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!

Coordinates – 10 deg 40.363 S, 165 deg 52.053 E

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)
  

  Helping Titus move house

  

  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

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

  Sunset swimming

  

  Canoe kids

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

  Taking the kids out to Confederate

• Visiting the school where Margaret will be teaching kindy.
  

  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

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

  Tusi and his gardening gang

• 12pm Crayfish delivery from Thomas and Florence.
• 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 sailing canoe

Beetle nut chewing session at Margarets house

Cousins

Cute