play or right triangle button to start the video….
That was a LONG and fun day on Samoa! I learned so much about Samoan history and how it partners with other Oceania countries for support and trade. The one thing I did not mention, which I should have is the number one export? Rugby players! Yes, Samoan men are known to be excellent rugby players! They get their training in the fields and are known world wide for their strength and skills!
On that note, it is time for dinner and some rest! Tomorrow is a day at sea and I am going to do some more artwork!