Vanuatu to Solomon Islands ( Leg 22)

November 2023

Claudia, Michael and Katie were picked up from the beach in front of the Beachfront Resort in Luganville just after 10am on Wednesday 1st and once luggage had been taken to cabins and a short and sweet orientation was given (reorientation for Mike and Claudia for whom this is their 3rd time crewing with us), we were all back ashore to provision. Before the main shop commenced, we had a great local meal at a very small restaurant with just one table, amongst several others of the same size. This island is renowned for breeding and raising cattle and so the steak was fresh, tasty and very tender. Shopping in small stores always seems like a major task, locating items and looking for things that aren’t necessarily where they should logically be, but we got there in the end (mostly). Some things still needed to be bought the next day by Ally and Shawn and they also visited Immigration, the Port Authority and Customs, to clear out of Vanuatu in preparation for the sail up to the Solomon Islands. Katie remained onboard and Claudia and Mike went on a full days outing to walk, climb, clamber their way up to the Millennium Caves. Early on the 3rd, we sailed around to an anchorage closer to Matevulu Blue Hole so that Claudia, Michael and Katie could visit and enjoy it. Claudia and Michael took the second dinghy and Katie took the kayak and Shawn and Ally went with them up the river to the shallow area that was tricky to pass through, to help and advise them. Having driven the second dinghy the last time we visited, Ally didn’t have the opportunity to take photos of this pretty area and so this time she was able to do just that and on the way back out, the outboard was turned off so that we could drift and listen to the gorgeous sounds of nature – birds calling, cicadas singing, leaving rustling and water lapping. Our three crew had a fabulous afternoon, sharing the pool with a group of young ladies from the nearby boarding school. We had another early morning the next day so that we could get to our last stop in Vanuatu, Champagne Beach. We enjoyed time snorkelling on the reef behind us and the whole area was very pretty with the sun shining on the turquoise water.

There was another early start on November 5^th, this time for our 2 night sail to the Solomon Islands. The first night was comfortable and peaceful but the second night and on into the 3^rd day was more choppy and windy with lots of cloud cover and rain around. As we approached the Shaw Point anchorage within Graciosa Bay, Nendo Island mid afternoon on the 7^th, we attempted to make contact with the authorities via VHF radio to no avail. It was raining as the anchor went down and after a beer together, Ally decided to go for a shower and Claudia for a rest as we believed we wouldn’t be cleared in today due to the time of day and the fact that the authorities are based in Lata, on the other side of this large bay. However, Ally had barely finished her shower before Shawn called her to say Customs and Immigration had arrived – they had seen us coming in. They were pleasant guys who told us that the Health Officer who should board first to give clearance to enter was off island so they went ahead with their formalities and officially cleared us in and welcomed us to the Solomon Islands. This was the second time officials coming to the boat have been chewing on betel nut as they work…no objections from us as it appears to give them a very laid back attitude. It is used in many areas of Asia and the Pacific and has a narcotic effect but long term use of betel nut carries serious health risks, the most visible one being red, brown or even black teeth, which unfortunately spoils an otherwise wonderful, welcoming smile. It always feels so good to be legally cleared into a new country after arrival – time to relax and enjoy new surroundings and cultures. After several early starts and the overnight sailing, we didn’t rush to get ready for our trip ashore the following morning. We took the dinghy across the bay to visit the main town of Lata which is the administrative centre for this province, Temotu, hoping to be able to purchase SIM cards and data. We arrived by the small main dock with a ship wreck to one side and pulled the dinghy up onto the rather grim, garbage filled beach, but were greeted with smiles by the large number of locals that were gathered there for a very small market. Folks were keen to help and chat when we asked for directions and after taking a short cut up a steep muddy and stony area, we found the main road and the telecom centre where Sim cards and data were sorted out. Lata is a simple town, but it does have concrete roads, a small hospital and a prison! We decided to walk some more and as we headed back to the dock area the heavens opened and I don’t mean a little drizzle, I mean a total deluge! We were all getting soaked and as we walked by one building, we were invited to take shelter to let the weather pass. We spent half an hour or so talking to a couple of guys who told us we were sitting on the veranda of the local government offices and they were local politicians. It was interesting to talk to them about the islands and local politics and one guy was particularly taken with Katie and her heritage, insisting on having a photo taken with her 🙂 It became evident that the rain was not going to go away ( the kids were having a great time playing in it and the expanding muddy puddles) and so we braced ourselves to just get back to the dinghy. The slope we had climbed before was now a small river as we went back down and by the time we got back to the dinghy we were all absolutely wringing wet through and the dinghy filled with rain water. The 10 minute dinghy ride back across the bay was done virtually blind as visibility was so poor, but somehow Shawn managed to get us back to Imagination without issue ( he must have a homing device!). We all stripped down to swimwear/undies in the cockpit before heading indoors for warm showers and hot drinks.

