Southside! (Written 5/6/06)

The cast for season 3 of Lost

Today I had the opportunity to hang out with a few of the people from the church that attend, Peace Chapel. It was an over 24 year old get together of just getting to know each other better outside of the regular Sunday church service. While I was hesitant at first, I realized that it was a unique opportunity AND a chance to get to the south side of the island without having to bike there (always a plus). We were originally going to go to Togitogiga Falls (one of my personal goals for Samoa) but it hasn’t rained there enough in the past few days so it was dry. Instead we went to the village of Maninoa and went to a beach resort there called Line Up Surf Resort – where one of the people who goes to Peace Chapel, Tim, works. While Lalomanu is definitely a great resort to visit, it was nice to get to another resort along the southern coast of Samoa.

So we got there in the early afternoon, at about 11am and along with us came a pastor from New Zealand – Todd – and his wife, Donna. It was their first time really spending time in Samoa, so it was good for them to get out and see what Samoan paradise looks like. So we got there, started up the barbeque and since I can’t barbeque yet (I think that’s in ‘Cooking 202’, I’m still in ‘101’) I did the next best thing and took tons of pictures. While it wasn’t a big picture it was still picturesque. One of the best things about where this resort is located is that it’s close to another resort (Sinalei Reef Resort, I think) which has a fresh water spring next to their restaurant(the spring is called Vai o le Maile Spring or “Leg of the Dog Spring”. I have no idea what the name is referring to). In this fresh water spring are tons of fresh water fishes and if you threw bread into the water, the fish would just attack it. It was the most amazing thing – you would have thought they were piranhas the way they were just attacking a single piece of bread. So everyone started jumping into the freshwater spring (it was quite deep) but since I’m not a great swimmer I just kinda dipped into the spring. Fortunately I brought my snorkel gear with me and I was able to obtain a prescription snorkel mask from a former volunteer so this was the first time that I was able to actually see what was under the water and it was quite an amazing sight.

As I was swimming looking at the various coral around me, a freshwater fish came within about 10 inches of my face, it was amazing. There were just a whole bunch of fish just circling around me and I was able to identify each one not by a blur but by what they actually looked like which was quite refreshing for a person who wears glasses. Todd and Donna wanted to swim out to the deeper part of the ocean, so I joined them for that little adventure into the deep blue. It took quite a lot of effort to get out to the deeper part because the waves were fighting against us but after about 20 minutes we finally got past all the coral and reached the deep blue sea (but we weren’t beyond Samoa’s natural reef) and while it was impressive there was no sea life out there so it was kinda dry looking. It was still fun to see simply because I could SEE it clearly now. The swim back in was also tough because it was high tide and the waves were going toward the open ocean, so we were fighting against them going towards the reef and away from the reef. But it was fun and just went to show me how much more comfortable I am in the water here (and from a person who comes from a landlock state that’s a big deal!).

So after that little adventure, we ate lunch which was barbeque and some taro – you can’t have a decent meal in Samoa without some taro! I talked to a few of the people that I see at church a lot, but don’t really get an opportunity to know very well – so I got to do that. Then Tim, who works at the resort, offered to take us out on a boat ride into the deep part of the ocean (again, not outside the reef) and I definitely got in on that deal. So about 6 of us went out there at one time (he did two trips) and we went out to where the surfers would be dropped off at and it was amazing to look back at the island from the south side (I only see the island of Upolu from the east or west depending on which way you are coming from Savaii) and it was also amazing to think that over a 1000 miles south of here is Antarctica which has a very different climate from Samoa. Tim stopped the boat in the deep part of the ocean and let people jump out and swim around a bit, while I choose to stay in the boat and rest (still a bit tired from my previous swim) but amazingly enough the direction I was looking at – I obviously had no idea when I say down – was the NE and that got me thinking about what I want people to see when they come to visit (look at a map and see what’s NE of Samoa) and that you definitely have to experience little pieces of paradise like the one I experienced today. While we were driving back to shore, we saw 2 sea turtles swimming in the ocean – they are fast animals, much different in water then they are on land. That was my first sighting of sea turtles in Samoa even though I’ve heard a lot about them. So overall it was a good day of relaxation, fellowship and just reminding myself of the beauty that Samoa has to offer (which is easy to forget some times when you’re always working). Hopefully you’ll get to experience this one day! L8r.