Savaii – everyone I met beforehand told me: this is the real Samoa, this is where you need to go. It’s much more beautiful than Upolu. Well… so I went. In hindsight, I should have stayed longer somewhere on Upolu at a beach location in the West. But I just wanted to see what the hype was all about and be sure to have enough time for Savaii in case I really loved it there. The ferry ride was quick and beautiful, sailing across the turquoise lagoon separating the two islands.

From the pier, I hopped on a bus to Manase where I found my next accommodation at the welcoming Regina Beach Fales. The owners were incredibly friendly and sweet and food was amazing! The best local food I had had since Pepele Lodge in the Solomon Islands! The beach in front of the accommodation wasn’t as broad and pretty as on Upolu, but nice enough.

One day I just relaxed and snorkelled a bit in front of the beach fales, and the owners gave me a ride to the lava fields. It was cool to see, especially the church buried in lava – but not as special as expected. Going back to Manase proved difficult as for once hitchhiking didn’t work out well. No-one picked me up, can you imagine!? Lol. Luckily one of the few busses drove past at one point and I hopped on. It showed me though that Savaii is not as easy as Upolu and I made my mind up to rent a scooter to see the rest of Savaii.

So next morning, I hitchhiked (after missing the last bus because it came 20 min too early) to Asaga where the motorbike rental is located. Someone gave me the tip that they also rent out rooms, and since I was a bit sick of beach fales, I decided to stay there. Good decision! The owner is a sweet lady and stuffed me with delicious food over the next few days. And I finally got some good night’s sleep again! But back to my day on the motorbike…

This was a really good decision! I loved driving around Savaii – the roads are new and pretty traffic-free, and it’s just so beautiful! The villages, the green tropical plants everywhere, the black lava rocks… my first stop was at the Afu Aau waterfall – a nice one with a pool that you can swim in.

Then I drove further along the coast until I reached the Alofaaga blowholes. While I had just seen some cool blowholes in Tonga, these were really impressive! The coast is just really picturesque and the blowholes fitted nicely in there.

I then made the decision to drive around the whole island, a tough 200 km ride which I wouldn’t really recommend to anyone on a normal scooter. But I just really wanted to see Falealupo peninsula and the beach there – and since it’s exactly at the opposite side of the island as Asaga, that meant I just had to finish the circle. Was it worth It? Yes, because the beach is a real stunner!! One of the best ones in whole Samoa.

On the other hand, the drive took the whole day and was pretty exhausting. I rather should have left my big backpack in Asaga and prepared a small one just for a night in Falealupo. It would have been great to spend the afternoon on this amazing beach and then do the other half of the island next day. But well… Like this I had to continue further along the North coast back to Asaga. It wasn’t a bad drive – not at all! Beautiful landscapes, turquoise water bays and lava fields… I loved it!

Next day was Sunday, and since Samoa is very religious, there wasn’t much going on. I went to church with our host and a Vietnamese girl who was staying there as well. Then we just chilled for most of the day – we were not allowed to walk around in the village or go swimming until mid-afternoon. A relaxing day with lots of good food!

And that was it for Savaii. On Monday, I took the ferry back to Upolu and then the bus to Apia, the capital of Samoa. I found Savaii pretty yet a bit underwhelming in terms of sights, but the overwhelming friendliness of the locals more than made up for it!