We were hoping to spend at least another day here, but when we got up on the 9^th, the rain continued and the weather forecast showed a developing system to the East that would take all the wind away and so we took the anchor up at around 2pm. Once out of the bay, we discovered that the forecast for the wind had been very wrong and the stronger winds meant large, choppy waves making it rather uncomfortable sailing. The only positive was that the predicted 2 night sail only took us around 27 hours, matching a previous record for the number of nautical miles we have covered in 24hours. We were all very happy to arrive in Santa Ana a day ahead of schedule and enjoyed the calm, protected anchorage. Almost as soon as the anchor was down, we had kids coming over to us in their dug out canoes trading their papaya, bananas and sweet potatoes for lollypops, rice and fishing gear. There is only one other boat here that we first came across in Nendo, and the island only gets a few yachts here each year. The chief encourages the kids to trade with the yachts rather than just asking for things and it creates a feeling of acceptance into the community for the yachties. After a good night’s sleep, we awoke to the throng of children around the boat again, all wanting to trade but by now we were running short of ideas so Shawn and Ally made a few bags of popcorn and they all went away happy and we had a glut of papaya! We then went ashore to Gupuna Village to introduce ourselves to Chief John and were greeted on the beach by the very excited children who escorted us to where we would find their Chief. We presented him with a bag of goodies which he was thankful for and he welcomed us to Santa Ana and told us were free to snorkel, swim and explore as we wanted to. He talked to us about his people and island and was interested in where we were all from, particularly Claudia and Michael as there is one family on the island who are descendants of German adventurer, Heinrich Kuper, who arrived there in 1912 and married a local lady with whom he had 3 sons. Some of the kids then escorted us to a fresh water lake where allegedly a lone croc resides, but we didn’t see him during our 20 minute visit there.

On the morning of the 12^th ( Tues), we all went ashore again where we met up with Chief John’s son and his friend who were going to guide us over to the other side of the island to Nategera where there was an ancient Custom House. These are places were the village men gather to talk, make plans, where ceremonies are performed and where the remains of chiefs and elders are kept as well as other artefacts. There are many ancient protocols that are followed and, as women, Ally, Claudia and Katie were not allowed to enter the building, but instead could take photos from outside while Shawn and Michael were shown around and had things explained by the village chief. The carved posts outside the house represent spirits who are believed to combine the abilities of humans with those of birds, fish, crocodiles, turtles and other animals. Many Custom Houses were destroyed by missionaries when they arrived in these islands in the early 1900’s. On the way back to Gupuna Village, we were called across by an elderly gentleman who spoke very little English. He was a wood carver and he wanted to show us his handiwork so we sat in his workshop while he bought out the bowls and traditional flying fish handline handles. He was so proud of his work and so we did buy a couple of things from him. We later learned from Chief John that he is known as “Old man Simeon”. After lunch, Shawn, Ally and Katie went snorkelling for about an hour and saw various species of Anenomefish ( but not Nemo!), Blackpatch Triggerfish and a yellow sea slug.

