LORELEI'S SAILING ADVENTURES
Welkum to Episode 17 of the Hog Blog.
At the end
of Episode 16 we had cleared out of Kosrae in Micronesia after 4 weeks exploring
the Island and WERE just about to leave….
Clearing out and sailing – Micronesia
We were
visited by Kosrae immigration officials in the afternoon and were stamped out
and required to leave by 6pm.
Just as we
got back to Lorelei and had everything ready to go, Kosrae gave us one more
taste of the volatile weather with a wild storm that came over the mountain and
doused us with a lot of rain.
It hadn’t
let up by dusk, so we pulled the pin on leaving and went to bed.
We left at
6am the following morning.
The route (in
a direct line) was to be 815nm to the first Island in the Solomons and then an
additional 80nm from there to Gizo, the capitol of the Western
Provence .
We motored
down the protected side of Kosrae in the wind shadow of the high hills but once
clear we set sail and took off. We were reaching beam-on in 14 knots and
surprisingly doing over 10!! Turns out we had a 3 knot current assistance that
we held for the first 3 hours. After that the current dropped a little but we
did hold about 1 – 1.5 knots for the whole trip.
We managed
to sail 172nm in the first day (24 hours) and did 160 and 162 for days 2 and
3. We were stoked – 2.5 days into it and
we were already half way to the first landfall in the Solomons.
Slowly the
wind died and by day 4 we were motor sailing and on day 5 it was all sails down
and motoring along.
We sighted
land at 10am on day 5 which was Choiseul
Island
We had to
motor 20nm through a wide pass that came up to 15m depth before dropping back
to 100m and back up to 10m at the other end.
The
trolling through that stretch was amazing and the best we have ever had. There
were fish everywhere busting the surface and birds working the schools all
around. We trolled with 2 rods and barely had time to set the 1st and start on
the 2nd one before the 1st would go screaming off.
We
experimented with different lures and tried to use bigger lures to get big fish
and reduce the smaller fish hook ups but they still went screaming off within a
few minutes with the bigger fish!! At one stage we had a double hook up on large
Dolphin fish which proved to be fun. After 2 hours we had caught 7 different
species and kept the medium sized yummier ones while releasing all the others.
Lisa with her first kept “Solly
Dolly”
Once
through the pass, we set sail again in light winds and flat seas for the 80nm
run up “The Slot”, around the extinct volcanic island of Kolombangarra
The sail
was relaxing under a full moon until about 3am when the storms hit dousing us
with rain and squally winds. We simply dropped sails and motored the final 15nm
to the pass which was next to Panapagha
Island
As we came
into the very narrow entry thru the reef, we came up over a section only 10m
deep and 20m wide. Out of nowhere a big marlin busted through some bait fish
right in front of Lorelei with its head out slashing from side to side. It saw
Lorelei and took off tail walking and jumping clean out of the water right past
us.
We were so
amazed with the show we nearly ran Lorelei onto the reef surrounding Panapagha Island
Overall
the passage was a pleasant one. We were able to sleep well, cook, eat and
clean. Paul even spent 2 mornings polishing the stainless steel!
We
sailed/motored a total of 937nm in 6 days and 3 hours.
Clearing in and the town of Gizo
LET THE
ADVENTURE BEGIN…!!!
By 9am we
were safely anchored in the corner of Gizo Harbour
It was peak
hour with people rowing dugouts and driving longboats to school, the harbour
side markets and work.
It was a sight
to see, a young lady in her Solomons
Islands
After
lunch Paul went into town to clear in and – well – it certainly was an
experience.
First stop
was to customs.
While
waiting for the official to return from lunch, Paul sat on the 2nd
story balcony overlooking the main street and observed the spectacle.
The street
is dirt and the side was covered in mud from the rain. The dogs were scavenging
through the bins and rubbish. There was a great dog fight in the middle of the
road and one was run over by a car. There were young males chewing bettlenut
and wandering aimlessly down the middle of the road and being honked by cars.
Once in
the office, all the paperwork was done using carbon paper to make copies. It
was so old school…
The big
shock was the customs fees which have risen over 300% since 2011.
Immigration
was a crazy experience.
The office
is basically a dilapidated shack surrounded by thick mud that you had to wade
thru to get to the door. There were holes in the mud strewn floor and the
furniture was in a terrible state.
The
official (if you can call him that) had bare feet, dressed in old worn pants
and an old torn & stained T-Shirt. He was glassy eyed, chewing bettlenut at
the desk and spiting out the window. He even gave the wrong paperwork for Paul
to fill out – twice!!
