Samoa Snorkeling and Beach Fales

Hello All

Im flying into Apia (from home/New Zealand) on 6th April arriving around 8.30pm.
Travelling alone and looking for a beach fale or similar with pvt bathroom on/near a beach with great snorkeling. I do not want to have to get a boat out to a reef, rather just go in straight off the beach where I'm staying.
My queries are;
- where can I find a place to stay such as this? I have seen the website for Akoi fales at Fagaloa Bay
is this the best option? If so, can I get transport from the airport to Fagaloa Bay around 9pm?
- Where is a nice place to spend the night in APia that wont bust the budget?
- Travel around each island. Is this best done by local bus/truck? Or hired car or motorbike?
- How often do the ferries between the main islands run? and what is the cost? what time do the last

ferrys run each evening.
Snorkeling is my main objective so I really want to find the best place/s for that.
Any feedback would be most welcome.
My thanks in advance.
Mary

Snorkeling is our main thing as well.
We think the best place in Samoa is at Palolo Deep and have stayed at Vaiala Beach Cottages for up to 6 weeks at a time snorkeling at Palolo each day.
Sure it is hard to get out to the Deep at low tide or when the current is strong but every day was different and we would swim right around the Deep and see different things each day.
Loads of black tip reef sharks out by the small island, mainly small but the big one is there as well in the gap where the Deep opens to the open ocean.
People usually recomend Lalomanu but we were not impressed with the snorkelling there.
There are plenty of buses but they go to a specific village and return to Apia.
Not many bikes for hire and not suitable anyway, plenty of cars, we usually hired a taxi for the day if we wanted to go around the island or to another beach, then the driver looked after your gear etc and knew who to talk to to get permission to snorkel etc.
Most of the beach fales are pretty primitive with shared facilities and are not our thing.
The ferries run between the islands several times a day, unfortunately the planes have stopped flying as it was a very scenic flight.

What is the coral like at Palolo Deep? I hear that most of the coral in Samoa is bleached now. We want to make the trip but don't want to be disappointed.

There is plenty of coral at Palolo, both on the reef top and around the side of the Deep itself.
It was better the first year we went but it was knocked around by a cyclone and some of the lovely reef top gardens were destroyed but it actually cleaned the Deep itself.
We did not see any bleaching when we were there around this time last year.
The Deep is a marine sanctuary privately operated by Jack and it costs 3 tala to enter each day.
The neighboring property had been sold to developers who intend to build a hotel and encroach on the reserve so just make sure that building has not started before you book to stay nearby.

Have you snorkelled the north coast of Savaii, and if so how does it compare with the Deep? We are really looking for brialliant coloured coral more than fish.