The things keeping us busy now are…..

1)   Looking after our new crew member who is now 14 months old, Josh Dawson.

AND

2)   In planning an awareness campaign in the Philippines on the issue of PLASTIC IN OUR OCEANS.

Since we know you all care heaps about the ocean I would be hugely grateful if you had a look at my crowd-funding website for this project. It’s such a good cause and I’d love you to share this journey with me! https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/4763-a-quest-to-reduce-ocean-plastic

Love Confederate

Arrival in Davao at Holiday Oceanview Marina. Ye ha

Hazard and Hummock

Panapompom

Panasia

We watched this lunar eclipse from the deck of Confederate anchored in the peaceful Conflict group at Itamarina island, stars sparkling around the moon. We think the moon was covered by the earth for about 6 hours…

Highlights of the passage
* A spectacular light show made by dolphins jumping through phosphorescence. Magic.
* Hearing the election results via SSB radio – good to still feel a bit connected to the outside world!
* Picking up hitchhikers (two birds who decided Confederate looked like nice digs for the night. They stayed clinging onto the deck for about 8 hours).

Lowlights
* Aforementioned hitchhikers were not house-trained and decided to shit the night away, all over the boat. It smelt like a pet shop until it rained the next day.

Looking forward to some kitesurfing and village life in the Louisiades! We have brought a whole lot of supplies for trading recommended to us by friends aboard Sikkim who were here earlier in the year – so hopefully we get a good welcome. More updates from PNG to come.

Update from Hoba Bay – 11 deg 09.2’ S, 152 deg 46.7’ E.

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.

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.

Sailing to Marau

Boys coming to give us coconut

Paddle board splashers

Frequent visitors

Kustom house

Village soccor

Confederate anchored

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.

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.
• 
  

  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

• 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

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

Shooting birds with bows and arrows

Dude

• 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

  

  The kindy

  

  Coconut birds made by the kids

  

  Cute uniforms!

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

Getting an early morning canoe ride

Mass beetle nuts

Migs and Andrew the unofficial chief of the village

The gang waving goodbye after their tour of Confederate

School

Medical center

Typical House Kala Bay