His carbon
paper must have been used a 1000 times and so Paul just wrote the form out 3
times…
Quarantine.
Normally
quarantine come to your boat to have a look at your stores, fridge and rubbish
and take anything they think is an issue.
Well not here. Just go to their office and sign here, here & here,
oh and pay us the fees please!!
When Paul returned
to the boat he found out Lisa had numerous visits from the persistent stone
carvers trying to sell their carvings. She had 2 visits from dodgy diesel fuel
suppliers and 2 marriage proposals!
One carver
turned up 5 times in the afternoon before Paul gave him a pretty rude
ultimatum. (He turned up the next 3 days too…)
That arvo
we removed all the small things from the deck and stowed them away, we
padlocked the rest and set up the alarms & motion sensors for the evening.
We flaked
into bed wondering what the hell we had got ourselves into...
And that
was day 1 – Welkum to the Solomon
Islands
The Gizo Markets
After a few days things settled down a little.
The flow
of carvers still came and a few others trying to promote their village or
organize tours but overall the procession started to dwindle and most people
were very friendly.
As it
turns out the annoying carvers are not from this area anyway but come here to
prey on the visitors and ex-pats that frequent the area.
We dusted
off our small inflatable and 3.3hp motor so we could use that to go to town
instead of our large RIB as it was less of a theft risk and we could carry it
onto land and chain it up. Plus leaving the big RIB on the davits made it look
like we were onboard.
We
ventured up to the markets.
They are located
right on the shoreline and people come from the surrounding villages and
islands by truck or in their long boats to sell their fish and produce – both
raw and cooked.
The
markets were a busy place and it was so refreshing to get back to a country
where there was a great variety of fresh food available – and at a decent
price.
These styles
of markets are so common in all the South Pacific countries that we have
visited but sadly there was nothing like this at any of the 3 countries that we
visited in the North Pacific.
Additionally,
variety and quality was what the 3 countries lacked.
Two days
later Paul was not feeling well and he got sick – real sick!
High
fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, the works.
It really
knocked him for a six for 72 hours and just as he was getting better, Lisa got
it. As it turned out it was a virus that was spreading through the town quite
quickly and many people were getting it.
For the
first two weeks in Gizo we had virtually no wind and the sunrises and sunsets
from Lorelei were amazing.
Sunrise over Kolombangarra Island, an
extinct volcano.
The view looking north from Lorelei
A hazy morning looking over the
township of Gizo
Surfing Palongge Point
When we recovered,
we dropped into Dive Gizo and caught up with owners Danny and Kerry who Paul
knew well through work and previous dive trips he had led to here. We also met
their new managers, Nico and Vanessa who were great people. Nico was a keen
surfer as well.
Both Nico
and Danny were talking about the surf and told us that a tropical depression
was in the Coral Sea heading for Australia
Then they
tell us our friend Jason from Uepi Resort is here along with Corey from
Wilderness Lodge and Shaun an ex-pat working at Kolombangarra. They were over
at the small surf camp at Palongee
Village
The swell
was up and he had friends to surf with!!
Soon we
were back on Lorelei, breaking out the boards and assembling our mountain
bikes. Danny and Kerry also have bikes and they kindly offered us the use of a
storeroom at their Dive Shop (which is 25m from the wharf we leave the dingy
at…) to leave our bikes on the land whenever we needed.
The ride
to Palongee Village
Thank
goodness we have dual suspension bikes! The road is dirt and pretty rough in
some places.
This
shoreline received a direct hit when the 8.1 magnitude Earthquake and following
tsunami hit The Solomon’s in April of 2007. All 3 villages along this stretch
of the coast were completely destroyed.
As we rode
along we could see the reconstruction of houses and public buildings still
taking place.
All that
remains to remind people of the devastation is the large tree trunks sitting on
the reef edge and the pillars of the houses that once were.
.JPG)
.JPG)
Whilst some
people have re-built in the same location, many have chosen to build further
away from the waters edge and up on the hill side.
When we
arrived we were warmly welcomed by the boys & Ben and his family to their village
and small surf camp.
We had an amazing surf on the fast right
hander that peeled off the point over a shallow reef. It was super clean, offshore
and perfect.
It was
Saturday and the village is Seven Day Adventist so Ben’s kids did not surf with
us but they did vow to join us another time.
Ben’s surf hut where we could leave
our boards and hang out
The view from the beach out over
the lagoon and surf break
We caught
our last waves at sunset.
