Upolu’s Southeastern Coast

Where to Stay on Upolu’s Southeastern Coast

Saletoga Sands is a lovely resort on the Southeastern coast of Upolu between Utulaelae and Matatufu. If I had my time to do over in Samoa, I might have stayed all four days here. The resort offers an airport transfer for a fee and has a variety of tours. For anyone who wants more freedom, they also rent both cars and scooters. Having seen the potholed roads, I’d stick to a car.

I spent two days in Apia, the capital of Samoa, and rented a car from Talofa Inn in order to get to the southeastern coast. The rainy weather wasn’t too conducive to beach going so I made a handful of stops along the Cross Island Road which cuts across the middle of the island.

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Around Apia

About Samoa

Samoa, once part of a larger island chain, was given to the Germans during the Tripartite Convention of 1899. At this time it became known as Western Samoa, though “Western” was dropped in 1997.

The archipelago is made up of ten islands though half are uninhabited. Savai’i is the largest island while Upolu is the most populated. The aforementioned are the most visited and four of the uninhabited islands are situated off the east coast of Upolu and comprise the Aleipata Islands which may be visited by boat.

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Three Day Itinerary for American Samoa

History of American Samoa

Before I visited American Samoa the only thing I knew about the Polynesian island chain, was that it is owned by the USA. I learned Polynesians first arrived on the islands some 2,500 years ago.

The USA didn’t get involved with Samoa until 1872 when it signed a friendship treaty with the Samoan government in order to establish a coaling station for the US Navy fleet as the islands are located midway between Hawaii and New Zealand.

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Throwback Thursday: Australia

I only spent two weeks in Australia which certainly isn’t enough time to see the whole country.  But, of the time I spent in Queensland and New South Wales, one of my favorite places was Port Douglas.

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Super SCUBA Diving in the Philippines!

Getting to the Philippines

What a great trip to the Philippines!  Originally, I told my friend I didn’t want to go, but she asked me once more after her travel partner was badly injured in a car accident.  I succumbed, but wasn’t terribly excited about it mostly because we were going all the way to the Philippines and not going to the most beautiful island in the world, Palawan, and also because I have been on a travel spree and was ready to be home to enjoy the summer in Denver.

My trip to the airport didn’t help my attitude.  I missed the 8:12am train to the airport by seconds.  I literally pushed the button for the door to open, and the train departed the station.  So I patiently waited for the next train coming in 15 minutes except after 30 minutes it hadn’t arrived.  Finally, an announcement over the loud speaker stated it would not be coming and shuttle buses would service the airport. Continue reading “Super SCUBA Diving in the Philippines!” →

World War II Sites on Peleliu, Palau

Today Bax picked us up at Carp Island “Resort”, and took us by boat to the Island of Peleliu to visit WWII sites and see leftover artifacts. On our way we spotted an ornate eagle ray. Jayden had never seen one and Bax had only seen one in the last five years. They were so excited over it!

We disembarked the boat and loaded into a small minivan, with the windows open to drum up a breeze. Our first stop on Peleliu was 1,000 Man Cave, part of the intricate cave system that the Japanese built and from which they defended the island. I mentioned in a previous post, the Japanese changed their defense tactics. Earlier in the war, they fought to protect the perimeter of the islands and soon as US forces landed on the beaches. In The Battle of Peleliu, they defended the island from its interior. The USA was unaware of this new strategy which resulted in significant casualties, but did educate the US forces for future battles in other areas.

Since the war, the 1,000 Man Cave was cleared of 582 explosive items of USA and Japanese origin including IEDs, mortars, grenades, anti personnel land mines, and projectiles. The cave was also cleared of human remains. We walked through a very small portion of it which is now home to whip spiders!

From 1,000 Man Cave, we moved on to visit a Sherman Tank which was located on private property. We followed a long drive way and short trail through the wooded area to find the tank on its side with the bottom blown out. The tank ran over a land mine after saving two navy airmen as it was returning to fire into the Japanese caves. Four men died…October 18, 1944.

