Upon exiting, we made our way through security and off the ship, past the line of vendors and found our two tour guides from Samoa Scuba and Snorkle. We and another couple from Toronto were assigned to 'Ty' in his personal Subaru. Both guides are Aussies who live to dive and make their living doing scuba and snorkeling trips. After a brief stopover at a their dive shop to pay them and pick up some fins, we drove south across the island to the Acanoa Black Sand beach which was the setting for a current season of Survivor -Australia. Ty even served as a stunt double during the taping of the episode. The American version is due to come here in the near future to film a season. The snorkeling here was okay without much fish being spotted. The coral wasn't the prettiest but the coral canyons were quite impressive.
Interestingly all the beaches and access are privately or family group owned. After leaving the beach we made our way east along the south coast to Le Sua which is a large lava tube some 100 meters across and at least that deep. It's filled with water from the sea by an underground tube. One gets into the water by descending on a 32 rung wooden ladder which had no handrail. It is apparently one of the top 10 swimming locations in the world. Once I got in the water with my snorkeling gear, I spotted a number of fish the largest of which was only 7-8" long. The smallest I saw was an electric blue fish about 2" long and there were a number of other varieties between those two sizes. Another treat while there was swimming through a cave into another lava tube which opened to the daylight. This was truly a treat!
From Le Sua we drove another 15 miles east along the south coast to the Aga Reef Resort where we were served a a simply fabulous lunch. I had the Mahi Mahi over fresh vegetables (catch of the day) while my wife had the Ahi tuna salad (actually we divided up the fish between us as Ahi is my favorite fish while she wanted part of mine). The views from the lunch table were not that bad also!
As we continued our drive around the island several things stood out for me. First was the sheer dense greenery which at the various villages was enhanced by color. Second was the presence of crypts in the front yards of many of the residents. The richer the person, the more ornate the crypt. In addition, we did see one cemetery on the NE corner of the island. Third was the presence of pigs and dogs running loose. Fourth was the lack of windows in many of the homes and construction of huge open air rooms which appeared to facilitate family gatherings. Fifth was the large number of churches in each of the little villages. There were Protestant, Catholic, LDS, and even one large Baha'i facility.
With an 'all aboard' time of 4:30pm, we reboarded about 4:25pm and the ship cast off its lines around 4:40; slowly backed away from the pier and pivoted counterclockwise to begin sailing through the narrow opening in the reef into open water as a small container ship approached the harbor.
After watching the departure, I showered to remove the sand and salt residue before eating dinner in the Lido on deck 11. We were intrigued by the prospect of mahi mahi, a minute steak, and sugar snap peas. While the fish wasn't nearly as good as lunch, it was still satisfying.
This night was considered a 'dark night', which meant there was no entertainment on the main stage. Instead, a DisneyNature film on the extreme value of flowers on the earth's life cycles was presented. Meryl Streep narrated it and it definitely took me to my happy place at times where the only view was the back of my eyelids.
I should add that I tried to use my Glocalme device twice today to get an internet connection but I was unsuccessful. There must have been insufficient demand for the Glocalme provider to negotiate a contract with the local provider.
Remember, while the destination is important, savor the journey.
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