As we
walked back up the beach we went past the SDA congregation. They still do not
have a church and the service was in a nice area out under a tree with some set
up pews and alter.
Under
Ben’s surfers bungalow was over a dozen boards in covers and he said we were
more than welcome to leave our boards here to save lugging them back and
forwards every day. Perfect!!! Things were all fitting into place.
By the time we both got changed, hopped on our
bikes & rode home, it was dark.
We arrived
back at Lorelei at 8pm – happy but totally stuffed!
Ben our fantastic host with 2 of
his boys
A few days
later, Corey, Shaun and Jason left and went back to work so Paul linked up with
Murray (or Muka as he is known), a fellow Aussie and yachtie on the boat next
to us and Andy, also an Aussie who is working over here. The 3 of them had many
fantastic surfs together over the next few weeks.
Muka and Andy relaxing in the hut.
One day
for a change Paul and Muka took our RIB around the island to the surf break so
they could get some photos and pick up a few boards for repair.
Coming in
and out through the reef pass in the RIB was a bit hairy.
When the
local kids came out after school Paul swapped his board for the camera and sat
on the edge of the line up and took a few photos of them surfing.
These are of Sammy – one of the
better young locals
Young Jeremy who has only been
surfing about a year
Diving Around Gizo
While in
Gizo we met up with another Aussie yacht Moemoea with Sue and Rogan onboard. We
knew of them through mutual friends as they were mad keen divers just like us –
no actually keener than us as they dive 2 dives a day on most days!!!
We had
meals together on both boats and Lisa went diving with them while Paul was out
surfing.
They have
just completed a 600+ page book called “The Invisibility Cloak” which is all
about Ovulids, the tiny shells that grow on soft corals. The digital version will be out shortly and
will be a free download. The Ipad version with its links is amazing and the
macro photos in the book are incredible. Look out for it if you are into that
sort of thing.
Dinner on Moemoea
Sue and
Rogan took Lisa for a great dive in a channel that was full of great macro
things to see including lots of Ovulids. Lisa was amazed!!
When the
swell dropped Paul went diving too and we did some exploratory diving around
the area.
The first
place we dived together had to be the awesome pass near Panapagha Island
We also went
up to Kennedy Island
Sadly the
pristine Kennedy Island
The Gizo
Hotel has put a series of ugly nets around half the island and plan to fill it
with sea creatures including Turtles and Dolphins for the Chinese Tourist
Market. The end of the island where the pristine sand spit used to be now has a high concrete wharf and on the other side they
put a coral and rock break wall around the edge making it difficult to access
the island.
The locals
and other dive/tourist businesses are not pleased!!!!
.JPG)
Kennedy Island now – An
ugly mess of nets, concrete, huts and rock walls.
Thankfully
the diving around the island is still fantastic.
We had a dive
on the adjoining reef and found a huge field of stunning Gorgonian Fans, Sea
Whips and Soft Corals down at 24m. There were loads of Garden Eels in every
sand patch and a large variety of fish in the shallows. It was a sensational
dive.
One day we
went to Sanbis Resort on Mbambanga
Island
Paul knows
the owner quite well as he supplied most of the dive gear for the resort while
at Adreno.
Unknown to
us, Han’s had sunk an old longliner just off the front of his resort for his
guests. We asked permission to dive there and it was fun.
It had a
great variety of fish life around the wreck including some quite friendly
Mangrove Jacks and a huge Maori
Sea
A Crocodile Fish under the wreck
We had a
bit of air left after the dive so on the way home we stopped in front of the
PT-109 bar and wharf at Gizo to dive the PT boat and another wreck in the
harbour. Around the wrecks are a few cars which were washed in from the tsunami.
Lisa was going to get inside for
a
photo until we saw 2 Lionfish in there
One night
we went up to Danny and Kerry’s house for dinner. Sue and Vanessa came but sadly Rogan and Nico
did not as they were both sick with what we had a week ago. It was certainly
going around the town.
Vanessa
and Kerry cooked us seafood paella which we ate on the balcony with an amazing
outlook over the islands.
The view from the balcony
Kerry, Lisa, Sue and Vanessa -
ready to pig out!!
Sue and
Rogan love their muck diving. Only 50m from their moored yacht is a pinnacle
that had loads of little critters.
(For
non divers, muck diving is hunting for small and unusual marine life usually in
uncommon dive locations like lagoon floors, under wharves, etc, and sometimes
there is limited visibility - hence the name)
Paul set
his camera up for macro and the 4 of us went for a great dive there.
