SOLOMON ISLANDS PART 2

Solomons part 2

Last time I finished off we had just farewelled Gav and Sid and Dave had been diagnosed with dengue fever and yaws.  We had decided to stay around Gizo and close to the hospital until Dave was well again. He still had 2 more injections to get for the yaws and so it made sense to stay here.

Also our batteries were not performing well and we actually found 2 of them were overheating. We removed them and then a third went. Those all removed we were down to 3 and so it was definitely time to get some new ones. The next couple of couple of weeks were spent conserving power, finding batteries sorting delivery and payment. We could get them from Honiara and sent to Gizo on the boat, payment was another issue. We were unable to do a bank transfer from our NZ account to a Solomons account and the company wouldn't take a credit card payment. Fatboys resort, where we had been anchored, offered to do a transfer from their account for us, so I took the trip with them on the banana boat from the resort to Gizo only to be told when we got to their bank  the Bank of Solomon's that Bank of Solomons can only do transfers to other Bank of Solomons accounts not to other banks! Unfortunately the supplier of the batteries was with  ANZ Solomons and so that was that.  Iphoned the owner of the company and as a last resort he gave us his personal Australian bank account number and payment was finally made. Nothing is ever easy!!

The batteries were put on the boat on Honiara for delivery to Gizo. We were told the boat would arrive over the next week. We moved the yacht again to Gizo, a pretty short trip of about 45 mins and re-anchored here for a few days.  I was getting pretty good at navigating around the few reefs by now and Dave was able to rest while we moved as he was not in good shape. Thankfully the outboard engine was fixed and was running better than it ever had! We were stoked and I was very confident driving it and running Dave to the hospital. Dave got his second shot for yaws and we followed up on his blood tests, only to be told the boat hadn’t come to pick them up and they now didn’t know where they were!! So we were no further ahead on why Dave wasn't starting to recover from the Dengue, in fact he seemed to be getting worse. His energy was extremely low and he was still having fevers. The doctor told him to rest and drink lots of coconut water. Coconut water will cure all!!

The boat arrived with the batteries and we headed over to pick them up. Dave left me with the tender, as it wasnt really safe to tie it up with so many boats coming and going at the rocky wharf. He went ashore and onto the delivery boat to find the batteries. It was a shambles, firstly they said they didn’t have them, then they pointed to a small battery and told him that was the only battery delivery they had. After finding someone else and showing a photo finally the batteries were tracked down on the boat. There was no one to unload them - it was up to Dave, at 50+kg each and Dave feeling the way he did this was not going to be an easy task. He managed to get one of the crew to help and between them they got them off the boat and onto the tender. The ramp on and off to the boat was chaos with people exiting with cargo and bags and other people trying to get on with cargo and bags, absolutely no system! Dave said he just ended up yelling at people to get out of the way.  We thought the boat must have been leaving again soon, but it didn’t leave until the next day so why the rush for people to embark before the boat was disembarked who knows? The lovely man who helped Dave get the batteries off the boat came with us on the tender and helped lift them onto the yacht and down into the room. We were most appreciative. Dave was so exhausted he had to stop and rest half way through, I thought he was going to pass out, he was white as a ghost and sweating. Without the help we wouldn't have managed to get the batteries onto the yacht. We were very thankful and paid the guy for his help. He wanted the old batteries which we were more than happy to give him. We also gave him the other 3 once we did the change over, he was very very happy.

So now we had the batteries we had to get them installed, removing the remaining 3 batteries and putting in the 4 new ones. We had gone from 6 lead acid to 4 gel batteries. Dave had to figure out how to re connect them all from 6 to 4 and get them all running correctly. He did an amazing job, especially considering his condition. 

