SV VIVA SHARES PASSAGE REPORT:
SAMOA TO WALLIS ISLAND
SVย VIVA sailed across the Pacific Ocean earlier in 2024, cruised through French Polynesia, and are continuing west to Fiji before Cyclone season begins in November.ย While they are getting closer to their destination, the journey to their destination most recently includes visiting Samoa and sailing onward to Wallis Island.
Here SV VIVA shares about their time in Samoa:
Samoa, what a Gem!
Arrived Apia Tue 1 Oct, By 11am we were checked-in!
Samoa, (known until 1997 as Western Samoa), is a country with a population of 207,000 consisting of two main islands Upolu and Savaii.
We spent 6 days driving around on the left side of the road and experiencing Samoaโs rich culture. We crossed to Savaii island (quite the ferry ride) where we spent a night in a beach fale and met cool Australians.ย Back on Upolu, we experienced a fire dance show, snorkeled with giant clams, swam at the sea trench, hiked at O Le Pupu National park. Enjoyed seeing Samoa preparing for a major upcoming Commonwealth event (CHOGM) (King Charles is coming!)
On Sunday we decided to experience a Samoan church service, and were invited to their parish afternoon celebration. The experience and people we met were memorable: singing, dancing, eating and our first Kava ceremony! We felt like their special guests for the day.
Unique facts we want to remember about Samoa:
-For cruisers, not much anchorage hopping to be done but lots to see and experience on land.
– Communities are clean, well maintained and well decorated.
– Communities are alive with people, children, animals- dogs, pigs, cows.
– People are friendly, look happy, generous and proud of their environment.
– Schools everywhere, mostly primary
– Churches everywhere, primarily catholic but yet several denominations
– Religion plays a big part in their lives
– Witnessed a traditional Funeral mourning ceremony (thanks Douglas for welcoming us!)
– Witnessed People working on houses, roads, fales – painting, fixing, cleaning- not much sitting around waiting for time to pass
– People do lots with not much – painting rocks and coconut mounds, sculpting painted tree trunk, decorating tires, putting up flags
– No appearance of any danger, crime or corruption, no homeless nor begging
– Did not observe a culture of music playing (vs other Polynesian islands)
– Food tasted good but really fattening- lots of fried stuff, chicken, pork, sausage, curries, chow meinโฆ
Next port – Wallis and Futuna 260 nm away.
Upon their arrival into the lagoon of Wallis Island SVย VIVA shares their passage report from Samoa to Wallis Island:
Weโre glad this passage is almost over, 270 nautical miles from Samoa to Wallis island, we had great wind 18-24 kts for 48 hrs so no motoring! But rough sea, 3-4m swells 9sec period which meant we were pinned down to our seats. Difficult to standup, move or do anythingโฆ basically pulling gโs for 2 days!
One last hurdle before setting the anchor is going through this small pass to get inside Wallis, we timed it right with the tide slack butโฆwe canโt get in!!! There is a very strong squall hitting us right now and we canโt see ahead of us more than 100 yards, so letโs do the safe thing and waitโฆ
Wallis is a very small island and a French protectorateโฆ.weโre already dreaming of baguettes!!ย Two weeks to go before we haul out and store Viva in Fiji for the cyclone season.
