Pastime of Sydney- 2006 Adventures

We were disappointed not to go ashore at Wango Bay. It was an excellent anchorage, with a river in it. The people ashore seems delighted to see us but did not paddle out. This was just a brief overnight stop for us. The next day, we set sail for islands 15 & 16 in the Marau Sound. This area is immediately South of Guadalcanal. Just after we left, the mechanical wind indicator from the top of the mast hit the deck- right next to Charlie- with a large "thunk". Due to metal fatigue, the bracket had fractured. As we moved along, we disturbed many flying fish. One even bounced off the Mainsail! As the flying fish were disturbed, large birds would swoop low and snaffle them from the air. Much more efficient than having to dive into the ocean for dinner! Unfortunately, the wind kept rising and rising until it reached 40kts (gale force). The seas also grew very large. In the end, the boat became uncontrollable as we had too much sail up. The solution was to heave to for a while, but until we got this setup right, we had the starboard side decks almost a foot underwater! Once, we were comfortable, Charlie and WIll reefed down to storm sails. Reefing this way is not something we have done before and we'll use the technique again if necessary. Once we had less sail up, the boat became manageable even in 35-40kts. We surged towards Marau Sound at around 9kts. When we arrived there, we discovered that one of the two leading beacons was missing (a common occurrence in the Solomon ISlands). We later learned that strong winds blew it away! Still, the GPS and charts proved accurate and we were soon anchored in a tiny cove where we used our scanning sonar to scope out exactly where to drop anchor so that there was room for the boat to swing without hitting any reef. We enjoyed a couple of days here, meeting everyone in the two small villages. We heard the detail of when the ethnic tension was at its peak. It sounded quite chilling, with the locals making traditional weapons such as bows and arrows with which to defend themselves. About 1,500 extra people took refuge on their island for a couple of years, severely taxing all the resources. As always in the Solomons, the locals offer their hospitality to those in need without question or request for payment. We took advantage of the calm conditions to hoist David to the top of the mast and replace the wind indicator. There was a big audience in the villages. A plan to hoist a camera to the top was thwarted by the strong winds up there. Charlie said Mass for them on Saturday as half were Catholics and half Anglicans. As in other places, they said this was the first time they had encountered a minister of religion travelling by boat. We left on Sunday 25th June and had a good sail up to Tenaru Bay, some 10NM short of Honiara. On Monday morning we went to Honiara. There, the Police and local fishermen recommended that we anchor near the Police Wharf and run a long line to the breakwater wall. This proved an excellent measure and was far more satisfactory than anchoring near the Yacht Club. We re-provisioned in Honiara and also finally completed our Customs etc. It was strange getting a "Permission to disembark from Ship" authorisation after we had been ashore so much in different places! Everyone is still very unclear as to when or if Customs/Immigration will return to Santa Cruz Island. Still, we did all the right things and the authorities were very happy with us. Total fees were five times cheaper than Vanuatu and less bureaucratic. We had dinner with the Archbishop of Honiara and also with our long-time friend Bishop Bernard who just happened to be in town. All in all, Honiara was much better than we expected. Everything went very smoothly. People seemed happy and the place was "buzzing". We found someone to wash our clothes and also found the food at the yacht club to be excellent. Bishop Bernard had kindly purchased Will's ticket to Australia for us and we farewelled him on Tuesday- about 20hrs after he "officially" entered the country! The CREW