The
highlight was a juvenile Ribbon Eel – the first one we have ever seen.
After lunch
they took us on a second muck dive, this time in the Logha Island
They are
about the size of your thumbnail so are quite a challenge to find and
photograph.
Towards
the end we came back up the sloping wall and finished under a wharf that had
lots of interesting things including a colorful Mantis Shrimp that was not bothered
by us taking photos of him.
Note the 2 little eyes poking out
of the left side of the shell
These shrimp were only 20mm long…
Sadly Sue
and Rogan left the Solomons on the second weekend we were there as they had
already been in the country for 6 months and it was time to move on. We have
vowed to catch up with them for more diving somewhere/sometime down the track.
We had
also decided to leave Gizo and head out exploring but Ben and Wendy on Just
Magic showed up the day Sue and Rogan left so we decided to stay a few days and
catch up.
The
conditions over the weekend were perfect for diving so we planned double dives for
both days and linked up with Ben and Wendy for lunch in between dives.
We had
some more fantastic diving around Kennedy
Island
The Spiny Devilfish
.JPG)
For Saturday
lunch we went over to Sanbis Resort.
Hans has built
the best set-up for day visitors to the resort with an awesome over the water
bar and restaurant that serves great wood fired pizzas.
The view looking towards Kolombangarra Island Island . At 1770m, it’s
always covered in clouds.
With a
little help from a mud map from Ravia (Hans’s divemaster) and the depthsounder
in our RIB, we found the underwater mooring for
“The
Pinnacle”.
This is
one of the premier dive spots around Gizo and was the highlight dive when we
were here in 2010. The top of the pinnacle is in 20m and goes to 40m on the
sand. There is an abundance of fish life and the soft corals are huge.
These are Long Nosed Hawkfish which
live on the Gorgonian Fans.
.JPG)
For Sunday
lunch we decided to try “Fatboys” another resort and over-the-water
restaurant/bar only 800m from Sanbis.
However
when we got there no one was there (only the staff) and the meals were limited
and expensive so we returned to Sanbis where there was much better food and a
great atmosphere.
We went
over to Panapagha
Island
We did see
some very large Spanish Mackerel swimming overhead.
After 2 ½
weeks in Gizo (and over a dozen dives) we thought it was time to up-anchor and
explore some other areas.
The first
stop was to be Kolombangara
Island
Kolombangarra
is a very tall, round island and an extinct volcano. It has many villages and
bays around its shoreline with the most being on the
West,
South and East sides.
There are
a lot of great walks and waterfalls around the island.
This area
was a Japanese stronghold during WW2 and there were many battles in and around
the island.
There are
a lot of war relics both in and out of the water.
Unfortunately
most of the Japanese vessels, US destroyers, PT boats and subs that sunk are in
the Kula Gulf
We left
Gizo in perfect glassy conditions which gave us some good photo opportunities
as we left the area.
Leaving the busy town of Gizo
Entering the pass next to Panapagha
Island
Vanga Point
Our first
stop was Vanga Point which was highly recommended to us by Sue and Rogan.
Vanga had
a small little protected bay that was only really big enough for one or two
boats and just perfect for Lorelei.
There is a
small village, 2 schools and a Catholic
College
The
College up on the hill is set up for training mature students to become
teachers in much the same skills as the school.
The small
primary school is there to provide education for the teachers and local
villages’ young children.
The best
thing about this place is its very safe on all aspects, the people are so
friendly and don’t have any need to come out to the boat. With the large
agriculture set-up, they have loads of fresh food, eggs, honey, meat, etc, so
you simply put an order in with Charlie the Deputy Principal and the next day
it’s ready to pick up.
Lisa at sunset with Leva, Len and
Raymond – 3 of the teachers.
The big
bonus of the area is the stunning 500m+ deep reef walls that are only 150m away
from Lorelei. There is superb wall diving, reef & blue water spearing. It’s
been so flat we can even do it from our kayaks!!!
Crazy to think this photo is taken
on the reef edge in the open ocean.
Its 500m+ deep just 10m to the
right. Gizo is on the Horizon 12nm away
Looking at the Coconut Palms on the
spit from the ocean side
The same palms looking from Lorelei
in the bay at sunset
For over 3
weeks there was no wind or swell and we simply used the kayaks to explore the
area both in the bay and on the outer reef drop-offs.