After a short time walking around the tank and newly fallen tree from the typhoon in January, we went to the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Headquarters. Once an impressive, well fortified building, the remains of the two-story structure were crumbling. Bullet holes riddled the thick concrete walls and mangled rebar hung from the ceilings while the jungle has begun over taking the exterior.

Our next stop was to see a Japanese A tank, a smaller more maneuverable tank than the Sherman, but clearly not as safe. Then our driver then took us across the abandoned runway that was the biggest reason for fighting for control of Peleliu to see a Japanese Zero plane tucked in the jungle.

We continued on to what became known as Bloody Nose Ridge, where the deadliest part of the battle took place. The ridge, which was part of Umurbrogol Mountain and the highest part of the island, was well protected by Japanese cannons which made it difficult for the US LVT-A1s to penetrate. The Japanese retreated into their cave and tunnel system which included sliding steel doors and multiple entrances that were built on a slant to protect from grenades and flame throwers. One six-day battle in this area, resulted in the 1st Batalion, 1st Marines suffering 71% casualties. Captain Everett Pope and his company of 90 remaining men got trapped in the area, and had to fight with rock, knives, and empty ammunition boxes after they ran out of ammunition. They finally evacuated with 9 men.

The 5th and 7th Marines lost half their men as well over a month of battle. Army troops continued battling another month before the ridge was secured and the Japanese, posthumously declared Lieutenant General, Nakagawa committed suicide. We followed a mark path through the jungle toward the cave where he took his life. The sign by the path, instructed us to stay in the marked area, which was cleared of 4,822 explosive remnants, as the rest of the area had yet to be cleared. That’s one way to keep people from cutting the trail! The path was lined with old war relics…shovels, giant nails, cans and more.

After our walk, we stopped at the museum which was supposed to be open for us, but it was not. There was, however, a memorial outside the museum built by the Japanese. The granite slab used in the memorial was one of the tramway paving stones exposed to the atomic bomb blast in Hiroshima.

The plaque read: In our earnest hope for a new world order, we have had an image of a woman longing for eternal peace engraved on a total of 188 slabs collected from the streetcar track near Aioi Bridge, which was located 200 meters north of ground zero.

Learning lessons from the calamity we suffered and the sense of guilt we feel toward other nations concerned in World War II, we have pledged in our Constitution never again to conduct aggression toward foreign countries.

Also included in the memorial was a seven color cross which represented peace. Each individual color also had a meaning: Gold-mercy, Silver-peace, yellow-construction, black-solidity, red-love, white-purity, and blue-safety.

For lunch, we stopped at the Dolphin Bay Hotel, which was delightful! We all thought we should have stayed here last night instead of the Carp Island “Resort”, as we would have been treated to air-conditioning! We feasted on an enormous lunch including crab and vegetable tempura which was fantastic before we loaded into our minivan to head back to the dock.

On the way to meet Bax at the dock, we came across “Elvis’s” truck. We loaded onto the boat, and Bax took us on our last trip through the Rock Islands. We stopped at two snorkeling sites, IUS Cove and Belochel Bay to specifically see a Japanese Zero plane and to locate shrimpfish that swim upside down. Aside from those two sightings, there was nothing else to report of interest at these sites which was good since my camera broke!

From the snorkel sites, we toured through the bays of a few islands and stopped once more to see the banded sea snake rookery. This time we found one large female! Bax dropped Jayden and us at our starting point, Palau Pacific Resort, where we cleaned up and relaxed before going to our farewell dinner at the Taj for Indian food.

sea snake

We enjoyed an awesome trip, in gorgeous country with fun people. Now I’m off to Asia for a few days before I head back to the states! ETB

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Carp Island, Palau

The crew sent us on our way this morning. It was sad to say bye to them all, each with such a different personality, but all so nice. Wilter hardly said a word that many times he faded in the background, but he was a good fisherman and assistant chef. It was Hamilton’s first trip. He gave a great coconut show and could dive deep the one day he came snorkeling with us. Michael, was from Nigeria and always eager to help! Ludy was the head honcho and master chef. All of them seemed like masters of the ocean because they need fish to survive.

