Not all those who wander are lost
|
|
 |
|
AKAMA REPORT 23
7 May 2004
We left Simbo Island well rested and set out for Gizo, about a 20-mile
trip. Gizo (8-5S x 156-50E) is the Solomon Islands' second largest
settlement; so we thought it would be quite large. It is basically a
one-road town. Still, it has a vibrant market, which we used to
advantage to restock with fresh food. To our great surprise, one of the
local tackle shops is owned by a Canadian; he gave us a few tips on
things to see. The officials here were the most officious so far; there
was tons of paperwork and each of them had a fee that needed paying.
The good news was that they all came to the boat at the same time; so we
did not have to chase after them. The owners of the only other yacht
in the harbour, SPIRIT OF KALAHARI, were most helpful, as they had spend
a number of weeks here already; they gave us a short tutorial on where
to go and what to see.
From Gizo we went only five miles north to Konggulavata Bay, with SPIRIT
of KALAHARI, MUSCAT and SELKIE. This is handy to a site where a big
Japanese ship, the TOA MARU, was sunk in WW-II (8-2S x 156-49E). It is
hard to find as the buoy that marks it is very small and encrusted with
growth. We snorkelled on it and Maurice went down with the hookah rig.
You can see where the shells entered and sunk her. There is some cargo
on the seabed, including a tank and some trucks, that is reachable with
hookah or SCUBA. The coral was not that good, and the fishes were only
fair.
The next day we went by dinghy to a World Wildlife Federation (WWF) site
called Grand Central (8-0.83S x 156-45.45E), about three miles away.
This was easier to find as the WWF has a prominent buoy there. This was
a super snorkelling spot and a nice wall dive, with good coral and many
fishes, including some we had never seen before.
Our next anchorage was in a very well sheltered lagoon on Liapari Island
(7-56S x 156-43E). We were surprised to see that there is a small boat
yard here, mostly used for repairing the Solomon Islands' fleet of
fishing boats, which are all Japanese-built steel trawlers. The island,
formerly a coconut plantation, is very well kept by the boat yard owner
and nice to stroll around.
On Vella Lavella Island we anchored on a good sand bottom in Paraso Bay
(7-37S x 156-40E. The attraction was a volcano that produces hot
springs and mud. We understood this to be an easy jungle walk. First
we had to go up river by dinghy until we reached small rapids. Then we
climbed the bank and slogged it through the jungle, along the river, for
a couple of miles. It had rained the night before, so at times we were
up to our calves in gooey mud. We had to forge a couple of small
streams, so we at least got to wash the stuff off now and again.
Usually, though we no sooner got clean than we had to mount the opposite
bank and we again became muddy. The tour was well worth it though. We
entered what appeared to be a plain in the centre of a volcano. Hills
rose in a circle several miles away all around us, except for on the
area where we entered and the river exited. There were bubbling mud
pools, mounds of sulphur and red ochre everywhere. We could feel the
heat coming off of the mud pools as we walked by them. The mud was far
too hot to bathe in and probably very dangerous. Several times, our
guides were very attentive about where we walked. On the way back, some
of the yachties with us jumped off a 10-metre cliff into a river pool
below. We swam in the river and it was an odd sensation; while the
water was cool, the mud below was hot in spots, due to volcanic
activity. There were places where it was so hot that it was
uncomfortable to walk. The children here were delightful and
uninhibited, perhaps a little too much so; we were constantly "canoed".
We threw balloons, whistles and a plastic recorder out into the bay and
they all paddled furiously to win a prize. The kid that retrieved the
recorder was playing 'Mary Had A Little Lamb', by the time we left. We
bought some megapode (bush turkey) eggs. Megapodes lay their eggs in
holes in the ground. The natives put twigs around the holes and when a
twig is disturbed they know that a megapode has laid an egg in the hole,
very clever.
About 20-miles to the Southeast we visited the island of Kolombangara.
This island has a sustainable logging industry and it shows. The first
thing that one notices is that there are fewer leaf huts and more timber
buildings, including residences. We anchored first at Mongga (7-54S x
156-57E), the site of an agricultural college. There are four catholic
brothers here, four teachers, about twenty local staff and 160 students
from all around the Solomon Islands. They learn English, mechanics,
animal husbandry and garden growing. We toured the facility led by one
of the students, and we bought some veggies. This is a terrific
anchorage, safe, well sheltered and away from large villages. The only
downside is that there is often no cooling breeze.
