Apia Harbor, Western Samoa 13 49.702S 171 45.862W

Tartaruga and her crew are nestled in a Apia harbor, shielded from the relentless swell of the Pacific Ocean and the trade winds that guide our journey. We’ve experienced a few days of gusty winds, reaching up to 25 knots at times. This isn’t much different from American Samoa, except here we experience very little fetch.

Yesterday, we reconnected with a friend we met in American Samoa many weeks ago, Arthur. What a great guy! He generously offered us the use of one of his cars while we’re in Samoa. To be legal, I had to get a temporary permit to drive here. It wasn’t a big deal – just 10 minutes and 21 Tala (about $8 USD). This opens up the entire island to us, but there’s one small hurdle we had to tackle.

In Samoa, they drive on the left side of the road. You can’t call it the wrong side because they believe the right side is wrong. Interestingly, they used to drive on the right side until about 10 years ago. So, there are both left and right-hand drive cars here, and ours is left-hand drive. Another interesting aspect is that some cars are Japanese with the turn signal on the right side of the wheel, while others have it swapped. As a result, you often see windshield wipers running in the turn lane – whoops, another tourist! The traffic circles go clockwise, and I have to reach over my right shoulder for the seatbelt. Not to mention, you have to turn your head left to see the rearview mirror! So far, so good – no wrecks. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

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