January 2002 Solomon Islands - Rendova Harbour

We left Liapari bound for Rendova Harbour.  Toobara had told us there was to be a celebration there to mark the start of the year for the Mother's Union - a support group of the church.  There was to be singing, panpipes and drums so we thought it would be worth the effort to get there.  It was a long day for us, just on 40 miles, with the pressure to arrive with plenty of daylight to find our way into an unknown harbour we motor sailed to average over 7 knots for the trip. As we approached the entrance Toobara appeared in the distance and led us into a snug little bay.  It was great to catch up with them as it was a month since we'd last met.

Edward, the local 'public relations officer', came out to visit us and gave us the run down on the weekends activities.  The next day he came back with a 3 crayfish for us and invited the girls to come and play in the village. They had a good time and Liz started preparing our own little feast.  First-up crayfish around lunchtime then roast pork and vegetables for afternoon tea and apple crumble with cream for dinner.  The only way to have a big meal in the tropics - spread it out over seven or eight hours!



 We went ashore at 7pm and went to a church service to mark the start of the weekend.  After that we had some food with the visitors that had come from Noro and the priest.

 A few songs on the drums and panpipes were played and then we settled down and watched three dramas.  These were staged in a large square marked out by newly constructed fences and gateways, decorated with flags.  Each play or drama had a biblical theme and was excellent in the effort by the players, good humour and expression.  Even without a knowledge of Pidgin we could get the general gist of the stories and enjoyed them immensely.  After this there were several dances, then pan-pipes and drums were played and a general 'dance' ensued.  We all got up and had a dance - except for Courtney & Anna who were fast asleep on a mat.  A short rain shower sent us scurrying to the nearest house and then we decided it was time to go.  We got back to the boat at 2:30am.

We slept in the next day and missed the morning service.  Edward came out to chase us up for the feast that was to start at Noon.  We got in there and found several long rows of ferns laid criss-cross to form a raised table with large fronds laid on top as a tablecloth.  Everyone was busy either spreading the food out or fanning to keep the flies away.  We sat down to a lovely meal of pig, tuna, rice and sweet potatoes.


After this we chatted away with the villagers, and then the area was cleared with the drums and pan-pipes set up. What followed reminded us of a Christmas concert of a dance academy (with a tropical flavour).  The dances were obviously the choice of each group.  There were Polynesian dances style, done by women we assume of Gilbertese descent, children doing traditional and church dances and teenage boys doing rap-style dances.  Once again the celebrations finished with drums, panpipes and dancing.







The visitors left with a huge cheery farewell. We then retired to the boat for a good rest. A truly memorable weekend!

During the week we went for a snorkel on the outer reef with Dennis & Barbara on a lovely coral patch. On another day we went for a walk to the nearby river where the villagers wash and clean.  It was a long walk along a road formed recently by a logging bulldozer and then along a path into their gardens which looked excellent and the soil very rich.  The river was more of a fast flowing creek but the water was deep and cool and very enjoyable to swim in. On the way back we stopped to visit the women who were downstream washing the vegetable collected from the gardens.



On Saturday we were organised by Edward to take a group of boys to an island in the harbour, clean the hull of the boat, and and have a picnic. I was unsure about this because the number of people was unclear,  how safe the anchorage was and generally felt as if we were being manipulated.  We came alongside the jetty used for copra loading and there they stood, pretty well the whole village.  With a decision that once the cabin top was full of people we would take no more we loaded up.  Only the boys from the village came aboard and with just over 30 aboard we moved away.  The island was a lovely little sand island and we found a sand patch close to the shore and deep enough.  We ferried  everyone ashore and the youngest ones played, while the older ones set off either spear fishing or setting up the picnic.  Courtney and Anna swam with the boys while some of the older ones set to with brushes and sponges and cleaned the waterline and top sides of the boat.  The little ones 'attacked' the little boat and in a fashion it ended up cleaner than before with kids having a ball.

The spear fisherman had caught about forty little reef fish.  These were placed on a pile of stones that had been laid on a hot fire.  The fish were cooked whole this way.  Another fire had sweet potato and cassava on the boil.  Once it all was ready we had a meal laid out the same way as the feast last weekend. After this we loaded everyone back on and made our way to the village and then re-anchored in the bay.




Sunday started with Liz and I going to the church service and then in the midday sun we went for a snorkel to find the WWII plane that was in the entrance bay that we were anchored in.  We couldn't see the plane from the surface, but once guided to the spot and duck diving down a few metres we could see it.  It was a two seat Dauntless bomber (apparently) and was intact.  It was in 12 metres of water and so it was too deep to free-dive to.  Liz and I were able to dive down just above it and see it very clearly.

On Monday Liz went to the village to show the ladies how to make shorts.  Hand driven sewing machines are common but patterns are not available.  They just use the machines  make very basic items.  She copied a pattern on to heavy paper and then took this in.  The ladies were shy at first but thanks to the enthusiasm of an older lady, Georgina, all had turns at copying the pattern onto newspaper, pinned it onto the material and cut it out.  They then sewed up two pairs and hopefully they have been left with enough knowledge to continue on.