Bax took us by boat to two snorkel sites, Barnum Reef and Turtle Cove. A bunch of white tip reef sharks circled below, and we even spotted a few small black tips. I was blessed to see some squid which I haven’t seen in some time, so that was fun. We saw two more clown triggerfish which I really think are pretty, and a school of hundreds of goatfish. Of course, as the name of the reef suggests, several turtles hung around the reef…at least six! The green turtle had a prettier shell than the hawksbill.

squid
Sweetlips

After our snorkel, we paddled to a small beach for lunch and then to Carp Island Resort where we rested for the afternoon. “Resort” was a bit liberal. Camp might be a better description with free-standing, unair-conditioned cabins with a connected bathroom accessible from an outside door. The open air lobby was like a sauna under the tin roof, so we ate our dinner at a covered picnic table while the sun set, which was quite pleasant, though I think we may have been better off camping after our expectations had been lifted to “Resort” level. I recognize many third world countries’ plumbing cannot accommodate toilet paper being flushed in the commode, but if resort is being used in the title then the ability to flush the TP should be a requirement! ETB

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Exploring the Rock Islands: Snorkeling the Best Dive Sites in the World

Boy did we ever have the storm of all storms last night! Rain, thunder, lightening…something rare for Palau. It did offer a nice breeze for the tents, which were relatively hot. Some people might say that relatively hot was an under statement as they were considering sleeping out on the beach or in a hammock like some of the crew. If I were assured I wouldn’t be eaten alive by ants and mosquitos, I may have slept under the stars as well, as they were magnificent. Interestingly, while Palau is in the Northern hemisphere, 4° above the equator, the North Star can’t be seen. Sailors navigate by the Southern Cross and moon. Since most of us had our tent flaps up, the crew came around at two in the morning during the monsoon and zipped us in. The crew is fantastic. They won’t let us carry anything…not even our day gear off the boat!

After our full breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausage, pancakes, fruit, juice and coffee, we set off for a full day of snorkeling, my dream and Ellen’s nightmare! Miraculously, the sun came out, a bright rainbow formed overhead and shortly thereafter we launched our boat. Three of us being divers were somewhat concerned about the wind and associated visibility or lack thereof because we were planning on snorkeling the number one dive site in the world! I was envious that I wasn’t diving it until I found out divers are attached into the reef with a grappling hook, so the current doesn’t sweep them away. I don’t know, I may still have to return to dive because some the snorkeling we did was superb, and all I could think of is what it would be like to be 40 feet lower!

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Our first stop was German Channel. We were hoping to see mantas, which wasn’t in the cards, but we saw a handful of large grey reef shark circle below schools of snapper and unicorn fish. We moved from the deep blue and sandy bottom area to the shallow reef and basked in the multitude of colorful fish. I spotted another pipefish which looks like a blend between a snake and a sea-horse. While I was busy snapping photos of moorish idol and a variety of butterfly fish that were somewhat cooperative for a change, I turned my head to the right for a second to glance at the channel and was surprised by a black tip reef shark six feet away. Once I got over my initial shock, I was excited that he hung around for a photo, passing in front of me, across the reef, and circling back to me again. Upon his third return; however, I thought, “Hmmm, I don’t know much about black tips…I dive in Nurse shark world…where are my snorkel mates?” He was harmless and probably just curious about my camera reflecting in the sun. It was fun to watch! Just before I got on the boat, I spotted a giant bump head wrasse that had to be 4 feet and weigh more than me and a turtle. I love the turtles…such a treat!