Monday 13^th, the weather wasn’t great and there was a fair bit of rain around so it was a relaxed day spent mostly onboard and on the 14^th, we were up and away by 05.20 for the full days sail to a small unhinhabited island. We arrived at Malaulano after having motorsailed the full 11 hours and 40 minutes on another cloudy/rainy day. After what seemed like forever we had a day full of sunshine on the 15^th! Ally and Michael remained on board while everyone else went ashore to explore and to do some snorkelling. The anchor was up again at 16.40 for an overnight motorsail (again) to a cut between Marapa Island and Tavanipupu Island off the East coast of mainland, Guadalcanal and arrived by midday on the 16^th. We were very quickly visited by Joe on his canoe. We had read blogs that mentioned Joe, saying that he was greedy when it came to trading, but he was very welcoming and pleasant and didn’t want to trade anything. He bought us his Visiting Yacht Book and asked us to write in it which we duly did. It’s a very pretty area and despite reading that thefts occurred on yachts here, we were prepared and took everything indoors when we went to bed. Joe had also warned us to take things in to prevent anything from being stolen – he said sometimes “people come from the mainland to steal from yachts”. We appreciated his honesty and after a thankfully uneventful night we went ashore to his small family settlement on Marapa the following morning where he proudly showed us around his land and told us a little of the way of life here. He told us that he was trying to set up a system to get the water from the collection tanks to the homes and so a little later, we returned to him briefly to give him 6×6 metre lengths of water pipe we had onboard to use as makeshift sail batons, but they were now surplus to our requirements. Afterwards, we went snorkelling off of the jetty of Tavanipupu Island and were in the warm, shallow water for over an hour looking at the variety of life on the reefy outcrops. After lunch, Ally and Shawn went for a walk around Tavanipupu Island ( the other 3 had already visited yesterday afternoon). This is a very small resort island where there are just a handful of local homes and 7 guest cabins. Apparently, Prince William and Kate stayed here in 2012 when they toured the area. It is currently closed due to a tribal dispute over land and money meaning the local airstrip is closed but an agreement has very recently been signed which means early next year, the place will reopen again. Based on our walk around, there is a lot of work to be done before then, but we could see it’s potential – it is in a gorgeous spot! Whilst we wandered, we saw Cockatoo’s, orchids and a colourful Spiny-backed Orb-weaver spider. Strange but gorgeous at the same time.

At 5am on Saturday, Shawn and Ally were woken by a hand reaching in through their side hatch. Shawn shouted and he and Ally got up, threw some clothes on and went upstairs. By the time they got outside with a torch, the culprits ( we believe there were 2) had disappeared, which could only mean one thing – they had gone ashore to either Marapa or Tavanipupu. We found that a can of deodorant had been taken, as well as a t-shirt and although we had left the cockpit light on to deter anyone from coming onboard, a spinnaker line had also been cut (which meant they had a knife!) and a length of rope taken. As soon as breakfast was done, Shawn and Ally went ashore to speak to Joe whose behaviour and reaction to our news was, in our opinion, a little suspicious. He knew what had been taken before we finished telling him, he laughed inappropriately and even though he admitted that he knew who the culprits were, he seemed unwilling to do anything about it. He went on to say that most times, he was able to retrieve stolen items after boats had left and hand them to the police to be returned to the boats when they clear out of the country. That in itself is suspicious that he can retreive items, but are things really handed in and returned?? We’ll never know, I guess, but we did tell him that stealing was one thing, cutting ropes was another and could render a yacht “unsailable”, so other yachts hearing about that would definitely not want to take the risk of visiting that area. And, no wander he wants yachts to sign his visitor book as soon as the anchor is down, rather than when they are about to leave! We didn’t discuss our suspicions with him, but after going across to another small island for some more gorgeous snorkelling, we left that evening, 24hours early without telling him. We’d rather have a sleepless night sailing to a safer destination than a sleepless night waiting for something else to be stolen or damaged….we had discovered later that Katie had also had a toiletry bag taken from the back of her bathroom door, meaning the thief had come on board and reached down through the small top hatch, craftily lifting a towel out of the way and then putting it back!

