Samoa (Apia)

Five days after sailing from Hawaii we finally arrived at our most distant destination which was the small island nation of Samoa which is south of the equator and west of the international date line.  

Since most passengers on the ship had never sailed across the equator we were all known as “pollywogs”.  Therefore, the traditional equator crossing ceremony was performed to honor King Neptune (king of the sea and protector of all seafarers) which converted us in to “shell backs” and ensured our continued safe journey!

The crossing of the international date line was a very interesting event in that we lost a Wednesday.  The calendar advanced from Tuesday to Thursday skipping Wednesday as we headed west.  It even got more confusing later in the week when we headed back east and had two Saturdays'.

All in all we really enjoyed our time in Apia Samoa and found the island to be very pretty and the people very friendly.  While there is some western influence in the island they have been able to retain much of their traditional culture and way of life.  Of all the islands we visited we found Samoa to be the most authentic.

As the ship docked in the town of Apia we were greeted to the sounds of local music.  The musicians were amazing considering they spend over an hour playing for us in stifling heat (90 degrees and 100% humidity) without shoes on hot concrete.

One of the first things we noticed in Apia was everywhere you looked you would find a church.  The country is almost 100% Christian and the people are very religious.  The typical Samoan attends church every afternoon and all businesses close Saturday afternoon as the people spend the afternoon/evening cooking as they do no work of any kind on Sunday.

To get a better feel for the Samoan culture we visited a local village and were welcomed with a traditional kava ceremony.  The ceremony centers around honoring and welcoming the visitors with dancing and the sharing of the kava drink.  We found the Samoan people to be extremely friendly and welcoming. It was not unusual to be greeted with “Welcome to Samoa” as you passed people on the street.

One of the village elders offering the visitors the kava drink

The kava drink is made from the root of the kava plant and is prepared in this wooden bowl.  Yes sanitation was a little lacking relative to our standards.

Village children performing a traditional dance

The island is covered by coconut trees.  We were warned several times to never stand or set under a coconut tree.  We were advised that unlike in Hawaii they do not trim their coconut trees!