Dave however was running on very few cylinders and going downhill fast, so we contacted our travel insurance and sought their advice. They decided we should go to Honiara the National hospital and so we booked a mooring at Liapari where we could leave the boat safely for a few days.  We organised flights, accommodation and the boat trip to Gizo airport from Liaparia and we were off.  As soon as we landed we headed straight for the hospital. The taxi dropped us at the 'main entrance'. We walked past a tent structure in the car park into an outside foyer filled with sick people sitting on chairs and lying on the floor. We couldn’t see a nurse or a doctor so we carried on through the swarm of people to some doors which on entering we were presented with another lot of organised chaos. A nurse approached us and we explained the situation. She went to talk to someone and next thing a doctor appeared saying he was expecting us- one of the insurance co. doctors had called through. We were taken into a room where they started doing tests. The room was bare apart from an old bed and a ceiling fan covered in cobwebs, it was pretty dirty and didn’t give us much hope. 

Gizo Airport waiting for the plane to take us to Honiara

                           

                         Wired up, pale and clammy but still managing to joke about

They took bloods and did an ECG. We were then taken to radiography for a lung X-ray and chest scan. This department was in a better state of affairs and had a real Christmas vibe going on. There was tinsel and balloons, a disco ball and very loud Christmas songs playing. It was like being transported into a Christmas disco!!

From here Dave was taken to a ward, which was relatively new and pleasantly clean. We learnt that the hospital was in a very slow state of improvement, hence the emergency area being in the foyer and our initial consult in the ‘old’ part of the hospital. We passed through some half finished parts of the renovations and even these were being used to bed people or should I say floor people - there were no beds. How they were ever going to finish the upgrade was beyond us, and there wasn’t a workman in sight. We learnt later the money had run out and improvements had stopped! Possibly something to do with the Government pouring money into the Pacific games and doing a deal with China to build a new stadium. Interesting where the priorities of the government lie, definitely not with the people who need the help.

Dave was given a bed and hooked up to a monitor. Another doctor took over and prescribed some medication to make Dave more comfortable. There was no top sheet or blanket on the bed. I asked for one, as the air con was pretty cool. They gave me an odd look but said they would go and look for something. They came back with a sheet. We were quick to learn that if you are admitted to hospital you bring all your own comforts- blankets, extra food, water bottles etc, as none of this is provided by the hospital. They supply 3 basic meals a day and that is pretty much it. I had managed to buy Dave some lunch while we were going through all the tests earlier but it was now close to 6pm and he was hungry for dinner. When we asked the nurse she said she was sorry but he had missed dinner and it was too late now to get him anything. Everything around the hospital was now closed and so I decided to get a cab into Honiara town and get Dave some dinner and check into the hotel. I left Dave promising to return with Pizza! Outside I hailed down a cab and asked the driver if he would drive me around to do what I needed and then back to the hospital. He was really happy to oblige. First stop was Pizza order and while that was being cooked the cab took me to the hotel to check in. That done and bags dropped off we then returned to pick up the pizza and I grabbed a ham and cheese croissant for Dave, just in case breakfast didn’t arrive the next day. Back to the hospital, food and water delivered and checking Dave was settled for the night I left. I felt quite bad as everyone else in the ward had at least 2 family members with them who were all settled in for the night with their blankets sleeping on the floor and in chairs. I was shattered and the hotel room and a shower beckoned. Back at the hotel I decided to have a shower and then go down for some dinner. The shower was cold and the room phone wasn’t working. This really was not a good end to a long stressful day. Cold rinsed I dressed and went downstairs. Reception told me I needed to push a button on the wall of the walkway to my room to get the hot water!! Really! I mean this wasn’t an expensive hotel but I wasn’t expecting that. Pretty tired and grumpy I decided I’d just order some dinner and go to bed. The hot shower could wait until morning. Dinner was average and there was a bit of island dance entertainment. I took my leave as the band started up feeling exhausted. The band unfortunately was very loud and played until about 3am! I felt pretty average when I woke the next morning. I phoned Dave at the hospital and he had had an average sleep also as the nurses kept waking him to take his vitals. He was thankful for the croissant I had bought for him as breakfast had arrived and was a 1/4 loaf of unsliced bread and a dry coffee packet!! No condiments and no cup or hot water, obviously there was somewhere to get these?; or maybe not?, maybe you brought your own cups too and as for hot water??  Dave said he would call when the blood tests results had come back so I got on with doing some messages and getting some supplies - I wanted to make the  most of being back in the capital. 