The next night we anchored at Ringgi (8-06 S x 157-07E), a beautiful
multi-bay cove. There is no village here and few huts, the only
development being a logging wharf. We watched a Chinese ship being
heavily overloaded with logs. The actual town of Ringgi is about an
hour's walk down the road. The jungle drums work well here. We were
seen entering Ringgi Cove and the next morning a carver arrived from the
adjacent island; we bought a jewellery box. Just as we were about to
leave a guide arrived and convinced us to stay another day; it turns out
that the guide is the carver's brother and neither knew the other was
coming to see us. We used the rest of the day to roam around the cove,
running up a river in the dinghy. We saw the remains of a Japanese
patrol boat; about all that's left is a steel beam and what looks like a
curved shield from a deck gun. The river was nice and cool and we had a
swim. SELKIE caught up to us at Ringgi, and that evening we had
sundowners on MUSCAT, complete with appetizers of mud crab. Gary on
MUSCAT had caught one and had bought three from a local fisherman. One
of them was a two kilo brute about the size of a dinner plate.
The next day we set out to see the WW-II relics with our guide, Mr.
Rinna Billy. It turned out that he was not quite the expert that he
claimed to be. We passed by the supposed site of the downed Hellcat
aircraft. Phil on SELKIE motored over the spot, but saw nothing. Next,
we went to the spot where the Japanese submarine was supposed to be
laying, in shallow water. The person that owned the kastom rights was
not around, so we could not dive on it. But, Rinna allowed that the
"submarine" was only about 45-feet long and well...maybe it was really a
sunken landing craft. Next were the caves that were supposed to be a
Japanese hospital. The caves were indeed there although some had
collapsed, but there is no way they were a hospital. More likely they
were storage caves for supplies, medicine and munitions. We saw broken
bottles, bits of metal, a few cartridges for rifles and a helmet. While
we ate lunch, Phil went to a place nearby to see some Japanese guns and
a searchlight; we gave it a miss, as we had seen several such gun
emplacements in PNG. The last relic we saw was a US tank, the best
preserved WW-II relic that we have seen so far. It was a small tank,
with an air-cooled, radial engine that ran on gasoline. The turret has a
small cannon and a machine gun, and there is another machine gun facing
forward. The inside was quite a mess; it appears that several
armour-piercing shells entered the front armour plate and caused an
explosion.
We ended the day with a white-knuckle entrance to the recommended
anchorage at Noro (8-13.6S x 157-11.7E). This required entering a
narrow and shallow blasted cut in a reef, and then negotiating our way
through shallow reefs, none of which we could see. MUSCAT went hard
aground once and touched once; we were luckier and had no problems.
Noro is dominated by the fish canning plant. Indeed, if it were not for
the plant there would be no Noro. The industry was built by the
Japanese, including the plant, the ships, a large residence for about
200 women, and the Noro lodge. We did not go to the Noro lodge, and
learned later that we did not miss anything. We stayed only long enough
to exchange some money, buy a few supplies and fuel up. Noro has
duty-free fuel for boats over 35 net registered tons. This makes it
easily the cheapest fuel in the area, so we filled to the brim. The two
sailboats with us gave us about 30 jerry cans to fill as well.
The next day, we went south about five miles to Lola (8-18S x 157-10E), a
resort island. Getting there required us to navigate through a
poorly-charted area that was littered with reefs. Fortunately, we had a
mud map (a rough, unofficial chart drawn by other yachties). Upon
arrival at Lola Island we were shocked to find that we had no drinking
water, despite the fact that we'd been running our water maker on the
way down and for several hours the day before. A hose coupling broke
while we were underway and we did not notice it until our pressure pump
had pumped nearly all of our fresh water overboard. We really should
have an over-run alarm on that pump (and on others). Lola Island has a
nice little dive and fishing resort (Zipolo@Solomon.com.sb), which is
nearly deserted and a terrific restaurant. We've heard the same story
in many places in PNG and The Solomon Islands...the joint was jumping
until the western embassies and media blew out of proportion the
personal safety problems of the area a few years ago. Then business
slowed to an uneconomic trickle or dried up altogether. It is sad,
because in most of the places we have visited there is and never was
elevated danger to foreigners, except in a few big cities. Indeed, in
most places even the locals, who are supposedly slaughtering each other
by the score according to the media, are peaceful. Of course, there are
sporadic incidents, such as robberies, but what place does not have a
bit of crime?
Well, that's all for now. We have not heard from many of you lately.
Please send an email to our Winlink address and let us know what is
happening in your world. |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|