pipefish
Moorish Idol
Black tip reef shark

From the German Channel we motored over to German Wall. Here we saw puffers, goat fish, juvenile black and white snapper (another beautiful fish as a baby and ugly as an adult), a trumpetfish, and sweetlips. We saw these fish on multiple snorkels, but my photos came out the best at this location!

trumpetfish
puffer
snapper

Our next stop was Big Drop Off named by Jacque Cousteau. None of the dive sites were very far apart. We could see if boats were at each location. Big Drop Off may have been my favorite snorkel of the whole trip so far. We started off on the shallow reef and immediately found the Clark’s anemonefish when we jumped off the boat. These aren’t in the Carribean, so it is a treat to see them. Throughout the dive there were more, and some were enormous for their species. We also spotted within the first minute a juvenile yellowtail coris…an inch long, red with big white dots. Jayden was excited to see this fish. He said he sees it once a year, and of course, the adult is not very pretty! Just a little bit further between the shallows of the reef and the sandy bottom, a moray wedged itself into its home. It stuck its head out about a foot to say hello every now and again. As we were crossing over to the “Big Drop Off”, which drops over 1,000 feet to the ocean floor, I spotted an octopus free-swimming! He passed by me and landed on a head of coral. He stayed on top of the coral until I waved Ellen and Gary over. Then he slid partially under the ledge, but never really camouflaged himself. He remained purple. Each time we backed away, he slowly inched up the coral ledge. It is such a treat to see the elusive octopus in the daytime!

Yellowtail Coris
Moray eel
Octopus
Octopus

Eventually, I made it to the drop off…sea fans and sponges grew on the wall while pyramid butterflyfish, a type we had yet to see, schooled around the reef’s edge. The pink tail triggerfish and clown triggerfish were also new to see (and favorites of mine). The yellow masked angelfish was gorgeous. The bi-color parrot fish feeding frenzy was crazy. The school of parrot fish were rapid swimming from coral to coral attacking it like a starving dog with raw meat. The quick, darting wrasse finally got caught by my camera lens!

pyramid butterfly
pink tail triggerfish
surgeonfish
Bi-color parrot fish
Wrasse
Yellow Masked Angelfish

We took a break after three snorkels and ate lunch on the boat at our next snorkel spot Fairyland. We could not land on the nearby beaches, as they were protected. The coral reefs at Fairyland were magnificent, with cuts in and out for divers to weave around. I was really wishing for a BC, tank, and regulator, and we hadn’t even made it to the world’s best dive site yet! We saw another enormous bumphead wrasse, though my picture makes it look much smaller than 300 pounds. These fish begin as colorful females and convert to green males as they mature. We saw some more butterflyfish, more Titan triggers, another clown trigger, and a conch. The arc-eye hawkeye seemed to catch my attention. He seemed lethargic, laying on the coral, and I thought he might not moved if I dove underwater to take his picture…I was correct!

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Conch
Arc-Eye Hawkeye

I just realized anyone reading my blog today that isn’t interested in fish must be incredibly BORED! I am just loving the snorkeling here because most of my diving, aside from the Red Sea and Australia, has been in the Caribbean, so while we see the same types of fish, the colorful markings on many are very different.

We continued on to the number one dive site in the world, Blue Corner. Due to the depth, I’d say it’s a better dive site than snorkel spot because I couldn’t get very good pictures! Regardless, the variety of all the sites we’ve been to have been spectacular from the corals and sponges of the inner lagoons, to the colorful fish on the outer reefs, to the sharks and schools of big fish at Blue Corner. I snapped a photo of spade fish, sweetlips, and a turtle over the top of the reef before making my way to the corner which was about 75 feet deep. The white tips and grey reef sharks circled around 45 feet. I counted as many as six at once. The schools of snapper, trevally, and barracuda were much closer to the surface. The corner was a haven for the big fish, especially the shark, due to the current because it gives them a chance to sleep and fall to the bottom before the have to swim again.

