Tuesday saw us leaving Rendova harbour and bound for Mburuku which was around the top of the island only an hour or so away. This was a very different anchorage with us anchored smack in the middle of the village with houses on all sides. All the time we were there kids in canoes hovering around and the noise of the village a constant background. We had visits from carvers and bought a few things and Liz picked up several things at the trade store.Next morning the deck was almost black with dead flying ants. Time to go. We left early as we had a long trip to Matikuri in Nono Lagoon. This is part of the Marovo Lagoon area, and has a vast collection of islands in relatively shallow waters surrounding Vanguna and New Georgia Islands. It was dead calm so motoring was the only choice. Ten miles out we picked up a barracuda on the lure, with two large sharks circling while we pulled it in.. We motored on and crossed the Hele Bar into the lagoon without any dramas. Another few miles had us anchored at Matikuri Island in a very snug little bay on the North Eastern side.
There is a small leaf house ran by Jill and Benjamin here, with three huts and a main restaurant hut. All built out over the water with fabulous views and lovely orchid rich gardens along the tracks linking the huts. They had three guests for the night and we had dinner there with them. A lovely feed of crayfish and fish. The guests were a lady, Kate, who was the leader of the Peace Monitoring group in Honiara, and her parents. She was very interesting to talk to about the political struggles in Honiara.
The next day was overcast and very windy. The girls had a big day on the schoolwork and Col went trolling and returned with a big smile and a lovely coral trout and a story about his battle with a 1.5 metre black tip reef shark, being towed away as he reeled it in..
The weather set in really foul for the next week with lots of rain and wind in the 20-30 knot region. Strong winds spoilt our access to the choice snorkelling locations and sleep was broken by the chain catching and slipping on the coral. Not a perfect week in paradise. We went for a walk along the length of the island to find that the island thinned to only a few metres wide in places. Jill told us later that the name Matikuri means thin piece of island.
Even though the weather hadn't improved much we decided to move on to Seghe only six miles away. In the overcast conditions we had difficulty finding a site to anchor as the bottom seemed to undulate meaning coral heads that can snag the anchor chain. Once anchored we went ashore in search of shops. We found a small store with nothing much and after a long walk in the rain we found the main store - there are no 'Coke' signs or similar to show that a shop is a shop and not someone's house or workshop here. We got most things we needed but not the milk powder. No more Weet Bix for breakfast until some is sourced!
Seghe has an airstrip which is the air-link for Morovo Lagoon. The strip is huge being wide and long and apparently built by the Americans in WWII. We stayed for a few days until the passenger ship, Tomoko, called in which meant a good vegetable market would be on the morning. With that done we moved westward to Mbareho on the promise of a night crocodile spotting trip. We arrived on a Saturday which made for a quiet welcome as the village is Seventh Day Adventist.
After dark we had a few visitors as their Sabbath day was then finished. We met up with Hendrick who we first met at Seghe. Hendrick organised for the local carvers to set up their wares at a hall in the village. This happened the next day and while the number of carvers weren't that many it certainly saved us the time of having individual visits. The next item was a meeting with John Davis the local tour guide to take us crocodile spotting that night. We charged up our spotlight (a rechargeable spotlight is a very handy piece of equipment) and set off in Hendricks motor canoe. This was a memorable night and with the light, the eyes of the crocodiles really light up from quite a distance. We paddled up close to several crocs about five feet long. John spotted a baby and hopped out of the canoe and with a quick movement had a metre long crocodile in his hands. We made our way up a river for a while and in the half light of a cloudy moon the forest looked surreal as overhung on each side. Really great fun night.
The next day we visited the school which was very well run. The teachers asked us to tell them of any 'modern' teaching methods as they felt they were old-fashioned. Elizabeth explained to them that there teaching methods were really no different than in an Australian or NZ school. Their effort in their teaching was self-evident in the decoration of the classroom with the student's work.