Dave got a 'nice' surprise around 10 am when a large group came into the ward and started singing gospel songs. It went on for over an hour and Dave wished he had some earplugs. It was very loud! I called him again around lunch time and he had been told they had lost his blood tests!! So another lot had been taken and sent to the lab and would be rushed through. Dave kept asking for the results and nobody seemed to know where to find them, totally frustrated, not feeling a lot better and feeling like nothing was being done for him he finally got an orderly to track down his second lot of blood tests. 

He was told by the doctor on duty that everything was fairly normal apart from low haemoglobin which was a result of the dengue. The doctor said he could go home and he should rest and drink a lot of coconut water, again the miracle cure! So that was that. I was not very happy when Dave called at 6pm to say they were discharging him. I got in a cab and went to pick him up and took him for a meal. We then got him back to the hotel and to bed. Thankfully there was no band playing that night and we both got a fairly good sleep. On waking Dave was hungry and so we went to the Hyatt for buffet breakfast and then he went back to the hotel and slept. He was exhausted just from the 10 minute walk there and back. We had asked for a late checkout the following day which was good as it meant Dave could stay in bed while I went to do the last of the provisioning. Off to my favourite store in Honiara - Deli in the Plaza- I stocked up with lots of things you just can’t get outside of Honiara. Olives, gherkins, wraps, protein bars just to name a few. I managed to get a large box to pack it all in and the shop gave me tape to tape it up for the journey back on the plane. 

Back to the hotel it was time to get to the airport for our return flight. We headed to the airport with a 30kg box of groceries and a still not very well Dave. 

We decided we would just stay around Fatboy's near Gizo so we were close to the hospital until Dave was 100%. Being so close to Christmas now this was a pretty good spot to stay and celebrate.  I was getting really worried, but I decorated the boat and got a bit of a Christmas vibe going to keep our spirits up. But unfortunately there were things to bring the spirits down like the leaking toilet that had been an ongoing problem for some time and a shower pump that wasn't working properly. Extremely sick and exhausted, or not, these things need fixing. Dave did amazing to do what he did feeling the way he did, but it took its toll and each day he was getting paler and losing weight rapidly. We had decided to get through Christmas,  re-asses and possibly go back to NZ. Dave's energy was very low,  he was pretty much getting up in the morning, having a coffee and some food and then going back to bed. He would just lie in bed most of the day reading and sleeping. I had never seen him so low on energy. 

 

               Feeling shite and still managing a smile while he fixes a toilet, my champion!

       

      

          Our Solomon style Santa, festive lights and wee bauble Christmas tree

Jane and Graham were back in Gizo/Fatboys with Graeme's son Sam aboard also.  I did an amazing snorkel with them on the reef behind Kennedy Island. It was rich with coral and fish and it was so good to be in the water. We ended up emerging from the snorkel at Kennedy Island and spoke to the caretaker who said we were welcome over anytime. You pay a small fee to use the island and we thought it would be a great place to spend some of Christmas day.

On Christmas eve Jane and Graeme and Sam were coming over for drinks and nibbles. Dave had managed to get out of bed and I presented him with a Christmas shirt I had got him in Honiara. He put it on and along with our Christmas headbands we took a Christmas photo. I was busy getting a platter ready when Dave came in from out front and said he felt terrible and had to go back to bed. So it ended up just being me and the Kalimera crew for Christmas Eve. We had a lovely time but it just wasn’t the same without Dave. 