Spadefish
Barracuda

Our final stop of the day was the Blue Hole/Blue Corner site which is basically the Blue Hole and the other side of Blue Corner from a different direction due to the currents. There are four holes. Three are in a row and connected by a tunnel 45 feet below the surface. Divers bubbles from their tanks were filtering up through the coral hours after they had been there. The first and second hole were connected by a 15 foot arch. Bruce, Jayden, and Hamilton free dove down through the tunnel. I wasn’t sure I could make it, especially given it was our sixth snorkel of the day, so I skipped out. We saw another turtle, a few white tips, a school of Titan triggers, a school of golden trevally that look silver in the daytime but gold at night, a school of sweetlips, and two palette surgeonfish (like Dori). It was the first time for Jayden to see palette surgeonfish at Blue Hole/Blue Corner. Many times it isn’t possible to snorkel Blue Hole because of the waves that crash over the reef, so we had a lucky day with the weather, visibility, and the currents. With the half-moon, we were dealing with slack tide which makes them switch around a bit, but they seemed to work in our favor to see fish today!

Bax took us back to our camp at Jackson’s Beach. We freshened up beneath our sun shower and enjoyed a drink on the beach while chatting. Bruce, from the Virginia area, owned a chain of laundromats which he sold over five years ago. He sold his string of Polo ponies too, so he could spend time traveling. He’s a strong paddler and swimmer, and has a high curiosity. Karen, a nurse from Florida, also loves traveling. She tracks the number of countries she has visited. She tells us there are 196 countries recognized by the UN. I think Palau was her 48th country. Just a layover in an airport doesn’t count, and all the islands that are territories of a larger nation like France or Denmark only count as those countries. Apparently, lots of people track this. I never have. Sonja is a German geneticist who lives in the New York area. Interestingly, she specializes in horse genetics and by looking at the confirmation of the horse, can predict a horse’s ability. It was a little weird to be in a group of six with three of having been or currently are heavily involved in horses. Sonja and I knew some of the same people in the hunter/jumper world!

After enjoying a drink on the beach and the sunset, we were called to dinner by the conch shell horn. Ludy and Wilter had prepared a Palaun BBQ for us! As usual it was a feast: corn, beef and pork stir fry, ribs, chicken, rice, peanut cabbage salad, and more. In addition, some of the boys went fishing for us and brought back fresh sushi! It was a fantastic send off dinner, as we will be waving “bye” to Ludy, Michael, Wilter, and Hamilton tomorrow when Jayden and Bax take us away in the boat. ETB

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Exploring the Rock Islands: Jellyfish Lake and Giant Clam Beach

This has been a game of careful what you wish for…no rain and LOTS OF SUN…it was a hot day, but also a fascinating day! We started out with a boat ride to Jellyfish Lake, one of the coolest places I’ve ever been. We hiked up some rocky stairs made for giants, over the top of a hill, and back down onto a dock where we jumped in for a snorkel. Depending on the direction of the sun, the jellyfish are usually concentrated on one side of the lake or the other. This morning they had already made their pulsating swim to the east. Jellyfish instinctively avoid shadows, and By migrating to the east with the sunrise, the jellyfish stop at the shadows extending across the lake before reaching the edge where white sea anemones await to feed on them, thus keeping them safe from their predators. By the dock, where we jumped in, there were hardly any. As we swam the half kilometer toward the weather station, used to monitor the conditions of the lake, the concentration increased. Soon, we were swarmed by millions, no exaggeration, of “non-stinging” Golden Jellyfish. It is estimated that there are over 5 million Golden Jellyfish in the lake whose population was completely destroyed in 1998 due to an El Niño weather event that increased the lake’s temperature by several degrees. The population, however, returned in 2001 and is back to its pre-1998 levels. Technically, the jellyfish do have stingers, but the sting is so light, it isn’t harmful to humans, and it is generally only felt in sensitive areas. We softly touched them and tried not to kick much because the fins cut them in half. We had to get used to their slimy touch at first, but after a few squirms and uncontrolled jerks, we just stopped in the midst of them, held them and watched them rotate counter-clockwise toward the surface seeking the sun.

