See all of our photos for Apia, Samoa.
Yes, we are a day ahead of our friends in North America as we crossed the international date line yesterday and just skipped Feb 11, 2026. We will get an extra day (or the same day 2x) when returning from Japan to Alaska in a couple of months. Our plan today is to find a local taxi driver to take us on tour for the day.
This morning, we hired a cab for 4 hours and took a private sightseeing trip of Apia Samoa and the countryside. We started with a stop at the local Catholic church, built over 100 years ago. It has a very unique wooden ceiling.
Then we stopped at a local flea market for a bit of shopping.
After a driving tour of Apia, we started “up the hill” and stopped at the Robert Louis Stevenson plantation, now a museum. Apparently, he fell in love with Samoa and lived here until he died. He wrote, among other novels, Treasure Island, Dr. Jekeil and Mr. Hyde, and Kidnapped. It was a very interesting visit.
We continued up the hill and stopped at the Bahi’a House of Worship. It is a strange, newish religion that branched out of Islam. But it is NOT Islam. Anyway, beautiful gardens. We were unable to enter the sanctuary because it was undergoing renovations.
Our next stop was an overlook where we saw a magnificent waterfall. There was a nice platform to view from.
We continued down the other side of the hill and down to the opposite coast then through several small villages which were very interesting to another waterfall with a small swimming hole. It was a bout a 5 minute walk down a gravel path where we found restroom/changing rooms along with a viewing platform and stairs down to the swimming hole.
It was about a 45 minute drive back to Apia and since it was nearing time for All-Aboard, we bid our driver thanks and goodbye. Next up, a day at sea then arrival in Fiji