January 2002 - Solomon Islands - Gizo & Liapari

This page starts with us at Gizo (again!) and it's two days til Courtney's Birthday (Jan 11).   The  plan was to move on to Liapari for her birthday but then we found that traditional dancing to be held at the Gizo Hotel.  She made to the decision for us to stay an extra day and then sail to Liapari on her birthday, with a cake to follow the next day.  Sailing or moving the boat on birthdays is generally not accepted practice.

Instead of sitting in Gizo harbour for the day we went out and anchored at Nusa Mbaruku at the end of the airport.  We went down the side of the island in the dinghy and visited the ICALM research  centre.  This centre looks at developing technologies for Pacific islanders that utilises the resources in their waters in a sustainable way.  Projects like clam farming, fish farming, collecting small fish for aquariums are undertaken.  We went for a snorkel in one of the clam enclosures - quite a sight with hundreds of large clams on the bottom.

We then had a long drift snorkel back to the boat and then made our way back to Gizo to go see the dancing

This was a great choice.  The dancing was done by a Gilbertese group from the village across Gizo harbour.  The Gilbertese are Polynesian and are descendants of people who came from the Gilbert Islands (Kiribati) during the sixties.  Their dancing was great with the youngest starting out doing simple forms of their dances.  Progressively older children had their turn and the show finished with the older ones going really fast and really dancing up a storm!.  For a birthday treat they made Courtney a headdress, and sung ten bars of happy birthday.- one for each year.  We very much enjoyed the evening.



We left the next day for Liapari.  This is a small privately owned island .  Noel and Rosie have a business here making aluminium boats and general engineering  workshop. We anchored in the lagoon after crossing through the small gap in the reef created during the war.  It is only 15 metres wide and 3 metres deep and as we passed the narrow section the tendency was to stand up straight and hold your breath to help the boat through.  Here we also met Richard, his wife Christine and their  ten year old daughter, Anne-Maree.   Richard was overseeing a re-fit on two live aboard dive boats - the Spirit of Solomons and Bilikiki.  These boats are truly up-market compared to our way of life.  The Bilikiki has 10 cabins with ensuites and is air-conditioned with nice lounges areas, decks, and a specially fitted out diving area on the stern.  They do a 14 day cruise out of Honiara and is largely booked out by American dive operators. They charge US$300 per person per day and include all meals and dives.  They do slide developing on board as many of the passengers are professional photographers or keen amateurs.

We had dinner aboard one night and had a lovely feed of roast pork and the girls were especially thrilled with the double  chocolate ice cream.  Over dinner Richard enthralled us  with his stories of his involvement in the Bougainville war.  Apparently NZ's 60 Minutes did a story on him entitled 'Kiwi Rambo'.  During our visits to the boats we were able to stock up on a few books to read as the boats both have overloaded libraries of books left behind by passengers.  We were also able to borrow some videos and 'help Richard out' by taking some gourmet cheeses that were about to go out of date.

With Noel's workshop, Liapari is the place to get things fixed.  The top bearing of our anchor winch had collapsed and Noel and Richard were able to help me get the bearing out and then replaced, with the new bearing eventually coming from Australia.  Noel is real speed freak, and in his shed he has a jet ski and a speed boat that looked like a dish with a massive motor in it.  Rosie's niece Debbie who runs the office took Courtney for a spin on the jet ski.

There are roads around the small island and the girls have been able to get their bikes out and go bike riding.  Some the local kids have bikes and they have been having a ball riding around, swimming and fishing. A huge school of herring sat under the jetty or in the shade of the dive boats.  They drop a treble hook (no bait) into the school and then a quick jerk and a fish is hooked.  One afternoon from the deck of the dive boats we watched some large trevally charging into the school to catch a fish. Really impressive!

Courtney's birthday went well and a Gameboy game of Harry Potter was a hit.  A close second was Care of the Australian Horse and Pony - a book we picked up in a second hand store in Gizo.  There was a horse there on  Liapari, and Courtney and Anna have enjoyed giving it a biscuit and a pat each day.

After a week we went back to Gizo (after struggling to lift the anchor up by hand!) to do a refresher dive course.  Liz and I hadn't been diving for over 13 years and we wanted to do some dives here, so we thought a refresher course would be a good idea.  Kathy (Dive Solomon Charters, in the Gizo Hotel) took us out to Kennedy Island, and in the shallows  we went through all the basics and emergency procedures.  We both coped well and then in the afternoon we went for a dive along the drop off wall of the island.  We swam along the wall at around 20 metres and marvelled at the huge coral fans that protrude out and the hundreds of fish around us. We now look forward to more dives but have to watch the budget as this is not a cheap activity.

We lined up to do a night dive in Gizo Harbour but the rain set in for a few days which made this impractical.  We sat out some strong winds in Gizo for a few more days before heading back to Liapari.  When anchoring in Gizo we tied a line with a buoy to the anchor and this made pulling up the anchor and chain up much easier - but still too much like hard work.  We arrived in Liapari after a smooth trip and anchored just in time as a nasty squall blew over.  One of the men who worked there, Johnson, wanted to buy Courtney's bicycle for his son.  After agreement with Courtney, a deal was done and the bike was sold. Nice to off-load something for once.  The anchor winch and bearing went in OK and we were on our way again.