Sailing around Upolu

Since I now have a bit of time to spare in Samoa before heading off to Vanuatu, I decided to sail out of Apia and down the coast a bit to a couple of the other anchorages on the chart.

Before doing so I visited the fish market and picked up these tasty little treats.  3 parrot fish and a couple of grouper.  The larger of the parrot fish I cooked up the same day, and put the other four in the freezer to eat during the trip.

The first anchorage I went to was Fagaloa Bay, which was nice and scenic.  On the way in I passed this village directly below a waterfall.

The head of the bay gets shallower very slowly as it goes towards the village there, so I was able to pick my anchoring depth.  I dropped anchor in about 11 metres of water just away from the reef along the side of the bay.

After a day or so snorkelling and some time walking on shore, I decided there wasn't much to do there and headed to the next bay, Falefa Bay.

Falefa Bay has an odd little island sticking out of the coral reef at the entrance to the bay, and a village along one side.  I did a bit more snorkelling around the reef near where I anchored, and then headed out in the dinghy along the shore.

Just outside of the bay I found a small resort where I stopped to order some lunch and tried to get a recharge on my SIM card (no luck there), but also found this rock pool nearby.

The pool appears to be fairly popular with locals and tourists alike, and I stayed there for a few hours chatting to some people I met, including these two young ladies.

The one on the left, Teuila, is just about to return to Nanjing in China where she is completing a degree in international trade and marketing.  I wished her well in her studies and recommended that she consider working in Singapore after she completes her degree since she speaks Mandarin as well as English and of course Samoan.  So Susan, you might end up with a young Samoan lady with a degree from China knocking on your door for a job interview one day!  The other lady (Meue? -- can't figure out the spelling from hearing her name once) was considering a degree in Psychology.  They both seemed fairly switched on to what was happening around them in the world, which was good to see in young Pacific Islanders.

Unfortunately on the way back to Chiara Stella I broke another shear pin in the outboard -- and since that's the third one so far this trip I have no more spares.  So I will have to head back to Apia on Monday in order to try to source a replacement.  I know of a few motor service centres there, hopefully someone will have a pin that I can use.  Without it I'm reduced to rowing if I want to use the dinghy which is a bit of a pain.

In the mean time, tomorrow will be spent cleaning and tidying, and perhaps cooking one more of the parrot fish for lunch.