We found a little store that was well equipped and were very happy to be able to buy milk powder (we celebrated by having Weet Bix for dinner). Next visit was to Aldio Peter who does wood-block printing on paper made from banana leaves. Aldio was a nice man and we quite impressed with and we came away with several prints. His machine for pulping the leaves was impressive - a washing machine drum with sharp blades, driven by an exercise bike.
We arranged for the girls to spend the next day with Hendricks's wife Rowena while Elizabeth and I went bushwalking with John Davis. This retraced our track for crocodile spotting and we enjoyed the trip up the same river in the daylight. We started our walk and headed off to a hill about an hour's walk away. On the way John pointed out the various trees and bushes and what their traditional uses are. He showed us traditional glue, soap, and bark for clothing. We also stopped to look at stone walls in the village remains and a sacrifice altar stone. In headhunting days the villages were located in these foothills as this site gave a great view of the lagoon so they could see their enemies approach. on. Interestingly he explained about the system of coast watchers the village would have to warn of approaching enemies. This same system was used against the Japanese during WWII. We stopped for a rest and a snack at a camp overlooking to the lagoon. This camp is used in the Ngali nut season to collect these nuts that we term the 'pacific almond'. At A$2 a kilo they make excellent snacks with evening drinks.
We came back quite exhausted from the effort. As is often the case we payed for this expedition by doing a 'trade'. This time I made a brochure for John describing the services he offered. He was very happy with the results. Each afternoon while we were at Mbareho the girls would go for a swim and paddle with village children. This became a huge event with up to 50 kids playing in the water around the boat, racing each other and upsetting each other's canoe. After a few more days at Mbareho we moved on to Seghe to buy some petrol and a few things. The next day we moved northwards to Mbuinitusu Island. As we approached the islands canoes seemed to madly paddling towards us calling out hello. Obviously the don't get many visitors. We had a chat to Charles and learnt the village was SDA like Mbareho so we knew the next day (Saturday) would be quiet. We had lots of kids in canoes circling the boat until dark. The next morning it was clear and sunny so we decided to move on to Uepi Island. The chart had the area marked as unsurveyed so eyeball navigation was the only tool. 
We took up the coral reef spotting position. Colin sitting up on the first spreaders with the handheld VHF radio and Liz at the wheel. We headed off but not long after the clouds rolled in and the water glassed off, making reef spotting difficult because of the reflection of the clouds. So dead slow we went, and only when the shoals were just ahead we could see them and slowly steer around them. After a long stressful 5 miles we arrived at Uepi Island. There is a resort with western style accommodation and known as a prime diving location. Unfortunately the anchorage is only average without much protection. We went ashore with our snorkelling gear and introduced ourselves to Grant, the manager, and he made us very welcome. The dining/bar area had a wonderful view, situated overlooking the passage and the lagoon's islands in the distance.
Going for a snorkel was a simple matter of walking down the steps of the jetty that fronts the passage. We walked up to the jetty for an amazing view of hundreds of fish swimming around and lots of reef sharks cruising back and forwards. In our snorkelling trips we often see reef sharks cruise past but the idea of stepping into the water while they were only metres away was a different concept. We checked with the staff that the sharks were 'friendly' and away we went. The feed the fish daily and have placed some giant clams near the jetty. Combine that with a fishing ban near the jetty and you have one of the best snorkelling amongst fish and a coral wall that drops shear for 30 metres. The sharks moved off as we entered the water but were almost always in sight.
The next two days we had excellent snorkels and enjoyed being able to relax in on the deck of the resort in comfortable chairs and read some new books from their library. Tegan and Toobara came down the coast and joined us and it was great to meet up with them. It was one month since we had seen Toobara and two since we'd seen Tegan. A few drinks on board Tegan gave us the chance to meet Patti and Gary who had flown out from Canada to spend a month with Janet and Jo. They were great company for us over the next week.We all went in and had dinner at the resort which was a wonderful seafood buffet and lots of talk, drink and conversation put us all in bed at midnight very tired and happy with the night. We stayed a few more day and then had a pleasant sail down the outside of the reef to Kokoana passage and re-joined Tegan and Toobara in the anchorage behind Matui island. This was an easy anchorage here with lots of sand in 7 metres of water. It turned out we needed a good holding bottom as on two days we had strong squalls pass over us. Dennis, Janet and Colin went for a scuba-dive in the passage and saw many large Hump headed Maori Wrasse, large Gorgonian Fans and a few barracuda.
