The site was on the bucket list of thousands of tourists who flew to Samoa prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. But everything changed for the To Sua Ocean Trench, after the coronavirus swept the globe in early 2020.

The pandemic forced the closure of Samoa’s international borders in March of that year and the collapse of the country’s tourism industry.

When the Samoa Observer visited the site last Thursday, Theresa Laauli Petelo and her son were manning a small kiosk with her husband Lagi Petelo walking up from the front of the closed To Sua compound.

"That is my husband, he often goes fishing for some food from the sea," she said. 

There were other customers there, confirming that the small kiosk was known by the village residents. A group of young men were fixing a tire of an old car parked in the front gate. 

"We came to the shop and got a flat tyre," said one of the boys. 

Mrs Petelo told the Samoa Observer that business has been slow since the pandemic-inspired shutdown, and they were forced to reduce their fees for visitors who wanted to see the iconic tourist attraction. 

"We had to reduce our price to $15 tala per head from $20 tala because of the lack of guests, " she said. "We did that for the first year of COVID-19.”

But as business picked up last year, they increased their fees to $20 tala, as they were seeing more guests calling in prior to this year’s lockdown.

"We put the price back up to full cost because we saw more guests coming in after a year," she said. 

Seve Werner Tuatagaloa, Principal Officer of Statistics for Samoa Tourism Authority (S.T.A.) confirmed that in 2019 their international visitor survey ranked To Sua Ocean Trench the top most visited tourism site for both Upolu and Savai’i.

It had a 56 per cent popularity rating for visiting guests with Apia second (55 per cent) followed by Lalomanu (51 per cent). Other popular sites included in the survey were the Togitogiga falls and Piula Cave Pool. 

Tina De Suza, a long time visitor of Samoa, alluded to the beauty of the To Sua Ocean Trenches when she used to stay at Lalomanu beach with her husband Greg De Suza. 

"To Sua is worth a visit. I have gone to it many times with Greg. I would recommend it to anyone who visits Samoa. 

“The gardens are beautiful and the view of the ocean from the cliffs is magical. It is definitely a treasure to visit. I have never seen anything like it before.”

The site consists of two craters created by a volcano and is known for its lush jungle and well maintained gardens. The water which is about 30 metres deep is often aqua green with a clear view of the bottom on a high sunny day. A ladder was built to allow visitors to climb up and down to the swimming hole. There is a cave that leads to the ocean from the swimming hole but visitors are told to be cautious of the high tides. 

Around the swimming crater people can relax in the gardens maintained by the Petelo Fiame family who operate the site. There are blow holes off the southeast corner of the site, which often surprises the guests at high tide.

A former General manager of Salani Surf Resort, Dorrance Jon Long, told Samoa Observer that not many people are aware of the caves near the blow holes.

"You can only access the cave via small boat or canoe but it is advisable not to go there during high tide if you are wanting to swim in it,” he said. “The cave I went through is quite high and you can pass through it with a boat. 

“Not many people know about it as far as I know.”