We arrived at Rodrick Bay Hideaway after a calm, warm and mostly starry night motorsail and Joseph was there when we got there to welcome us and help us onto a mooring buoy at 10.45 on Sunday 19th. Wow, this place is gorgeous and we immediately felt safe and cared for. We went ashore after lunch and were told Chief John ( yes, another one) was busy with church activities and so his son, Joseph, took us on a walking tour through the settlement and across to the “big village” where we had a look around the school. It was a little heart-breaking to see the conditions that the school kids ( from ages 4/5 to 22/23 years) and their teachers have to deal with. The classrooms for the younger kids had no furniture at all and the floor was very dusty and dirty, and the rooms for older kids had a few old wooden desks. Most blackboards had holes in them…..but they just work around them. Soon after we got back onboard late afternoon, Chief John and Joseph came over and came onboard. John apologised for not being around for our arrival and he proceeded to present each one of us with a flower behind the ear and a coconut adorned with red hibiscus, something he does for all crew of visiting yachts! He was very sad to hear of our experience in Marapa and he assured us that he takes great pride in keeping everyone happy, comfortable and safe and he and his family do watches overnight to make sure all is well. What a wonderful man! He and Joseph enjoyed a “dark and stormy” cocktail that they had never had before and they left at around 6.45pm.

The following morning, we went snorkelling and discovered a gorgeous, healthy reef in beautifully warm waters and amongst many other reef fish, Ally finally got to observe Clown Anenomefish! So happy – they are almost unreal as they are so brightly coloured. Snorkelling again in the afternoon in the shallows near the mangroves, we came across several families of Clown Anenomefish in just a few feet of water and they weren’t overly concerned about us being there so we got some fabulous photos. For both snorkels we were in the water for over an hour and could have stayed longer – there was so much to see with all the different species of corals, sponges, anenomes, fish, sea stars etc. On Tuesday 21^st, everyone except Ally went for a walk up to a viewpoint with Chief John which was enjoyed by all. Ally prepared food to take ashore for a BBQ that afternoon as John had said we could use his beach. We went across at around 2pm and were closely watched by the children and other locals as we set everything up. Several helped to gather wood and Katherine, one of Chief John’s daughters, bought some fire embers across from their cooking hut and lit our fire for us. Shawn taught some of the children how to play Boules/Petonque/Bocce ( whatever you want to call it) and they enjoyed competing against each other. We gave them all a cold cup of juice afterwards and they played happily in the sand and some even jigged along to the music we were playing too. The one and only small cruise ship belonging to the Le Ponant company that comes here each year arrived late morning and thankfully, they didn’t invade Chief John’s area but they visited another area further along near the wreck of another cruise ship, World Discoverer, for their tours etc. However, the ship anchored right in front of Chief John’s settlement and as such, should pay to be there and to take their guests snorkelling/diving on his reef. As in other countries in the Pacific, even beaches and reefs “belong” to a village and permission needs to be given by the Chief and potentially fees paid in order to use and enjoy them. The guy down the coast receives money for entertaining the many visitors but John gets nothing and so Shawn went with him across to to ship to talk to the Captain and Tour Manager. Both were very pleasant and understanding and agreed they would talk to their “ bosses” about his fee for future visits, but in the mean time, they paid him a nice sum of money from the “ just in case kitty” both for anchoring and diving the reef. Chief John came away happy and thankful to Shawn for going across with him. Ally had deliberately made way too much pasta salad and sliced and buttered 3 baguettes so that while we were tucking into our burgers all of John’s extended family had a bowl full of pasta with bread which went down very well. Once we had finished and packed up, John invited us to an area that had been decorated with flowers where he had arranged for some of the villagers to do some Custom Dances for us. It was so lovely – the ladies went first with the youngest group member and then the boys had their turn. When they had finished, they all shook our hands and we thanked everyone before saying our goodbyes for the evening. Just as an aside, the cruise ship World Discoverer mentioned above, was built in Germany in the 1970’s, but it hit a reef in nearby Sandfly Passage in 2000. A ferry was sent out to rescue all the passengers and the Captain deliberately ran the ship aground in Roderick Bay, to enable crew to get off before it sank and it has remained there ever since. Anything of value or use was removed by locals and salvage was impossible during that time of civil unrest. Wednesday ( 22^nd), our final day here, was very relaxed with some remaining on board and others going snorkelling. Late afternoon Chief John came across with a gorgeous fresh flower display for our dinner table and he of course, enjoyed another rum drink with us before he left just as it was getting dark. After a fabulous few days spent in the generous hospitality of these people who wanted nothing in return, we left a donation toward the building of a couple eco lodges and exercise books and pencils for the school before saying our goodbyes.

