• I’m sorry Joselwyn

    He sat cross-legged on the grass surrounded by his friends. Trees towered above—the canvas behind him a vibrant forest. He talked in a hushed voice. Many things were discussed. One of them was the rising sea level in his village. He’s 41 and has had time to make his own observations. He talked about how they needed to get better, to try to educate the kids about pollution.

    These same kids carve their own surfboards and spend hours paddling canoes made from dugout trees.

    These same kids shape bows and arrows, taking them into the forest to shoot pigeons.

    These same kids primarily eat boiled plantain banana and sweet potato sourced from their garden.

    The village of 400 people has one miniscule shop stocked with cooking oil, rice, and a few other miscellaneous items. Their houses have no paint. They are made from coconut fronds and materials from the adjacent forest. Each family has their own garden. Occasionally they open a tin, or a plastic package and if they bury it, it rusts away and infiltrates their water source. For Joselwyn this is the pollution they need to eradicate. Also they need to minimise the fires they use to cook their food. They must work hard so that the sea doesn’t continue to rise. So they don’t have to leave behind the place they have dwelled for many generations.

    But could they really do better, and would it make a difference?

    To Joselwyn I say—I am more to blame than you are, for the sea that rises by your village. I’m sorry Joselwyn. I’m so sorry.

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  • Marau Sound, Solomon Islands

    Only one word to describe this place. Idyllic. We spent an amazing couple of days with the dingy, a fishing line, and the mask and snorkels. At the southern entrance to the sound we found amazing clear snorkeling on some of the reef drop offs. The largest, most plentiful and varied reef fish we’ve ever seen. Even within the sound black tip reef sharks cruised over endless coral gardens.

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    We stopped at the eastern head of the sound to watch a pod of dolphins teaching their young uns how to swim. They brought their flipper out of the water but forgot to stop flipping through the air. Pretty cute watching them splash down on top of the water awkwardly. Some of the bigger dolphins cruised up to the dingy and rode the bow wake for a while, obviously checking us out and protecting the little guys. Then the babies started practicing their aerials. Definitely an ‘I feel lucky to be alive’ moment. Dolphins always seem like they’re having a whale of a time, or I guess a dolphin of a time? Waaa didn’t take the camera that day.

    And a few more sailing into Honiara. An easy overnight moonlit passage from Marau Sound.

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  • Santa Ana, Makira Province, Solomon Islands

    Sailing to Marau

    Sailing to Marau

    Boys coming to give us coconut

    Boys coming to give us coconut

    Paddle board splashers

    Paddle board splashers

    Frequent visitors

    Frequent visitors

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    Kustom house

    Kustom house

    Village soccor

    Village soccor

    Confederate anchored

    Confederate anchored

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    We sailed from Santa Cruz to Santa Ana, a distance of 240 miles. The trip was super pleasant, with 10 knots behind us. The island of Santa Ana is a good one for a solid walk ashore, we spent a couple of hours walking to the other side of the island and back, visiting a traditional kastom house which housed carvings that had been there for hundreds of years.

    One of the main carvings we saw was of a half man, half shark. One of the legends of the Solomons tells the story of two brothers who fought to the death. The villagers took off after the older brother and he waded into a rock pool and was later seen with a sharks head and a man’s body, forever banished from the village as his punishment.

  • Kala Bay (Carlisle Bay on charts), north eastern Nendo.

    We anchored in 10m in mud just west of the wharf. It’s an amazing anchorage with shelter from pretty much all directions and absolutely no rolling. The reef pass is a nice easy one, breakers either side of the channel, but plenty of width.

    Confed surrounded by Canoes

    Confed surrounded by Canoes in the Anchorage

    Coordinates of anchorage 10 deg 39.453 S, 166 deg 03.517 E

    Highlights

    • Surfing with the kids from the village, them on their homemade surfboards, bad ass. I wish we had some photos! But here’s a photo of some of the fellas we met up with ashore another day.DSC01134 - Version 2-resized
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      Our gang of tour guides

      Our gang of tour guides

    • Landing a huge Mahi mahi as we came in the passage
    • Trading, trading and more trading, we have been short of nothing here. We gave half the mahi mahi to the village when we arrived which was well received and got us off to a good start with people. This is a super friendly place.

