OK, take the positive aspects of each island I've visited, roll them into one, and you have Samoa (used to be Western). The mountains are higher and craggier, the roads have more terrifying switchbacks, forests more lush with a dozen shades of green, more windswept tan beaches with palm trees reaching horizontally for the best sun or black volcanic sand beaches, more breathtaking vistas at each mountain pass, waterfalls cascading 200 and 300 feet, and of course the people - more kind, beautiful, gentle, hospitable still. It's gonna take a mighty fine island indeed to topple Samoa from her pedestal.

We'd just happened to arrive as the South Pacific Games were being played in Apia and were privy to some pre-Olympic quality sports. In fact, we saw a Samoan boy qualify for the Olympics in the 5000 m race and some world class tennis. If we couldn't make it to the fields, there was also a neat little sports bar where we watched televised swimming and football (soccer) in honor of our daughters. The Pacific Islander's athletic abilities are very surprising since basically these islands are third world countries but the folks have their priorities straight. Even though the past couple islands are the poorest in the Pacific, they support sports to an amazing degree, and build, attend, and love their multitude of churches 5 times every Sunday. Every business is closed Sunday except the resorts and Yacht Club.

Robert Louis Stephenson spent his last 5 years here and left his estate as a museum to these people he adored. The mansion's restoration is so authentic one could expect to see him reclining on his sickbed (TB) writing away just around the next corner. The Samoans also respected their Tusitala (teller of tales) and formed a human chain 1000 meters up the side of Mount Vaea where upon they passed his coffin from person to person to it's tomb on the summit.

We logged over 400 Km motorcycle miles visiting the entire Samoan paradise. Sunday morning as we zipped through a remote area the Matai (chief) invited us to rest with his family in their fale (traditional oval or round Samoan open air house - concrete floor and thatched roof supported by wooden poles, no walls). He was a very dignified middle aged man in his white tuxedo jacket and lava lava carrying his bible. Terry was afraid he'd share the contents of that book with us instead of the delicious aromas drifting from the community cooking pot so we hustled on down the east side to finish our tour!

Besides we'd invited 4 boats for dinner that evening thinking that our large cockpit would be the perfect venue for Cassie's mahi-mahi kabobs and some scintillating cruiser conversation. Mother nature didn't agree and sent a deluge to force all 16 of us into our main salon, but we had a nice warm blast anyway, think the last folks left at 1:30 AM. Hanging with the "young and restless" is gonna keep us young ourselves or accelerate our final retirement to land!

-Karen