Christmas morning came and we did breakfast on our boat and we were also celebrating Janes Birthday.  We had pancakes with bacon, banana and maple syrup and yoghurt with tropical fruit. No champagne on board and so I made espresso martinis for Graeme Sam and I and Jane had a bottle of non alcoholic bubbles for her and Dave. We had a great morning, exchanging gifts. Jane had made us a lovely lemon loaf as for us and I had made everyone little bags of homemade Christmas cookies. I’d also made a wee birthday cake for Jane out of some chocolate fudge slice I’d made and so we sung happy birthday to her as she blew out the candles. It was a really great morning and Dave did really well. 

We planned to go over to Kennedy island later in the day for a bit of a picnic, some pétanque and a Christmas hat making competition. Dave went down for a sleep and I got on with cleaning up.  We had a lovely time over on the Island. The Christmas hats made from things we found on the Island were very creative and some of the local kids who were there with their families started making their own hats after watching what we were doing. It was great to see them joining in the fun. We had a rather funny and quite critical voting session, and all points added up Sam ended up being the winner with his cute little jandal fascinator. We also played a game of petanque which the kids also joined in on. We had a lovley little snack picnic including delicious sushi Jane had made. Dave was really fading by now and so it was time to head back to the boats. It had been a great day and Dave had gone above and beyond getting into the Christmas spirit, he crashed as soon as we were back,  totally exhausted he slept 12 hours that night.

                   

Sam's winning jandal fascinator                                        

We really were quite creative. Dave definitely made an impact with his basket hat, but lost points as he thought Moses in a basket has something to do with Christmas, haha!                 It's not only about what you create but how you sell your creation 

                           

                                                                 
             It was such a beautiful spot and the local parrot joined us at the table 
                                                                                                                                

After a very quiet and restful boxing day we decided to contact the insurance company again. Dave was not getting better and we were seriously considering returning to NZ. 

They asked us to go back to Gizo hospital for more blood tests and get back to them. We took the boat back to Gizo and anchored near the town again. While waiting for the results the doctor admitted Dave and got him on fluids. We did this for 3 days, Dave staying in the hospital during the day and returning to the boat at night. After no improvement and another lot of blood tests showing very low haemoglobin, so low the doctor wanted to do a transfusion, the insurance company agreed we should book flights home.

We then had to decide what was the best thing to do. Did we both go and leave the boat or did Dave just go and I stay and look after the boat? We contacted Liapari and they said there was room there for us to anchor in the bay. 

But firstly Dave needed the blood transfusion, he wouldn’t handle a flight home without it. The doctor checked Dave's blood type and went to talk to the lab, which was now thankfully operating again. We were sent down to the lab only to be told they didn’t have Daves blood type, in fact they had very little blood at all and suggested we find someone to give us blood. I was not compatible, we asked Kalimera but they were not compatible either, and now not knowing anyone else we didn’t know what to do. The lab tech told us we could go down to the market and ask some locals!!! What!? Just walk the street and ask some randoms for blood, I’d really heard it all now. We went to see Patsy the receptionist who told us to leave it with her and come back in a few hours, she said she would ask around the staff and the police station. We returned later and they had found 2 people. One was not compatible but the other, the hospital physio was. Hooray! We were told to come back in the morning for the blood transfusion. That night we booked Daves flights for the 31st back to NZ. 

We had decided it was best I stay with the boat. It was a really hard decision and I was really upset as I really wanted to be there with Dave as by now we just didn’t know what was wrong and I was worried he would need support on the journey. But he was sure he would be fine to go alone once he got blood and if necessary I would fly back to NZ if things got more serious. 

