10/2/2026 quiet day at the beach

I'd planned to get up early this morning and do the yoga session in the wedding chapel on the Island. That went out of the window as it started at 0600hrs, and I didn't even open my eyes until 0830 hours so it was safe to say I missed it.

Instead I went and had a nice leisurely breakfast, looking out over the bay. There are worse ways to spend an hour.  There was no point in hanging around so I returned to the room and got ready to spend a few hours in the sun on the beach. I took the long way around the island so I could get a bit of exercise in as well and had the whole beach to myself which works perfectly for me.

There was a delicious breeze and no grey clouds along the coast, the mountains were draped in black rain clouds all day so I reckon it was pouring down up there all day. A few people arrived and went over and sat in front of the wedding chapel on the loungers there but that was it. Not a soul around. The gardeners were busy strimming, and cutting the grass around the perimeter so it was all very industrious around the place. 

I went into the ocean for a cooling dip. I love that the water is so calm and is quite shallow, admittedly it was low tide, but even at high tide it still isn't too deep. They told me it's better to snorkel at high tide due to the corals. I've not done any here yet but I intend to do so on the weekend. I was joined in the water by an elderly lady who introduced herself as Gerdita, a Canadian of German birth. She's not a resident at the resort, but is staying with her son in the Village until April as she can't cope with the Vancouver winter with temps of -15. Her flight out here was in December and it's her 86th birthday next Wednesday. I was amazed and would never have put her at 86, far from it, maybe 70’s. Her good health she puts firmly down to never swimming in pools and only ever in the ocean or a lake, because it's far better for you. Recently she had a hip replacement so she swims an hour every day in the ocean to keep herself active. To be honest, she's a wonderful advert for swimming. We chatted for a while and she had lots of recommendations for places for me to easily visit that I could go to on my own, but said to avoid the markets unless I had someone to go with.

I had wanted to go because they have the crafts there which I was interested in seeing. However I think I will now try and get a guided tour instead. There is one that includes a market visit but it seems like a lot of money just to walk around a craft market for 15 minutes. I may see if I can find someone at the resort who wants to go with me. Gerdita seems pretty switched on and as her son lives here she was advising me on what he had told her. I'm not greatly bothered if I don't go to the markets really, I don't want to buy anything but it would have been nice to look. The resort has a beautiful gift shop so if I change my mind on buying something I can get it from there. 

I got out of the ocean because I could feel my eyelids burning from the sun bouncing back off the waves and I'd left my sunnies on the sun lounger.. Stupid old boot. So I plonked them back on my mush, in a definite case of shutting the stable door after the horse had bolted.

The sun lasted another hour and half and then it was covered by dirty grey clouds, which emptied their contents all over me. I made a dash for the shelter of the resort picking up sun lounger cushions on my way to help the staff out a bit. There was a lady sitting at the table in the bar and she was giggling at the state of me…. I was Absolutely dripping! She was in exactly the same situation and she invited me to join her. Agada arrived today from Savai’i Island and is here until Friday. Hurrah, a friendly lady travelling alone staying here. We chatted for a couple of hours as huge rumbles of thunder deafened us and made me jump every single bloody time. This is her third visit to Upolu which I forgot to say is the island I’m currently on. It is one of 9 islands that make up the Independent State of Samoa, but only four of them are inhabited. The two biggest ones are Upolu and Savai’i. I’m catching a ferry to Savai’i early on Thursday morning for the day. Agoda loves Upolu but said that she's noticed it's changed a lot. There are a lot of people demanding money, and single white women are targeted quite aggressively when they walk down the street, which is something new. Now that's twice in a matter of hours I've been given the heads up about going out in my own so I will definitely be heeding their advice, and won't be heading into town, not even in a taxi.  She took a taxi back to the resort and the driver wanted to know what room number she was in, so nope I’m not doing taxi either. Guided accredited Tours only for me, my brain isn’t working properly so who knows what scrapes I’d end up getting myself into. Check me out being all cautious sensible and almost a grown up listening to advice! Don’t worry it won’t last! It’s only while I’m travelling around. Normal service will resume when I’m back In Auckland .

Agada is seriously well travelled, she moved to London from Poland for 4 years and worked in pharmacies. Her current job in Australia is selling drug packing robots to pharmaceutical companies, which all sounds so futuristic to my uneducated brain cell. When she was in London she was working with the first machine that was actually dispensing drugs to people in one of the London hospitals, I can’t remember which one. She was one of  the guinea pigs for it, that was 15 years ago, things have obviously moved on now but she is really passionate about it. We talked for a few hours until she had to go and get ready to meet a friend. We are hoping to have dinner one night before she flies back to Sydney. She lives in Randwick where Morg used to live. 

I’ve got my trips booked tomorrow, thursday, and over the weekend, nothing like packing them in!  I don’t know what time I’m back on Thursday but hopefully we can have either lunch or dinner then. It's not a problem if we don't obviously but it's nice to have met someone who is happy to interact . Particularly after my experience last night. Twat spangles.  

Talking to both Gerdita and Agada has given me a much needed boost today, and I felt much better going back to my room as the rain was still torrential. 

A further boost when I got back to my room was that the housekeeper had left a red hibiscus next to Si’s photo that I have on the shelf that runs along the back of the beds. It made me cry but it was such a kind thought. Obviously there were flowers in the room the day I arrived, but they have not been replenished which is not a problem obviously, but that has  made today's single flower all the more special. The only thing I can think that has triggered the flower being left was the conversation last night with Hana, the head housekeeper, because she wrote my room number on her hand. Who knows, it's a beautiful flower for my boy and i am so grateful for it and to whoever put it there.

I've had a response from New Zealand regarding my baskets, I had to send them photos and a description of how they were made.  They wanted to know if the leaves were fresh or dried. I'm amazed they responded so quickly so fingers crossed I can take my baskets home with me.  I probably won't take my headband back with me but the baskets for sure, if i can. 

Tomorrow's trip to snorkelling with the Giant Clams and swimming with Turtles is confirmed and I'm being collected at 0910 from the resort. I'm hoping for some nice weather. 

A very quiet day which is good in anticipation for a busy physical day tomorrow. 

Much Love

Mrs Leonard

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