      A typical veggie hall

      A typical veggie hall

    • Meeting Joselwyn who became our local tour guide eager to show us ALL the sites of Kala bay. He’s a Chinese football player? Will have to google that one when we get back to civilisation.
    • Spending the day fixing our kite gear in preparation for the Louisiades. Many intrigued onlookers.
    • The anchorage – so calm!
    • A walk around to black beach (about 4km from anchorage) where there’s a wide pool of a river opening onto the sea. A competitive stone skimming competition ensued with the local kids. Unfortunately they were vastly more skilled than us. We ended up watching them go head to head at a variety of games that they’ve clearly been playing since infancy. One involved a large group of boys throwing stones as high as they could at the same time. First stone in the water loses, last stone wins.
    Throwing competition

    Throwing competition

    They’re all so at home in their surroundings, climbing up trees and jumping/somersaulting into the riverDSC01147-resized

    Shooting birds with bows and arrows

    Amazing shot

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    • Snurfelling – It’s a new sport that involves attempting to surf at low tide whilst checking water depths and fish life. A bit about the surf break – it’s a right hander on the edge of the entrance channel, easy paddle out, pretty shallow at low tide so you need to know what you’re doing. At high tide two wave patterns add together and it doesn’t break as cleanly. Apparently the best months are January – March when Joselwyn tells us it breaks like the photos he’s seen in magazines in Aus. Sorry no photos!
    • Visiting the kindergarten.
      With Doris the kindy teacher

      With Doris the kindy teacher

      The kindy

      The kindy

      Coconut birds made by the kids

      Coconut birds made by the kids

      Cute uniforms!

      Cute uniforms!

    Kala Bay turned into one of our favourites of the trip so far

    Getting an early morning canoe ride

    Getting an early morning canoe ride

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    Mass beetle nuts

    Mass beetle nuts

    Migs and Andrew the unofficial chief of the village

    Migs and Andrew the unofficial chief of the village

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    The gang waving goodbye after their tour of Confederate

    The gang waving goodbye after their tour of Confederate

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    School

    School

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    Medical center

    Medical center

    Typical House Kala Bay

    Typical House Kala Bay

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  • Crayfish feast

    It was 8pm on a torrential night. We were tucked up aboard Confederate listening to the rain drumming on the decks and surrounding sea. A knock rang through the hull, the boating equivalent to your doorbell ringing. We poked our head out the mosquito-net-covered companionway to see two Manyano Bay locals who we’d met earlier that day. Thomas and Florence spoke as they bailed water out of their dugout canoe. They looked like they’d already been swimming but informed us that they were on the way out to dive for crayfish and wondered if we’d like some.

    A torch battery was the agreed trading price. We invited them aboard, forcing tea and biscuits into them and lending a jacket to Florence before they took off. She was wet through but would be waiting in the dugout canoe spotting for Thomas for the next 4 hours, committed to the crayfish hunt.

    At about midnight another knock rippled through the hull. The dugout was back, along with 5 crayfish, and about 20 small reef fish. We gratefully accepted the crayfish, and told Florence and Thomas to cook up the fish themselves. It’s always a good night when you get a midnight delivery of crayfish. Thanks Manyano Bay!

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  • Manyano Bay, Northern Nendo

    We anchored in 13m in a sweet little spot on the northern side of Nendo—apparently the first boat to visit in five years.

    Coordinates – 10 deg 40.363 S, 165 deg 52.053 E

    Anchoring Manyano

    Anchoring Manyano

    The reef passage into the anchorage is best negotiated at low tide with direct sunlight so you can see the reef on both sides. This a great place to fill up with water as there’s a hose in the shallows which you can take your dingy up to. They’d love to get some more visitors!

    Highlights

    • The voyage from Bottom Bay in Lata to Manyano with Titus and his family, as well as their entire house. (They were moving back to his wife’s Margarets village and thought Confederate would be a good moving van)DSC00815-resized
      Helping Titus move house

      Helping Titus move house

      Sibling love

      Sibling love

    • A nice tuna caught just outside the reef near the anchorage.
    • A 4 mile walk through vivid green jungle to Margaret’s village. The track is really nice and you could walk all the way around the island if you wanted although it would take you about a week.