And so this gave us the next morning to get the transfusion, then move the boat to Liapari in the afternoon and then a day to double check Dave had picked up enough to do the flight. Best made plans!! We got to the hospital at 8 am only to be told that the blood from the physio was no good as she had been drinking the night before. We were back to square one but were now on a time limit as we had flights booked. We asked to see the doctor and he told us to wait while he looked into it.  An hour and a half later they suddenly had some blood!?? Apparently it was in their blood fridge all along?? They were testing it for compatibility, while I was quickly googling what happens if you're given the wrong blood!! Thankfully it was compatible, They now had to put it to through the machine to separate the blood so we only had the red platelets. At 11am Dave was finally getting prepared for the transfusion, needle in hand and waiting, waiting waiting. At 1145 we were told they couldn’t find any transfusion kits and we would have to come back tomorrow while they tried to get some from Honiara. The lab tech had phoned his son who is a doctor at the hospital in Honiara to see if he could send some urgently. This was becoming a circus. We reiterated that we had to have the transfusion today as now having booked flights we were on a time limit. Another hour passed and next there was a nurse  arguing with the lab tech in pigeon. We managed to work out that they had found an emergency transfusion kit, possibly 2, but one was for a child and how bad was Dave and how low was his blood count. It seemed that perhaps someone else may be needing a transfusion and who was the most needy?? We really weren’t sure but this seemed to be the gist of it. Anyway another half an hour later the transfusion kit arrived and the transfusion was started. We just hoped that if what we had picked up in the conversation was right that the other transfusion could wait for the new kits to arrive. These hospitals really are in a bad way!! It is so sad. The doctors are great but can really only do so much. The transfusion was going to take a few hours so we had to shuffle our plans. We weren’t going to have time to get to Liapari today. We would do it first thing in the morning and that gave Dave the night there before he flew out.

        Another photo of Dave in a hospital bed, it felt like rinse and repeat! 

                                   But finally the blood transfusion was happening

So transfusion done, boat to Liapari, Dave was off on the longboat to the airport on the 31 December. He would be landing in NZ at midnight. I was in tears when he left and on tender hooks but he had contacted me from Brisbane to say he’d got there ok and wasn't feeling too bad considering.

The families who live at Liapari and run the boat facility there are just lovely and so welcoming. They asked me ashore to have new years dinner with them and another yacht had asked me over for a drink. I went ashore and had a lovely traditional dinner with the people who lived at Liapari village. They made me feel very welcome and special giving me a flower headband and serving me dinner first. It was a really lovely experience to celebrate with them. I would have loved to have stayed longer but was not very relaxed thinking about Dave. I stayed for a couple of hours and then went for a drink with the other yachts, but by 9.30 I headed back to the boat as I knew Dave would be landing in NZ soon and I wanted to be back for his call.

At 1030 my time 0030 NZ Dave called to say he had landed and was at his brothers and heading to bed, he was shattered but ok and he would be off to the hospital first thing in the morning. I could now sleep a bit easier. 

Dave went straight to emergency the next day and was admitted to the infectious disease ward. They very quickly established that yes he most likely had had dengue fever, but now he had Malaria! No wonder he wasn’t recovering. They very quickly got him on meds and within 24 hours he was on the mend. He was tired, about 10kg lighter but going to be ok. Whew! Dave was sent home from the hospital after a day and a night, with medication and follow up tests to be done. He spent the next 16 days in Auckland recovering. Thanks to everyone who had him over for dinner and started the weight gain process, especially my sister Trina who had him over 3 times and he actually managed to out eat her boys which is no mean feat. His appetite had definitely improved.

I was pretty happy on the boat in Liapari. It was very hot, I couldn’t swim - crocodiles! But I had plenty to do. The boat got a good clean and there was an old twin tub washer on land which I could use and so everything that needed it got a good wash. I did have to spend most of the day chasing the birds away and a couple of times there were items that needed re washed because of the birds!! Not to mention the bird poop I was constantly washing off the boat. Every time it rained I was out there like a mad lady scrubbing the roof, decks and solar panels. On top of the poop the birds also dropped some kind of seed which must come from a fruit they eat and so I was constantly sweeping these off too. I also had an ant attack, first ever on the boat, where they had come from I didn’t know and found about 4 hornet nests; so I was certainly kept busy. I quite enjoy being on the boat on my own. I get into a bit of a routine of exercise, cleaning and whatever else I want to do. I took a couple of trips to Gizo on the banana boat, once to re do my visa which was expiring and so had a nice coffee and some air con at the wee cafe there and got a bit of produce at the market. The second time I went in was for a stock up as Dave was almost ready to come back. Olivia on Juniper had arrived back from America, it was so good to see her and nice to have her company. I had some beautiful sunsets and stormy skies while I was there. It's amazing how you can be in one spot and it feels new every sunset.

