The Apolima Strait is about 13km wide and separates the two largest islands of Samoa

Samoa

Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...

, the island of Savai'i

Savai'i

Savaii is the largest and highest island in Samoa and the Samoa Islands chain. It is also the biggest landmass in Polynesia outside Hawaii and New Zealand. The island of Savai'i is also referred to by Samoans as Salafai, a classical Samoan term used in oratory and prose...

 to the northwest, and Upolu

Upolu

Upolu is an island in Samoa, formed by a massive basaltic shield volcano which rises from the seafloor of the western Pacific Ocean. The island is long, in area, and is the second largest in geographic area as well as the most populated of the Samoan Islands. Upolu is situated to the east of...

 to the southeast.

Three small islands lie in the strait, Manono

Manono Island

Manono is an island of Samoa, situated in the Apolima Strait between the main islands of Savai'i and Upolu, 3.4 km WNW off Lefatu Cape, the westernmost point of Upolu....

 and Apolima

Apolima

Apolima is the smallest of the four inhabited islands of Samoa and situated in the Apolima Strait, between the country's two largest islands Upolu to the east and Savai'i to the west....

, which have small village settlements and tiny uninhabited islet Nu'ulopa

Nu'ulopa

Nu'ulopa is a small uninhabited island in the Apolima Strait between the islands of Upolu and Savai'i in Samoa. The island is part of Aiga-i-le-Tai district....

.

Manono is about 3 miles off the west coast of Upolu and Apolima lies approximately near the middle of the strait. Nu'ulopa is a tiny rocky outcrop with palm trees and surrounded by a natural turtle habitat.

The main means of transport between the two large islands, passenger and vehicle ferries operated by the Samoa government, run through the strait between Mulifanua

Mulifanua

Mulifanua is a village on the north-western tip of the island of Upolu, in Samoa. In the modern era, it is the capital of Aiga-i-le-Tai district...

 wharf on Upolu and Salelologa

Salelologa

Salelologa is a village district at the east end of Savai'i island in Samoa. It is the main entry point into the island with the only ferry terminal on Savai'i...

wharf on Savai'i.

The ferry crossing takes about 90-minutes.