      Laundry Solomons styles

      Laundry Solomons styles

    • Kids paddling out to us and capsizing their dugout canoes to form a swimming platform.
      Sunset swimming

      Sunset swimming

      Canoe kids

      Canoe kids

    • Using Confederate as a diving platform with some of the local kids.

      Taking the kids out to Confederate for an afternoon swim

      Taking the kids out to Confederate

    • Visiting the school where Margaret will be teaching kindy.

      The school at Manyano

      The school at Manyano

    • The helpful tour guides that appeared whenever we wanted to go walking. Sarah, a local lady who joined me one day had minimal English. At one point she pulled at my hat and I thought I had something in my hair. I paused nervously waiting for her to drag out a massive spider or something similar. However it turned out she was merely inserting a small plant clipping that new visitors to an area are supposed to wear for protection.

      Jungle walking with Sarah

      Jungle walking with Sarah

    • Frequent visits from the local chatterbox, Tusi, ending in us taking him out for his first day sailing experience.

      Tusi and his gardening gang

      Tusi and his gardening gang

    • 12pm Crayfish delivery from Thomas and Florence.DSC01022-resized
    • As an aside we have hardly had to buy anything so far in the Solomons. We’ve traded everything imaginable. Today it was couple of old magazines for a dozen sweet potato, bananas and papaya, and a local surf guide. Not bad. In Lata, a memory stick of movies we gave Charles earned us sweet potato, limes, oranges, lemon leaf (for tea), and lettuce. Exercise books have been a hit with the kids who bring us coconut, cucumber, and guava in exchange. Possibly our worst trade has been guitar strings for beans, but that guy was super nice.

    Typical house

    Typical sailing canoe

    Typical sailing canoe

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    Beetle nut chewing session at Margarets house

    Beetle nut chewing session at Margarets house

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    Cousins

    Cousins

    Cute

    Cute

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  • The story of Margaret and Titus

    As we were sailing to Kala bay with our new friend Titus he told us the story of how he met his wife…

    Titus was based in Honiara, working on a fishing boat. On his day-off he was traveling on a congested local bus up the coast. Amidst the crowded bus he spotted Margaret and her companions a couple of rows back. He recognised they were also from the Santa Cruz Islands. They started chatting, talking about the villages they had left behind for work in Honiara. They said goodbye as they got off the bus. And that was that.

    Later that day Titus was at the market. He’d bought some fruit and was sitting on a grass area behind the market feasting on the fruit. Margaret approached, and gave him some bananas. She asked if he was single. He said he already had a girlfriend from another island.
    She asked, “Why do you want to be with that girl who is all the way in Malaita?” He considered this, and phoned his father to discuss the matter. His father was happy for him to marry Margaret as they had mutual friends and knew some of Margaret’s family. So that was that.

    3000 Solomon Islands Dollars was the agreed price. Dudley (Titus’ father) raised the money with the help of others in their village and gave the amount to Margaret’s family. It took some time to raise the money but those who contributed would also have any future children named after them.

    Here’s a picture of Titus, Margaret, Shonta, Lawrence, Elton and baby .

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  • Saint James Day celebrations, Graciosa Bay

    Sunday marked Saint James day in the Graciosa Bay, and a big celebration was unravelling in the villages to the south of the bay. We’d gone on Saturday for coffee at Paul’s house (our guide from our first day in Lata). Paul and his friend Dudley told us that we were very welcome to attend the ‘feasting’ the following day. As we walked through the village the smell of sweet potato permeated out of the native style houses through their woven walls. DSC00459_rsChildren chased chickens to be killed for the feast and teenage boys put their muscles into squeezing coconut oil out the flesh to form the basis of the local dishes.DSC00483_rs

    DSC00479_rsLured by the chance to experience some culture and Solomon’s cuisine we gratefully accepted Paul’s invitation. Embarrassingly by virtue of being the only white New Zealanders in town Robin and I found ourselves mentioned in every speech as well as positioned at the head table for the feast, next to the bishop and other dignitaries. DSC00548_rsThe day started at 730am with a two-hour church ceremony – I say ceremony and not service as the whole occasion was a well-executed performance of candle lighting, singing, chanting, sermon and praying. A lady and young boy clothed in red and white regalia distributed smoke over the congregation to add to the atmosphere. The Anglican missionaries seem to have exceled in their conversion of the entire Graciosa bay.DSC00537_rsThe whole community was involved, even the well-dressed kids coming forward for their bread and wine at the end of the service – their frizzy hair somewhat tempered for the occasion. DSC00543_rs