My morning view 

and evening sunsets

 

Banana boat to Gizo with Tony to do my visa renewal  

                                                    Trip to Gizo market with Olivia and some locals from Liapari                                                                      

Morning serenity & stormy skies 

                                  I had some stunning stormy skies while in Liapari

I had kept in daily phone contact with Dave and was well across his progress. Once he had taken the correct medication he vastly improved. His first and second follow up tests were good and so he was almost ready to return. He decided to get his skin check done while he was in NZ and ended up having 2 growths removed. They were fairly big growths but both benign thankfully. He returned on the 17th January looking much better but still needed to put on some weight. I was very happy to have him back and in much better health, even with 2 lots of 15 stitches in his back.

Very happy to have my captain back, still a bit pale and underweight but nothing some days in the sun and some good food won't fix

We went to Gizo the next day and did some provisioning for the next part of our journey. I was very happy to be leaving Liapari after 17 days onthe boat on my own. Olivia on Juniper also left Liapari with us.

We headed to Vavohe bay, Kolombangara and met up again with Jane and Graeme on Kalimera and Kerrie and Tom from Australia, who we had briefly met earlier both at Roderick bay and at Fatboys. We had an amazing swim up the river in lovely freshwater. Great to be back in the water and fresh water was such a treat too. We went to the village where we were entertained by the bamboo band and singing. It was very good and we all had a bit of a boogie with some of the local characters and kids joining in.

              

           

           This village had some of the blondest haired kids we had seen. Just gorgeous

                               These two cuties paddled out to the boat with some 

                                          coconuts which they traded for cookies

We left Vavohe to get fuel in Noro - we had details from a facebook group and had called ahead to organise the fuel delivery. When we got to the dock we were a bit worried about tying on. It was a dock for really large boats and not ideal for our little cat. It had large bumpers about a metre square which would be great for really big fishing and container boats but not ideal for a Cat to pull up alongside. I was running up and down moving fenders as Dave steered us closer. Luckily it was pretty calm and we managed with the help of a couple of port guys to get tied on.  I  then climbed down onto the bumper and made the jump ashore to make a quick trip to the blue container shop and stocked up on a few things. It is owned by an Australian lady and she brings in Australian products. She was a bit low stocked but it was great to grab a few  harder to get things and a couple of treats for the pantry. When I got back the fuel truck had arrived with its oversized hose, again great for large boats not ideal for us. Dave was doing a great job handling it and getting the tanks filled. The pressure was high and unfortunately the tanks didn't get completely full as the pressure was causing the fuel overflow at just over 3/4 full. But the fuel we had was good clean quality so we were happy. Dave had to go to the office with the guys to pay, they dropped him back and then we were off to Kape Harbour, Kolombangara.  We motored all the way into the wind and very messy, bumpy swell. We were very glad to anchor in the remote bay, relax and listen to the birdsong. 

The next day we went to Mbambari Harbour, another bumpy ride, 20 knots on the nose and messy swell. Not particularly nice. Days like this you wonder why we are doing this! Thankfully it wasn’t far, only 3.5nm, but took twice as long as it should have.

We met up again with the other boats, had some locals come and trade vegetables and spent the next couple of days trying to get rid of flies, some places they have been so annoying! 

We left for Leva Bay, New Georgia but not before we saw a crocodile! It was pretty large and brought home that swimming in these parts was a definite NO!! Although Sam on Kalimera had jumped in for a quick dip that morning - very brave!!!! 

