Jetlag on this trip was a little exacting.  Normally I’m very good with hitting the ground running and the whole body-clock-time-adjustment-thingy however this trip, saw me up at 3:36am drafting a blog, painting my toenails (my feet and toes wildly swollen from jet flight) and shaving winter thatched legs! 

Departure was from Brisbane, Monday 10pm arriving in Apia, the capital of Samoa, 6:10am Tuesday morning.  It was straight to the resort, a good hour plus drive from the airport, then to bed where I slept for most of the day.  HIGHLY unusual for me!  Up for dinner and back to the room then in bed by 10pm and up at 3:36am bright eyed and bushy tailed.  Time waits for no man and neither it seems, does jetlag!

With nothing between me and the sea, I spent as many of my Samoa days as I could in the ocean and on the beach, drinking anything cold – Campari, ice and soda my latest hankering, and eating freshly harvested fruit.  Coming out of the ocean, I would remove my fins and mask and curl up on the warm sand like a seal pup.  The salt and humidity ringleted my short, usually sleek bob, my skin darkened and time was slow and easy.  Occasionally I slipped into the local villages with their colourful houses, paddocks of taro, rickety Fales, bright bromeliads, tiny orchids and beautiful ginger plants, and their affable slender dogs all while stealing quiet moments.

It rained for most of our 12 day stay.  Squalls hammered the coast and the resort, the surf pounded the reef and lagoon and the skies were razor grey.  When the severest of the storms passed, the majestic Frigate birds returned in threes circling the lagoon.  The weather however, could not dampen my enthusiasm for Samoa.

I explored, swam, dived, snorkelled and swam some more.  There is a lot I could give up but never my dips in the ocean.  I treasure hunted, read the pages of the Samoa Observer while eating piping hot salt laden chips and took one hundred and one photos of just about every single thing……… 

Beautiful Samoa, Part II coming soon……xx