    DSC00545_rsWe emerged from the church slightly sore from the fifteen minutes kneeling on the concrete floor in pidgin English prayer. As we were in the front row it was hard to escape the watchful eye of the bishop!DSC00532_rs

    DSC00487_rsWe crossed a football field leading up to the school where we sat in a large native style classroom for the feast. DSC00534_rsOur plate was packed with a chicken dish, fish curry, sweet pork with spring onions and vegetables as well as baked sweet potato, taro, rice and watermelon to finish. I sat next to a guy who had addressed us with a refreshing ‘Kia Ora mate’. He was the tourism officer and had spent some time in Rotorua doing a tourism management course. Robin sat next to the bishop who was a really down to earth guy who had also spent some time in New Zealand.DSC00551_rsAfter the ‘feasting’ we had to endure speeches from half a dozen members of the community, without fail each of them thanking us for being the first boat to join them on Saint James day.DSC00558_rs I made the mistake of telling someone that I lived near Kohimarama which was where they had a brother church in New Zealand. All of a sudden I found myself on the megaphone having to explain what the ‘village’ of Kohimarama was like. I said that there was also ocean near our village, and a volcano island offshore, but that there were more cars on the road and less people walking. I think they got the gist.DSC00561_rs We got back to the boat about 4pm, full to the brim of feast and Solomon’s culture.

  • Solomons first impressions…

    A girl selling Betel nut in Lata

    A girl selling Betel nut in Lata

    Robin with Dudley and Paul outside Dudleys carving house

    Robin with Dudley and Paul outside Dudleys carving house

    A typical house

    A typical house

    The not so easy to anchor port of Lata

    The not so easy to anchor port of Lata

    Kids of Graciosa Bay

    Kids of Graciosa Bay

    Local style tranpsort

    Local style tranpsort

    Paul with the lunch spread

    Paul with the lunch spread

    Migs and Chris.

    Migs and Chris.

    Paul's carving shed

    Paul’s carving shed

    Not a bad spot for Confederate

    Not a bad spot for Confederate

    Most of the island covered like this

    Most of the island covered like this

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    At the St James day celebrations

    At the St James day celebrations

    Em fella guys

    Em fella guys

    Kids in dugout canoes

    Kids in dugout canoes

  • Sailing – Marshall Islands to Solomons – A summary

    Lows

    • Passing through two convergence zones – the ITCZ and the SPCZ meaning constant black clouds on the horizon, reefing sails, and then waiting for the 30-35 knot squalls to hit. Most of these passed within half an hour but the constant reefing of sails was tiring, and it meant we had to sail conservatively at night. We made only 100nm per day while on average in the trades Confederate prefers 120nm/day.DSC00216
    • 12 days of constant movement makes it oh so nice to be still again.DSC00425
    • We were tacking away from our galley the whole trip which made cooking near on impossible. In rougher weather we made do with potatoes for dinner just because it was easy.

    Highs

    • Crossing the equator for the second time with stars sprinkled above us. Pulling the bimini roof off the cockpit so we could spot shooting stars as we passed the invisible 0 degree longitude line and threw some wine to Neptune.DSC00306
    • About an hour after crossing the equator we were welcomed into the southern hemisphere by a large pod of dolphins illuminated under the moonlight. A magical feeling crept from the bow to the stern of confederate as the dolphins literally danced around the boat for about an hour. Incredible. Our only other visitors were the occasional bird trying to land on our mast.DSC00317DSC00316
    • Moon rises which can only be described as a fire alight on the horizon and could compete with the best sunsets of the passage..DSC00249
    • 2 days of light winds north of the equator – even though we were motoring the sea was like a lake and the conditions extremely comfortable for an ocean passage.DSC00276
    • Fish! Our first Mahi Mahi since we left the Marshalls in Feb!Screen Shot 2014-07-28 at 9.00.01 am
    • Seeing one of the cone shaped duff islands, our first glimpse of land in 12 days. Always good to know that the GPS is doing it’s thing. And then a day later pulling into the Graciosa Bay and getting our first glimpse of life in the Solomons..DSC00366
    • Arriving in Lata to friendly people and surprisingly friendly officials. Ye ha we made it!