Previously known as Western Samoa, the "Western" was dropped in 1996 and the country became "Samoa". In the days of European exploration the Samoan Islands, including American Samoa, were named the Navigator Islands due to being an important waypoint for Pacific voyagers. Today Samoa is the first country to see the new day, having changed its time zone to west of the International Date Line in order to facilitate trading with New Zealand and Australia.
Typically of Pacific nations, Samoa is comprised of larger volcanic islands and smaller offshore islands, with a total of 11 islands making up the whole country. The largest are Savai’i and Upolu, with the latter home to approximately 75% of the population as well as the capital Apia and the main international airport at Faleolo.
For non-divers and divers alike this is an exciting time to visit Samoa as tourism is relatively undeveloped when compared with countries such as Fiji and Tonga. The islands present fantastic opportunities for exploration and contain awesome waterfalls and impressive blowholes, as well as quaint, beautifully maintained villages, bustling fruit, vegetable and handicraft markets, and the world famous To Sua Ocean Trench. The south coast of Upolu especially also has excellent surf without the crowds of Fiji, although the reef breaks are more suited to experienced surfers than beginners.
Samoa is an opportunity to divers who wish to travel a little further from the well explored waters of Melanesia to the west. With relatively little tourism divers can expect to enjoy dive sites to themselves, with the very real possibility of being in a position to discover new sites. The diving is extremely varied with options for all levels of experience, from sheltered, shallow lagoon sites ideal for training, barrier reef walls covered in macrolife that offer drift diving conditions, wrecks lying outside the barrier reefs, and deep water current-swept pinnacles and passages.
Getting there
- Diving in Samoa is surely defined by deep water pinnacles and passages through barrier reef walls and between islands. In these areas there tends to be more current exposure, including upwellings from deeper water, which attract a variety of pelagic life. Frequent sightings on these sites include grey reef sharks, silky sharks, blacktip and whitetip reef sharks, hawksbill and green turtles, eagle rays, humphead wrasse, barracudas, jacks and trevallies. Less common sightings include leopard sharks, silvertip sharks and whale sharks, as well as humpback whales, dolphins and manta rays.
- For those divers more stimulated by macro and cryptic subjects, the reef walls are adorned with nudibranchs, scorpionfish, lionfish, coral crabs and anemone shrimps, pipefish and octopus.
- On the shallower reefs the fish assemblage is healthy and diverse, including both common families such as butterflyfish, parrotfish and wrasse, and less common families such as sweetlips, snappers and pufferfish.
Note - Travel to any destination may be adversely affected by conditions including (but not limited) to security, entry and exit requirements, health conditions, local laws and culture, natural disasters and climate. Regardless of your destination, check your local travel advisory board or department for travel advice about that location when planning your trip and again shortly before you leave.
