The Sua Ocean Trench at the end of the world
Summary
Yep – offensively photogenic and screams “I want to go there!” from just about everyone who sees the photo. In my case, from my girlfriend. “You know it’s in the middle of the Pacific right? In the middle of nowhere?” I reply. The determined eyes staring back at me need no vocal expression – “I want to go” – they clearly say
For those who have the similar determination, you won’t be disappointed – the place really is that beautiful up close and it’s a lot of fun swimming around in the pool soaking it all in. The site has the added advantage of having some delightfully well maintained gardens on the nearby cliff edges where you can gawp at the gorgeous surroundings, and a series of rock pools that you can laze around in and get pushed and pulled around as the waves come in, which is also super fun
To be fair, I don’t think you’d go this far to the middle of the ocean for just the Sua Ocean Trench, which really, spectacular as it is, you only need half a day for. Samoa itself has some nice spots to drive around to (I’d recommend hiring a car for convenience), friendly people and some fab food (make sure you have lunch at the Seabreeze resort only 5mins drive away). But I’d recommend combining your visit as part of a 2 week trip of Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. Swimming with Humpbacks, diving with Tiger Sharks, white water rafting and kayaking from one picture perfect island to the next sound appealing? Then see here for more details, ideas and tips in this travel entry for –2 weeks in Tonga, Fiji and Samoa
highlights
#1 Staring at the picture-perfect Sua Ocean Trench, getting the courage to walk down the steep stairs and have a swim in the beautiful water
#2 Heading to the waterfront to playing around in the rock pools by the shore. Super fun as the tide comes in to throw you around
#3 Lounging by the beautifully maintained grassy cliffs of the gardens right nearby
#4 Grabbing lunch at the nearby Seabreeze Resort Restaurant with is terrible view
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Other offensively-beautiful places around the World
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone