LORELEI'S SAILING ADVENTURES
Welkum
to Episode 18 of the Hog Blog.
At the end
of Episode 17 we just spent 6 hot and humid weeks Diving and Surfing in Gizo
the Capitol of the Western Province and nearby Kolombangara Island
Guests Onboard – Pauls Parents…
In early
June Paul’s parents George and Chez came to visit for 2 weeks.
Rather
than flying from home they came from North QLD as they had just spent 10 days
on The Low Isles off Port Douglas training, doing exams and gaining their
accreditation to become the assistant caretakers for the Island . It worked perfectly as they already had their
tropical clothing and snorkeling equipment.
The slight
spanner in their plans was the closure of the Gizo airstrip on Nusatupe Island
There were
boats organized to ferry passengers to and from Munda airstrip 20nm away. We
had spent days organizing with one company George and Chez’s transfer and
everything seemed in place – until the boat failed to turn up.
It didn’t
matter, they simply hoped on another that turned out to be faster and cheaper
anyway. They arrived soaked but very happy at the Gizo wharf around 6pm.
We spent 2
days with them exploring Gizo and the surrounding areas.
In Gizo
they experienced the markets and the busy town centre before we took off to
snorkel and explore Kennedy
Island
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Whilst at
Sanbis we had a look at the new extension which is “The Lodge”, a private area
on the point complete with accom for 8 and a large central entertaining area,
private wharf and spa. It is the best set up for a group of friends or family!
From Gizo
we ventured north to a new place for us – Konggulavatu Bay
It was a
very traditional area with mainly leaf houses and nearby gardens.
Many
pikininis came out in their canoes offering to sell fruit.
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Entering the Inlet
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Lorelei on anchor near a small
village within the inlet.
The Toa Maru Shipwreck
The inlet
provided a perfect location to run out in the RIB and explore the areas most
famous dive/snorkelling site and shipwreck – The Toa Maru.
The “Toa”
is the areas’ most famous dive and was a Japanese WW2 freighter which is lying
on its starboard side in a small protected bay on Ghizo Island US
We have
dived it many times both before and after the Tsunami.
It was
awesome to take George and Chez snorkeling on the wreck to experience a bit of
WW2 history and come to a place that the both of us and Paul’s brother Rod have
spent time diving.
The Toa Maru prior to WW2
The Toa Maru as she is today lying
on the sea floor.
Vanga Point – Kolombangara
Island
We had to
take our parents to Vanga!
It’s our
favourite place here and the snorkeling is superb.
On the way
across from Ghizo to Kolombangara Lisa spotted a half submerged object so we
spun back around for a closer look. It turned out to be a dugout canoe with a
hole in it. We decided to haul it aboard which turned out to be no easy feat in
a choppy ocean...
We let it
dry out at Vanga for a few days and then Paul and George decided it was worth
fixing and cleaning up.
They
managed to patch the hole and after the re-launch, took it into the shallows to
give it a good scrub and a clean.
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Patched and ready for launching
We have
named it “Dougie the Dugout” and to this day is sitting up on the bow of
Lorelei next to our 2 kayaks.
Paddling
it was not easy at first and we all sunk it initially but after a while and a
little persistence we got the hang of it.
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George and
Chez were amazed at the quality of the snorkeling in the area and was some of
the best they have experienced.
As usual
the Vanga sunsets were stunning and we anchored Lorelei a little further out in
the bay so we could see them.
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Three amazing sunsets in 3 nights
We took
George and Chez onshore to meet our friends Charlie and Frieda and to have a
look around Vanga.
We also brought
a stack of eggs off Frieda and her chooks.
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Vona Vona Lagoon
After 4
glorious days at Vanga we headed south across The Blackett Strait
On the way
we had lots of dolphins playing in Lorelei’s bow wave.
The Lagoon
is a complex system of reef, shoaling areas and many small islands. You should
only try and navigate through it on a sunny day between 10am & 3pm when the
sun is at its peak so you can see the reef.
As Murphy’s
Law would have it, as soon as we crossed the bar and entered the lagoon a storm
approached that looked ugly with black skies and strong winds. We had no option
except to stop in some deeper water and ride it out before trying to go and
further.
Fortunately
the main front passed within an hour but there was more on the horizon so we
made for the largest island and anchored at a spot called Pature Point.
This spot
is not on the cruising guides list of anchorages – and it showed.
The
friendly villagers came out and were amazed that we had anchored in their bay.
They had never seen a yacht here before.
It turned
out to be a fantastic place and by fluke it was friends Leva and Theresa’s
village who were home on school holidays as Leva normally works in Vanga.
They invited
us to Leva’s brothers wedding in 7 days time and we gladly accepted with Paul
offering to do the photos.
The next
morning we loaded up the RIB and spent a day snorkeling the islands and the
inner and outer reefs of the lagoon.
From past
experience we knew there was a WW2 plane in the area but couldn’t remember
where. It didn’t matter we simply asked a local fisherman in a dugout and he kindly
took us to it.
The girls
thought it was great following this super buff local paddling his canoe.
After a
bit of a snorkel around George found it. It was a US
On the way
back we decided to snorkel the reef areas.
We first tried
a drift snorkel but the coral was pretty average.
We tried a
second spot with the same results.
We were
just about to give up when Lisa suggested a spot close to an island that looked
OK.
Ok was
definitely an understatement!!
The top of
the reef was only 2m deep with stunning coral in perfect condition. There were
a lot of things like gorgonian fans, nudibranchs, certain fish and
invertebrates that we found in the shallows that normally live in much deeper
depths.
We were
even further amazed when Lisa called us over to the drop-off where there was a
large field of beautiful coral and dense fish schools going from the surface
right down to the bottom.
George and
Chez said it was the best snorkeling they had ever done and it was definitely
up there with the best we have seen.
Unfortunately
none of us took a camera…
We have
vowed to return with our scuba gear in a few weeks and have another look.
We woke
the next morning to clear skies and great conditions for transiting the rest of
Vona Vona Lagoon - so off we went.
The first
section was open and relatively deep but the further in we went, the tighter
and shallower it got. Once again, goggle earth overlays on the chartplotter
made it a lot easier to negotiate.
The open first section with Kolombangara Island
Using the Google Earth Overlays
made life a lot easier!!
George on lookout through one of
the many shallow sections
Just some of the scores of small
islands in the lagoon
Zippolo Habu Resort, Lola
Island
After 3
hours of motoring (and a few tense moments when the depth under the keel was
less than 1 metre), we arrived at our destination Zippolo Habu Resort on Lola Island
This small
resort was on a beautiful island and was tastefully built in traditional leaf
building and bungalows.
We spent a
few days relaxing, snorkeling, fishing and exploring the resort and island.
One
evening we went to dinner at the resort and had a magnificent meal of crayfish.
Sunset on the Zippolo Habu
Resort Wharf
Pre dinner drinks on the balcony
Tusker the local dive and fishing
guide playing the bamboo drums
Yum - Crayfish!!
Munda
For their
last day onboard we motored the final 8nm from Lola through the Diamond Narrows
At Munda
we took the RIB around to the other end of the airstrip and had a look around
and got a great meal at Agnes Lodge.
The main street of Munda. Not
exactly a bustling town
Fun antics at Ben and Uma’s great
ice cream shop – The Leaf Haus
The last
night turned out to be fantastic with another glorious sunset over the islands.
After 2
weeks onboard we put George and Chez on a plane departing from Munda. It was
supposed to leave at 9am….
Luckily we
went in early! As they checked in, the office told them that they had been
changed to an earlier flight on a smaller plane as the big plane had a large
group to pick up at nearby Seghe Airstrip.
We had
gone into the office the day before to confirm but nobody had said a thing. The
plane took off with them onboard at 8:15.
Munda’s high tech re-fueling system
Note the 3 fire extinguishers on
standby – just in case….
For both
couples it was the start of a long day.
They had 1
boat trip, 3 flights and a 1.5 hour car trip to get home.
We were
off to a wedding with over 550 people attending – and Paul was the
photographer!!
The Wedding
We raced
back, quickly brought the RIB up and within 15 minutes were underway for a 4.5
hour run back to Rarumana
Village
Frank was
from Rarumana in Vona Vona Lagoon where the service was to be held.
Rehab was
from the island
of Vella Lavella
The church
service was supposed to start at 1:30pm and we were due to arrive at about that
time.
We had
everything laid out on the bed ready to go as soon as we could get the anchor
down.
At 1:20pm
we motored through the pass and amazingly Leva was in his longboat waiting to
guide us in through the reef to a safe anchorage.
He was in
a daggy pair of old shorts. We were saying to him “get going, you will be late
to your brothers wedding!” He just said they’ll wait – it’ll be Solomon Islands
Sure
enough we get to the church at 2:15pm and there is no Bride or Groom in sight
but the church is packed (with twice that many again out on the grass) and the
minister is up the front with a guitar and they are all singing songs.
Finally at
2:45pm the Groom and Bride emerged from separate houses.
You could
tell they were uncomfortable in there wedding outfits and it all seemed so
formal and serious. Trying to get them to smile, relax and have fun for the
photos was a real effort.
The church
service had the same serious tone with all the wedding party standing with
heads bowed and no smiles.
From there
it got a bit lighter and we went to the local community hall for afternoon tea.
We were
amazed when lots of shouting erupted and the bride and groom where carried down
to waiting longboats and taken out to do a series of high speed doughnuts and
figure 8’s missing each other by only centimeters. The congregation stood on
the shore hooting and hollering at this crazy tradition.
They only
hit the reef once…..
As the
bride and groom did crazy antics on the water, we all walked back to Leva’s
family house where the reception was to take place.
They had
built a “Tomoko” on the land which is a traditional war canoe that had seating
at tables for the 550+ people to eat. It was over 50m long!
The
organization that had gone into food for that many people was incredible. The
women had stayed up all night baking and the men had dug many pits to cook the
pigs, fish and turtle.
There were
people running around everywhere loading food onto the tables in traditional
woven baskets.
There was
no cutlery or plates and instead there was 600+ woven bowls laid out for
everyone to eat out of.
Right down
the centre of the Tomoko was a series of poles that were laden with large
bushes of bettlenut. Nearly everyone was breaking the nuts off and chewing
them.
We likened
it to us westerners having alcohol at our weddings.
The stern
of the Tomoko
Just some of the food cooked and
ready to serve
At the end
of the meal we raced to the bow to find another tradition taking place.
A series
of men had raced each other to the bow of the Tomoko and were frantically
whipping it with long cane sticks.
The bow
was laden with a lot of long term food stores.
The men
were competing to claim the food to use in the next wedding of which they were
to be the hosts. They would then do the same at their wedding and the tradition
continues.
The victor asking for permission to
claim his prize of the food and to announce the date for the next wedding.
The next
day we went back in and took the Ipad to show them the photos. We gave Frank
some photos we had printed & laminated and a copy of them on CD. They were
stoked and we were happy to have experienced it all.
As it
turned out, it was also a very beneficial PR exercise, particularly when we
went back to anchor in the general area over the course of the next 6 weeks.
Guests Onboard – Rowan and Kirsty
2 days
later and we were back in Gizo waiting for our friends to arrive, Rowan and
Kirsty from Brisbane
And wait
we did…..
They had
booked well before the airport closure and had tickets all the way to Gizo. The
Solomon Airlines office in Australia
They said pick
it up at Brissy airport.
Brissy
said get it at Honiara
Sure
enough at Munda – no boats!!
By a stroke
of luck, Danny from Dive Gizo (who is also the local member for parliament) was
also there and got on the phone and managed to organize a boat. It took some
coaxing and the offer of a stack of money but in the end the transfer was made
and they arrived at Gizo well after dark.
Rowan had
been to Gizo before with Paul on a dive trip but it was Kirsty’s first time so
we spent the first day showing them around town and final reprovisions.
Paul’s Fresh Yellow Fin Sushi on
the first night
That
evening was the super full moon and we got some great photos onboard in the
still glassy conditions.
This was a hand held 20 second
exposure at 10pm
Rowan and
Kirsty are keen divers so our first stop was to be Sanbis Resort on Mbambanga Island
which is close to the fantastic dive areas around Kennedy Island
Lorelei at anchor with Kennedy Island
Lunch at Sanbis
Kirsty on the left and Rowan in the
background on the right
As with
our parents, we had to take them to Vanga to experience the diving. We stayed 5
days and did 6 dives of which 2 were the best we had done there.
On one
dive with stunning viz, we came around a point into a grotto that was just
packed with huge gorgonian fans and loads of colorful soft corals. We were all
amazed!!
Paul was happy to have Kirsty as a
model for a change.
Lisa was happy for the break!!!
Note the reflection on the surface.
This shot was taken at 28m…
Whilst at
Vanga we put the Mud Crab traps in with some Coral Trout frames that we had
caught a few days before. The reward was 2 big bucks that were turned into
Chilli Mud Crab.
On the
Saturday arvo we took time out from diving and went to the local beach to go swimming
with the local kids. We took our blow-up 8 legged monster and Dougie the
dugout. Both proved to be a big hit.
Towards
the end we decided to take the kids for fast rides in the RIB.
They loved
the experience especially the high speed turns and doughnuts.
Paul let
one of the kids have a turn steering and all was going well until he turned
hard to starboard and threw Paul straight out of the boat at high speed. Rowan
had to quickly grab the controls and come back to pick him up.
