Savaii with Todd and Adrian

There are multiple islands that make up Samoa but the three main islands are Tutuila (Amercian Samoa), Upolu and Savaii (Western Samoa).  Savaii (say it like Hawaii with a V) is the least advanced and the people primarily farm for a living.  It's also the most beautiful of the islands with tall, tall volcanic mountains in the center and lowlands along the ocean.  Many New Zealanders and Australians vacation in Savaii, just because you can relax and life is just plain quiet and 'islandy'.

From Upolu, you take your car on a one hour ferry ride; then travel the one main around the island.  The ferry is about an hour from our home and they want the vehicles there an hour before sailing time so our 8:00 a.m. ferry ride required us to leave home at 6:00 a.m.  Thank goodness the weather was good and thus the sailing was pleasant.

We had some must do's today because Savaii is much larger than Upolu and we had resort reservations on the far side for that evening.  We had to go to the market first, no other time to shop.  Savaii is where you buy wood carvings and tapa.  Then the Afu Aau waterfall, the lava field blowholes and the rainforest canopy walk.

It was so much fun showing Todd and Adrian all of our modern luxuries and modes of transportation.  They stood most of the way over just looking at the smaller islands and the water.

 Todd looking at the Savaii shoreline.

This is the ferry station in Savaii, the main part of town is in beyond it - that's it folks.

We didn't take time to take pictures of us shopping in the market, maybe before we leave I'll take some.

The drive in Savaii is much more interesting than Upolu.  So many people live in open fales.  They have an umu in the back which is a "cooking fale."

This is indoor/outdoor living at its best.  In the heat, it's air conditioned, in the rain it keeps you dry.

Afu Aau Falls
When we went there last year, we drove right up to the pool.  Since then, there has been a rock slide and now you have to hike to the falls.  This is such a beautiful spot with fresh cool water.  (Theron finally shared the GoPro pictures with me!!!)

From the waters of Afu Aau Falls, we drove to the blow holes which  we'll tell you about on our next blog page.