The only
thing we had to be a little careful of was the crocodiles in the area. There is
one resident one in the bay that is getting bolder as he gets bigger and is now
starting to stalk and chase the local fisherman in their canoes. They have set
a trap for it and hopefully it will be caught soon.
The super
flat conditions made for some great opportunities to get ½ and ½ and reflection
photos.
Diving Around Vanga
With the
glassy conditions we were able to scuba dive from our kayaks. The kayaks have
an aft well set up for a scuba cylinder but we had never tried it before and our
tanks actually fitted much better than we had anticipated.
It’s a
little wild kayaking out to the deep walls, anchoring the kayaks on the edge
and diving down the wall.
We pretty
much dived every day and we simply anchored the kayaks 150m past where we dived
the day before and jumped in.
One day we
dived a spur that stuck out off the wall that had current rushing around
it. The soft corals that started at 15m
were extensive with amazing amounts of different colours. It’s the best we have
seen aside from Paul’s favourite dive site – North Horn Wall at Osprey Reef in
the Coral Sea .
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
A few days
later we dived on a point at the end of the north wall.
The fish
life was incredible! There were massive amounts of bait fish everywhere,
turtles overhead, sharks below and schools of barracuda, tuna and trevally
amongst other things buzzing around us. There were so many species we didn’t
know where to look. We couldn’t even begin to try to photograph it so we turned
the camera off and sat on the point at 28m and watched the spectacle, excitedly
pointing at things in all directions.
Here’s
some other photos we took whilst kayak diving at Vanga….
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
Dinner at Vanga
On our
last night at Vanga (well this time around – we will return soon – it’s
fantastic!) we were invited up to Charlie and Frieda’s house for dinner along
with fellow yachties John and Sue who had just arrived. They are off the Kiwi yacht
‘Sir Francis”. John and Sue have spent a lot of time in Vanga and know the
people of the area quite well.
Freida
made a fantastic meal for us all and Lisa made double batch of golden syrup
dumplings with custard which was a big hit for dessert.
Charlie & Frieda with the huge
amount of food
We were in
Vanga for 3 ½ weeks and during that time we put the RIB in only 3 times – twice
to go to shore and once to go spearing a fair distance from the harbour. For
all other times and for every scuba dive, we used our Kayaks. It was so great
to utilize the kayaks for so many things.
Returning to Gizo
The next
morning we left to return to Gizo – but we weren’t alone.
On the
Friday before, school broke up for the 6 week mid semester holidays. So on the
Monday morning Charlie decided to join us for the trip to Gizo along with
fellow teachers Andrew and Phillip and Phillip’s son Jack. They had a fantastic
morning as we motored south in the glassy conditions and trolled along the way.
L to R.
Lisa, Charlie, Andrew, Jack and Phillip
The reason
we have returned is we are excited to finally get some visitors who would like
to join us for an adventure. Paul’s parents are booked in for a 2 week stay and
3 days after they leave friends Rowan and Kirsty from Brisbane are rocking up
for another 2 weeks. We are soooo looking forward to having them join us.
The Joys of Refueling
While we were
back in Gizo we decided to do a food re-provision and take on some Diesel and
Petrol.
Well it’s certainly
not like Australia
We then
loaded them into the RIB, returned to Lorelei, hauled them onto the deck and
poured the contents in the filler pipes only to return and do it again and
again....
It was a
mission!!! Thank goodness our Diesel
tank was only ½ empty.
800 litres
(and A$1600) later, we were done & completely exhausted.
Fortunately
fueling up is something we only do 3 or 4 times a year.
The bill
was $10 500 Solomon dollars which had to be paid in cash. We handed over a wad of $100 notes 2 inches
thick!
So that’s
it for Episode 17 of the HOG BLOG!
We hope
you enjoyed the diving pics.
Funnily
enough we had a look through the log and discovered we have done more scuba
dives in the past 6 weeks here than we have done in the last 6 countries
combined since we started cruising.
We have
become very picky divers but this place is rocking our diving world. It’s just
awesome!!!
Our plans
are to enjoy our time with family and friends onboard exploring Gizo through to
Munda and onto Seghe in Marovo Lagoon. After they leave we will spend at least
a month in Marovo.
Like
always, Episode 18 will be wherever we can get on the net and get it uploaded. Probably
in around 6 weeks time.
Hopefully
the temperature will have dropped by then – its 10pm as I type this and a balmy
33.8 degrees and 89% humidity.
Bring on
some trade winds!!!!
Cheers for
now.
CLUB
LORELEI
Paul and
Lisa