                                      Beautiful Sunset and an early morning Crocodile!!

We sailed most of the way to New Georgia and while it was raining and a bit squally it was a pretty good sail. We did lose the instruments again at one point and Dave found moisture in all the connections. The humidity is really playing havoc with everything.

There was no wifi here and while sometimes that can be nice I always feel a bit cut off. Dave had bought Starlink while he was in NZ but we had not been able to get it to work. We had Graeme and Sam look at it for us and we had set everything up right but no wifi. Eventually once we got in contact with Starlink using Kalimeras wifi - they have starlink that works! Starlink told us we needed a new cable which they would send to NZ!!! Not a lot of help, but thankfully I was going back at the end of February so could bring it back. Meantime we were back to occasional wifi either from a rare cell tower picking it up a signal from Kalimera, which if we were anchored close enough and facing the right direction worked great. The main thing is being able to get weather updates and so sailing with Graeme and Jane was great as Graeme was always up with the weather situation and Sam was a god send. Over the next week or so he spent hours on our boat helping Dave sort out why we were losing our instruments, it kept happening! He helped Dave do some rewiring and other electronic things. He even sailed with us one day so he could see what was happening with everything while we were on the move. We had a lot of wires and cables doing nothing so they all got removed and Sam helped Dave label everything so now he knows which wires are for what. Sam is an electronic genius and giving him beers didn't feel like near enough in payment.

We had 4 nights in Leva Bay New Georgia waiting for a good weather window for our next leg. It was a large bay with lots of bush and mangroves. Definite croc territory. We were visited by several friendly locals and traded for vegetables, fruit and lobster. 

We celebrated Australia day with Kerry and Tom from Australia on their yacht Aquatarious. It was a fun night with them and the Kalimera crew. We did get to see two more crocodiles on our last day here. They are quite amazing to watch - so stealth!

                                         One of our friendly visitors from the village               

  

Australia day - I added corks to Dave's hat and we just happened to have an 

Aussie flag bowtie on board

 

                                                                       Spot the croc!
                                          

                       They came out when it was cloudy and raining, very stealth!

On the 29th January we headed to the Arnarvon Islands. We had a pretty good sail, managing to sail most of the way there. It was so lovely to arrive and see turquoise water, especially after being in the deep green crocodile waters.

Arnarvon is a turtle sanctuary where Greenback and Hawksbill turtles come to lay their eggs. It is managed by a few guys from surrounding islands who do a great job of gathering data and looking after the eggs once they are laid. On our first trip ashore and walk along the beach we came across a turtle coming ashore to lay her eggs. It was incredible to watch the process of her digging the hole to lay the eggs in and just how exhausting it was for her. They use their back fins to dig, curving one to scoop out the sand and sort of balancing on the other one for traction. The hole is about half an arms length deep! Quite the effort. The rangers helped her afterwards to turn back towards the water and then they dug up the eggs to count them. She had laid 120 eggs. Incredible. The rangers then re buried them and covered the spot with palm fronds and some wire so that the hermit crabs and other predators couldn’t get in to eat the eggs. They then marked a stick with the date so they know roughly when the hatching will be - usually around 4-6 weeks. We were hoping to see some hatchings the next day but only got to see the last few runts of the litter that hadn’t been strong enough to make it on their own. One had already been attacked by the hermit crabs and had died and another had a damaged flipper. The rangers helped them out of the pit and off they went down the beach into the ocean. Hopefully they survived. I hope we get to come back here it was beautiful.

Not a bad place to anchor                                   The beach on the other side where the                                                                                        turtles come to lay (Me and Olivia)

                              Watching the turtle dig the hole and lay her eggs 

                                          

The effort of digging the very deep hole to lay the eggs in takes its toll  

Several times she rested and shut her eyes for a few seconds

                                     Extremely tired she make her way back to the ocean

                                                                 The egg count

                                                 

 The little babes we helped get to the ocean. Sadly they may not survive - only 1 in 1000 make it. But if they do the survive the females will return to this spot to lay their eggs. 

