From Upolu to Savaii

Hi there,

my partner and I will be spending one week in Samoa in October.

Is there another option to go from Upolu to Savii rather than the ferry? Are there flights, and how much do they roughly cost. Polynesian Airlines only seem to fly from Apia to Fiji or American Samoa.

I'd love to hear from your experiences on the ferry crossing.
What's the vessel like? I've heard it's quite old, rusty and dogy.

Cheers,
Manu

There is only the ferry, no more flights at all. The ferry ships are not that old (about 15 - 20 years, which is not that much for a ship) and there are neither particularly rusty nor dodgy in any way. Big enough as well for quite a few vehicles of any size and around a hundred people or more ...

Besides that - the whole thing just takes one single hour ... So it is certainly not worth bothering much about it in advance. Just enjoy it!

As above - the ferry is no cruise liner for sure, but for that short trip, perfectly fine!
Consider it part of the local colour.

If it is still too basic for you, then you are probably thinking of the wrong country anyway!

thanks for your quick answers. 'good' to know that there are no flights anymore, that's very helpful to know, cheers!

no, no, it wouldn't be too basic for me at all, please don't get me wrong!

the reason i'm asking is this: my partner used to work as a travel agent and he's heard that the ships are a bit dodgy and dangerous, weather that was from sales reps or tourists I don't know. He's heard they are old war ships....

So he is quite reluctant to go on the ferry, but because I'd like to see both islands while we're there I thought I'll ask you guys :)

Old war ship? In Samoa? Nothing like that and at least not for the last 30 years.

The MV Lady Samoa was a gift of the Government of Japan about 10 years ago. She is built as a ferry and was used to connect some smaller islands in Japan before. And be sure that the Samoans are quite cautious about maintenance, as that ferry is the only connection between the two islands.

As #2 said: no cruise ship but certainly fine for an hour ;-)

thank you, i'll see if i can talk him over :)

if it's comfy or not, i don't care, as long as it gets me there :) i've done a few bumpy/rough/... trips, and as you said, it's only an hour.

is the crossing quite rough actually? or is flat and calm? (we'll be going in october)

cheers!

October is just between the main seasons so it is completely unpredictable how the weather will be like. Most times, even in the Rainy Season, it is all calm. Not more than 5% of all my many crossings between the islands were at bit bumpy.

Make sure that you leave Upolu at 8.00 am, 12.00 pm or 4.00 pm (Savaii at 6.00 am, 10 am, 2 pm) to make sure to be on the Lady Samoa. There are smaller ships too scheduled on other times.

hm, i got told that september-october would be a good time to visit? if you could pick a month, when would you go? (i can NOT go in june or july)

the other thing is, as we only have one week, we obviously don't wana rush around too much. Would it make sense to only stay on Upolu? Ideally, we'd love to spend 2 days or so on a beach, do a wee bit of snorkelling (neither of us has snorkelled before) and then visit a few waterfalls, do a track in the rainforest, volcanoes.... Would that be possible if we only stayed on Upolu?

cheers! :)

I personally found Upolu the much nicer island anyway (more scenic, too) so I would say you would not miss much by having a better look at that island rather than rushing around both.
You could certainly do snorkelling, beach-time and rainforest hiking in Upolu, only for the volcano thing would Savaii have an edge.

hi laszlo,

that's great to hear! i wouldn't want to rush around too much, it's our holiday after all.

if you could pick a month, when would you preferably go?

Well, there are quite a few people who would prefer Savaii, but I fully agree with Laszlo that you can do and see all what is on your list on one island only. When you go to Lalomanu Beach on Upolu (check Taufua Beach Fales or Le Sitia Beach Fales) you find tours, good snorkeling and hiking as well. There even is a volcano crater there and the resort can provide the guide. One to two hours hike each way. You would not find a big lava field or blowholes on Upolu though.

In Savaii you would find all that in Fagamalo at the Le Lagoto Resort - a lot more comfortable but a lot more expensive as well. Beach Fales are in Lano (Lauiula Beach Fales) or in Manase (Regina's Beach Fales). Snorkeling is not that nice there though.

The later it is in the year the more rain there is altogether - simple as that. So the earlier the better, regarding rainfall. There is no way to predict that more precisely - just like with the seasons somewhere else.

great, thanks a lot, that sounds pretty much like what we wana do. as far as accommodation goes, we haven't really had a look into what's on offer, we just know that we wana spend a few nights in a fale and maybe a couple of nights in something 'nicer', but not overly fancy, as we are on a budget.

I need to go back home for a month in June/July, and don't think that I can take a week off straight away again, so we were thinking of September, maybe October...

cheers!