What a contrast. Samoa is as steep and covered in dense jungle, as Tonga is grassy and flat with coconut palms.

We crept into beautiful little Paga Pago harbour before sunrise.

Parked right in town, surrounded by a substantial fishing fleet and sea containers. At least Samoa has an industry – the tuna processing factory across the harbour (choice smell!) employs about 4000.

This time we teamed up with our new found friends Ann and Bettie (they’re from Virginia Beach in “the saath”) and headed off with Nancy and Alex (seen below) in their Ford Mercury (old bomb) “taxi”. The only similarity to any taxi you’ve ever been in was the delapidated taxi sign on the roof (probably bought from the the local everything store). All went well while the road was flat around the coast, not so when it came to climbing hills!

The coast is gorgeous. One can only imagine how gorgeous it would be in the sunshine.

And then it rained. This was serious rain. We retreated to Tisa’a Barefoot Bar for shelter, and met one of the locals!

Like the Tongans, the locals were all pretty friendly. The beaches are “guarded” by a local who collects money if you want to set foot there. In a brief break in the rain, this guard rushed up and kissed everyone welcome. But it was raining so much that she didn’t ask for money today.

We retreated back to town and to the ship for lunch and it started to fine up a bit, so we (minus Bettie now) headed off and found a “taxi” (a trusty big Nissan this time) that could climb hills and headed to Vatia (seen here).

What a treat. Steep driving through serious jungle …

… to a lookout stop over the harbour …

… and then to the north coast …

We looked down on this magnificent postcard “island” and then went down and through the village for a closer look.

Back to the ship after a great day, despite the rain. They call this mountain over the harbour “rainmaker” … it obviously works!

The locals use some interesting transport.

And it looks like the Governor lives high on the hog, on a hill overlooking the town and harbour with a view any Point Piper resident would be pleased with.

And so farewell to Samoa, and north to French Polynesia for better weather and warm sunshine.