We had a get together on the beach that evening and generally enjoyed each other's company. Tegan left to take Patti and Gary to Seghe to catch a plane and they sailed away into a large squall approaching from the north west. When the squall reached us we had 25-30 knot winds for several hours and the anchorage become very rolly. The anchor held well in the sand and with lots of chain out. Being a small boat (Arends 33) we could see Toobara really see-sawing in the waves. The next morning it had calmed down and, while going ashore to burn rubbish, I noticed Toobara's dinghy wasn't there but assumed Dennis had gone fishing. While on the beach Dennis appeared out of the water with the news the dinghy had disappeared. The rest of the day was spent scouting round the shoreline and the passage searching for the dinghy to no avail. The prevailing wind would have blown it into the nearby beach, so the assumption was that it was stolen.
Over the next few days Toobara went and visited as many villages as possible and alerted the local radio network and shipping lines. All without any luck. One of the carvers from Chemoho, Lulu Warren, was very upset when we told him of the loss. He felt it was stolen as well. We had another night at Matiu with another night of strong winds and decided to move to a more sheltered site. We moved to Cheke near the main island of Vangunu and stayed there for several days. The girls enjoyed getting schoolwork done quickly so they could go and swim with the local kids. Lulu, Dennis, Liz and I went for a great walk, first heading up a river then a short but very steep walk to an excellent lookout. Lulu proved to be a very good guide. He had been to NZ to learn how to run sea kayak tours. The World Heritage Fund (UNESCO funded) had sponsored him and many other people to encourage village level eco-tourism. Many little guest houses around the lagoon were sent up by this group.
I went back up the river for a troll and came back with four mangrove jack, a barracuda and a red snapper. It was great fun as the fish struck and tried hard to run under a log. It was my little "A River Somewhere" experience, trolling along with overhanging branches and the rain teeming down..
Lulu carved beautiful little orbs from sago nuts and we traded for several of these by doing a brochure and flyer for him to place in the various guest houses around the lagoon. We then headed off to Warrita Island where Frank runs a well-stocked store and was the only place we have found that can refill gas bottles instead of exchange. Tegan and Toobara were there so we had another little reunion. The next day was glorious with a clear blue sky and light wind from the north east. Toobara went and collected Lulu and about 15 young men to go out to the islands to search for the dinghy as Lulu suspected it would be hidden in the bush, to be collected later when the coast was clear. With no luck there, Toobara then continued on visiting villages, searching for information about the dinghy. With Tegan, we went to Lumalihe passage and found a lovely anchorage and a great passage to snorkel in.
We then went back to Lulu's village at Chemoho, next to Cheke, to finish his brochure. When he came out he told us how he had found out that Toobara's dinghy was hidden in a house nearby and that most likely the outboard would be in someone's house in the neighbouring village of Mbisuana. We radioed Toobara to come over. The next day Lulu and I went to Mbisuana and spoke to many people in the village and subtly let them know that we knew the dinghy was there and wanted it back. Toobara arrived and we directed them to anchor off Mbisuana, and immediately a man came out and asked for a reward for the dinghy as he had found it. Dennis was very diplomatic but firm and at the end gave him a reward to the value of S$100.
Really this was extortion, the man's story of how he found the dinghy did not fit and Toobara was anchored there only a few days ago and he had the opportunity to return it. With a police force of absolutely no value this was the only way to get the motor and dinghy back.
Still it was a great sight to see Toobara go past us with their dinghy behind them.
