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Samoa's climate is sultry, alternately sunny and rainy,
but always hot and humid. Cooling sea breezes make the shoreline the best
place to be yearround. The nicest months weatherwise are May to September,
"winter" south of the equator. The rainy season runs from November
to April, with increasingly intense hurricanes sweeping in due to global
warming. Yet you can get long spells of bright sunny weather even during
the "rainy" season, and Samoa's excellent Vailima beer (created
by German brewmasters) tastes best at this time of year.
Most visitors spend their time in independent Samoa, which
is considerably bigger and less expensive than American Samoa. However
the rugged scenic beauty of Tutuila, the main island of American Samoa,
should not be missed. In recent years some of the most strikingly beautiful
parts of the territory have been incorporated into American Samoa National
Park. There's great hiking on Tutuila and wonderful snorkeling on Ofu
in the seldom visited Manua Group.
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| Yachts
at anchor in Apia Harbor with the massive Government Building
in the background. |
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Traditional Samoan culture is largely based on oratory,
and it's no accident that several literary legends originated here. Robert
Louis Stevenson spent the last five years of his life in Samoa and is
buried on a hilltop above Apia, the capital. His mansion is now a museum
dedicated to the author. Somerset Maugham's short story "Rain"
about Sadie Thompson and the repressed missionary thrown together in a
guesthouse at Pago Pago, American Samoa, has been adapted by Hollywood
several times. The original guesthouse still exists, now an upscale restaurant
and inn. In "Tales of the South Pacific," James A. Michener
based the prototype of his character Bloody Mary on an Apia hotelkeeper
named Aggie Grey, whose family still operates Samoa's largest resorts.
Michener's book was later made into the musical "South Pacific."
Getting to Samoa is easy with direct flights from Hawaii
and Los Angeles on Hawaiian Airlines, Polynesian Airlines, and Air New
Zealand. Local ferries and small commuter planes ply frequently between
the islands, and getting around by public bus or rental car is no challenge.
Visas are not required by most visitors for entry to either Samoa, although
a passport and onward plane ticket are mandatory.
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