We had agreed to take several villagers across to the mainland, Guadalcanal, the next day and so very early, Patrice (and her baby boy), Beatrice and Katherine came on board with containers full of edible seaweed to take and sell in the capital, Honiara. We arrived by lunchtime after a rather bumpy ride and Shawn took the ladies and baby ashore with their wares immediately. During the afternoon, we went across to a café that also has accommodation, where we met the owner, Fred, a thoroughly nice Fijian guy, who gave us lots of local information. We told him we were having issues with our watermaker and he told us where we might be able to find parts but also said he may have something that we could use if necessary. We walked through town looking at various shops trying to find what we needed and then went for our first local beer before meeting up with the others. The next morning, Shawn and Ally went ashore again to do formalities whilst the others remained on board to clean their cabins. We had to visit Immigration for a visa extension as we were all only given 30 days on arrival and we were left a little confused as they gave Claudia and Michael until the end of March immediately, but Shawn and Ally were told they would have to apply and pay for the extra time. When we showed the Immigration Officer the government website that stated we should get 3 months free, he flippantly said things had changed but was unable to back it up with dates or printed evidence, so we came away with application forms with the intention of doing more research before filling them in. Once the majority of the cleaning was done on board, we all went for a great lunch at Fred’s café. Again, the afternoon was spent trying to find watermaker parts, but Fred came to the rescue and gave us a low pressure pump he no longer uses on his property. He didn’t know if it worked or not, but said we could keep it if we could get it going. Long story short, Shawn did get the pump working but it needed another couple of parts adding to it and so Fred gave us another one with all the added extras!! It’s a little large, but it works well and will hopefully last a lot longer than the smaller ones we have been using. Claudia and Michael were picked up by speedboat at 10am on the 25^th to return to Roderick Bay where they are staying for the next few days before they return to us next month. Katie stayed with us an extra night as her flight out was on the 26^th and there was no accommodation within Honiara as the Pacific Games are currently being held here. The town centre is built up and absolutely heaving with people and cars. Even without the games there are around 93000 people living here. It’s hot and humid and the anchorage becomes a little rolly when the wind changes for a few hours in the afternoon to an onshore breeze. This also creates heavy black clouds over the hills and we have seen lightning and heard thunder most days, but didn’t get any of the rain. Guadalcanal saw a lot of action during World War II and was a major turning point in preventing the further expansion of Japanese in the Pacific. We were hoping to be able to explore some of it and even return to Roderick Bay for a few days but unfortunately the watermaker issues, as well as alternator problems, a minor washing machine issue that meant we had to take the whole door panel off and empty half the cupboard, and a lack of wind have kept us very busy and definitely unable to sail anywhere. We discovered after assistance from the Tourist Office and a visit to the Deputy British Commissioner ( who actually was no help whatsoever ), that even though we are part of the Commonwealth and King Charles is head of state here, the UK has no Immigration reciprocal agreement with the Solomon Islands (since Brexit). As a result, we have applied and paid for our visa extension. It’s been a busy, hot, sticky, frustrating week.

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