That
evening we went into Charlie and Frieda’s house for dinner. As usual there was
a stack of yummy food and we all had a great time.
Whilst we
didn’t get the amazing sunsets we had in the previous visits, we did get some
great sunrises over the land.
Here’s
some other diving photos from the other dives we did at Vanga.
When the
wind picked up, we decided to leave and sail across to Ghizo
Island and into Konggulavatu Bay
We started
the full sails up and hoping to have enough wind.
Half way
across the Vella Gulf
Kirsty was
the colour of her Bikini – Green!!
We reefed
the sails and slowed to a more comfortable 7 knots and all were happy.
Guess who was loving it…???
At Konggulavatu Bay
Rowan had
done it before but it was Kirsty’s first time.
The 4 cargo holds are littered with
bottles and crates of artillery shells.
An upside down artillery tank in
hold No.2
The engine room is a twisted mess
of machinery and walkways
The top of the wreck has some great
artifacts and some amazing coral formations.
When the
wind died we made the 15nm run from Ghzio
Island
We trolled
on the way and Rowan landed his first ever Spanish Mackerel.
One hour
later the girls are in the Galley cooking it for lunch – and having a few fun
antics….
Also in
the anchorage were Ben and Wendy on Just Magic so we went around there for
drinks that night.
While in
Vona Vona we got to dive the snorkeling spot we had found with George and Chez.
It didn’t disappoint and it turned out to be a sensational dive with lots of
fantastic coral in both hard and soft.
The very rare maskis snorkelus
coral we found on the wall.
We left a
little bit of air in our tanks so we could do a dive on the shallow Hellcat
plane nearby. The viz was sensational for here.
The next
stop was Lola Island
We decided
to have lunch and dinner there so as to give the girls a bit of a break from
being galley slaves.
During
lunch Paul had discovered the staff had being surfing that morning at “Skulls”
which is an outer reef break just off Skull Island Solomon Islands
Paul was
buzzing and Rowan took him out that arvo to surf it.
It was
fantastic with some long rides to be had.
That night
at 4am the Solomon Islands
The locals
were a bit on edge the next day though.
For their
last full day onboard we took Rowan and Kirsty from Lola to our final
destination Munda.
We had a
great lunch at the Leaf Haus café just as a big storm pelted heavy rain down
over Munda.
Ben the owner drew us a map of all the Munda
highlights and we did a long walk in the arvo following his suggested route.
We visited
Matson, a retired Crocodile hunter who used to export the skins.
The
government put a ban on the trade in the late 90’s so now he just keeps 2 as
pets in a pit under his house. One he has had for over 18 years and is pretty
big.
We visited
the local swimming hole which is a fresh water spring and is croc free.
We went
past an enormous concrete slab the was built on 1000’s of 44 gallon drums
during the war. A village has now been
constructed on it but a few of the original buildings remain.
Some local girls we passed on the
way.
The main
stop was the WW2 Museum. It was started in 2002 when a local named Barney found
a set of US dog tags and it just expanded from there. His collection is growing
bigger everyday as he finds more things at the many battle fields around the Island .
We had been
noticing a NZ naval vessel anchored in the area for some time now and there was
a large bomb disposal team based in Munda.
We found
out that they were on hand during the extending of the Munda airstrip. The extension
has a dual role to land larger planes for both industry/tourism and also for
emergency situations like another Tsunami and the Aussies or Kiwis need to land
larger planes to assist.
Their part
of the project is complete and they had dug up more than 5000 pieces of large
WW2 ordinance that needed disarming and disposal.
And that’s
not counting smaller items like bullets and light ammunition!!
The bomb
squad also put flyers around town asking the community if they have any WW2
ordinance on their properties to contact them and they will have a look and
disarm them if possible.
Despite
disarming a great number of ordinance items there is still a large amount
remaining around the battle sites in the hills.
They will be
returning for a longer tour sometime in the future.
This pile was on one woman’s small
piece of land
The next
morning Rowan and Kirsty left on a plane to return to Australia
Overall
all we had a fantastic 2 weeks with them.
Even
though the 2 trips for both them and Paul’s parents were roughly the same
general area and anchorages, they were very different as we all got to
experience different things, catch different fish, diving vs. snorkeling, etc,
etc…
So now its
just back to the 2 of us and Lorelei!
We will
spend a week or 2 in the Munda area exploring and re-provisioning before
heading off on a trip to Rendova
Island
Cheers for
now…
Paul and
Lisa onboard Lorelei.