The algae on the jellies converts sunlight into food which creates energy for both the algae and its host. In the afternoon, the jellies migrate to the west, again to meet the shadows before reaching the edge of the lake where the anemones lurk. At night-time, the jellies swim up and down reaching depths of 15-17 meters. At such depths, the lake is red with bacteria where the algae gets its nutrients. The jellies avoid the lake’s bottom layer which contains no oxygen and has high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide…highly poisonous to humans, fish, and jellyfish…thus no diving is allowed in the lake. This permanent stratification in the lake, between the oxygenated upper layer and anoxic lower layer is extremely rare. There are only 200 lakes in the world that have been identified with such characteristics and most of them are freshwater. There are, however, eleven permanently stratified lakes in Palau which require three conditions to keep the water from mixing vertically: rock walls and trees to block the wind, sources of water (rain and tidal flows through tunnels) to be at the surface, and the small seasonal temperature changes of the tropics. Jellyfish Lake is one of only two habitats in the world with “non-stinging” jellyfish. We were lucky to have the lake to ourselves for about thirty minutes before a mob of tourists came poring in.

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Jellyfish Lake Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5o5IfMnfnw

After Jellyfish Lake, we paddled a short distance to see the Yap stone money, the largest currency in the world. They carved the money into a donut shape out of crystal calcite quarried from Palau and only stopped carving the money around 100 years ago. If a stone cracked while it was carved or transported, it was considered worthless and left behind. It wasn’t even used to carve smaller pieces of money from it, as it was considered bad luck. The stone money, while a fixed supply, is still in use today. The value of the stone is determined by its size, the loss of life associated with transporting the stone, the tools used to carve the piece (shells or newer metal), and if the stone was dedicated to a chief. The stone money is used to buy land, to tender apologies, and even to buy friends and wives, as well as everything else in between. Since the stone money is difficult to move, it stays where it currently resides (generally outside), and any shift in ownership is completed publicly in front of the chief and elders, so that community knows who owns each stone. These large pieces, despite sometimes being worth several hundred thousand dollars, are never stolen between villages as this is considered very bad. We were able to see the Yap stone money in Palau because it cracked and was left behind.

Yap Stone Money

From the Yap stone money, we paddled between the Rock Islands and through the channels without much protection from the sun. As such, we ditched our planned lunch spot for the choice of closer beach which we name, Desperation Beach. Surprisingly, the sun wasn’t bothering me as much as it was bothering some of the other southerners, but perhaps I was just happy to be out of the Denver snow and the Palau rain! And the light highlighted one of my favorite things: the multi-shades of blues in the island lagoons…simply glorious!

After our lunch on the beach, Bax picked us up in the boat and took us to three snorkel sites…Rainbow Reef, Giant Clam Reef, and Wonder Channel. The fish at Rainbow Reef clearly used to be fed as the wrasse and needlefish would swim up to our masks and circle around us. I stuck my hand out, and a wrasse bit me! The Giant Clam Reef was aptly named. It was home to four feet long clams, weighing 300 hundred pounds. They can get as large as 800 pounds. All the snorkels were nice, but with the tide a little high, the water slightly choppy, and the coral damaged from the January typhoon, marine photography conditions were not the finest.

Needlefish
Trevally
Unknown…possible WWII relic

We loaded back on the boat and were transported to Pirates Cove, via Kingfisher Arch, where we paddled around the placid waters and limboed under another tunnel to Hidden Lake. Finally we made our way toward our new campsite, waving at the guy from Liberal, Kansas who moored his catamaran in the protection of the Rock Islands, before we paddled across the open water to Jackson’s Beach…another great spot for camp! ETB

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Kingfisher Arch