More Fun in Ofu & Olosega

As I had eluded to in our pre-trip blog, I was looking forward to some vacation-esque time on this research trip. I often give Paul a hard time about his so-called research trips, and feel that every time he goes on a research trip I am due for a vacation to balance things out. Well, I finally concede that research trips are more work than vacation. Yes, we got to see some beautiful islands. Yes, we got to make lots of awesome dives. But, it was a ton of work and after working 12 hour days, we found ourselves exhausted in bed every night around 8 pm.

We did find a bit of free time, though. One of the highlights of Ofu Island is the amazing beach and snorkeling in the National Park. We got done with diving one day by 3 in the afternoon so we grabbed our masks and snorkels and walked down the only road on Ofu towards the Park. It was great to be walking on a road and not have a single car drive past. I heard that there are only about 30 cars on both Ofu and Olosega. Along the road, we saw white-collared Kingfishers, swiftlets, and Samoan starlings (a bird I had not previously seen...so if I was a birder like my mom, I would say it was a "life bird."). We walked for a short time to avoid a rocky stretch of beach and then we continued our walk along the white, sandy beach. And yes, the travel guides are true. It really is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Plus, it is one of the most secluded. We never saw another person or piece of litter or any other sign of humans on our journey. The snorkeling was great, too. It is so clear it felt like swimming in an aquarium.Throughout the week, it was quite windy and there were several days when our diving location was dependent on where we could jump off the boat without having the waves topple us over. Despite the weather conditions, we had a fantastic week. A lot of work was accomplished for Paul and the other researchers. We made a total of 14 dives. The trip home turned out to be in very poor conditions, with 16-18 foot waves, but thankfully, I popped a couple of Dramamine pills and had a pleasant enough trip. It did get rather boring, though, with nothing to stare at but the horizon or some waves for over 6 hours. Let's just say I'm not planning on making a career change and becoming a pirate anytime soon.