       

A lot of effort but he finally made it to the ocean

 

From here we stopped in Kia for some much needed supplies. Kia was a lovely wee place with most of the homes on stilts on the water. Supplies were a bit  scarce. We found some eggs which we shared between the 3 boats. Unfortunately most of Kerries had gone off! Beer was also in short supply. We found a shop that had some and the guy told Dave they had a lot so Dave bought 3 x 24 boxes to stock up as we knew there would be none available anywhere for quite a while. Graeme went to purchase some after us and there were none left. Apparently lots was 3 boxes, but considering they mostly sell the cans individually I guess it did seem a lot. We said Graeme could have a box but as he still had some he graciously declined knowing Dave had a mate coming. We sold on a box to Tom though as like Dave he was completely out.

We ended up staying the night here and left early the next morning for Santa Isabella. We had an amazing sail to Santa Isabella getting the asymmetric up, it was a really lovely sail. We motored through a beautiful scenic cut and made our way to another stunning anchorage - Vakao. Again beautiful and turquoise. We had a great day on the beach with Kalimera, Juniper and Aquatarious. Like all good Aussies Kerrie and Tom have a portable BBQ so we ate well, had a few drinks and played pétanque. A great afternoon off the boat. We had a shared lunch with John and Helen, a couple of locals who run a small surf/fishing resort that sleeps up to 10 people. Unfortunately for Dave he was unable to check out any surf as one of his wounds from his mole removals had opened up when we took the stitches out and he had a massive hole in his back, about 2 inches long. EEEk! One wound had healed perfectly but this one was right between his shoulder blades and just hadn’t healed and was now a huge open hole. We sought advice from a doctor friend of Olivia and he said all we could really do was keep it clean, washing it out daily with betadine and let it heal. Dave was not a happy camper!

A really gorgeous sailing day and beautiful scenery as we motored through the cut

Great day on the beach. Petanque took a bit of twist as we used coconuts to make up for the shortage of boules. Everyone had a turn with the coconuts to make it fair but you could choose any coconut. 

Lots of fun and laughs.

             Rules being discussed           Our choice of boules, we took turns with the coconuts              

A bit graphic sorry! but you can see why he was not happy. This was not healing anytime soon!

 Some good home baking, some bubbles and a cheese platter always puts a smile on his face.  A bit of a date night on the boat before I head to NZ

Some of the locals from the village we visited to see if we could get some produce from them. As always so happy and friendly. The next day they paddled out with fruit and vegetables which we traded for.

Our next destination was Papatura. I had flights booked from here to go back to NZ and Dave had his friend Nick coming to stay. The idea had been that they would spend a lot of time here surfing! Poor Dave, with Dengue, Malaria and now his open wound he was missing so much surf.

I had a lovely time back in NZ. I got to spend a lot of time with my kids and Mum & Dad and attended a friends wedding in the Coromandel which was great and meant I caught up with a lot of friends. It was so good Sidnie had made it back for the wedding too as it I got to spend so much time with her and Sam together, something that doesn't happen that often these days with all of us living in different parts of the world. We had some lovely walks up Mt Eden near Sam's place taking in awesome morning views and evening sunsets. I would have loved to have seen more people, especially my brother and his family in Cambridge and my sister and husband in Dunedin but the time flew by and  I was also fitting in dentist, doctors etc as you do when you've been living remote. Time just flew by. I did get to have a quick brunch with my cousin and a lovely dinner out with Jamie, Dave's brother who both being Auckland based made things a bit easier. I also got to see a couple of friends on the Cormandel who live near where the wedding was being held. Timing is everything sometimes too and I only got to see my sister who does live in Auckland for a night as she was going away for her holidays, but I luckily got to stay at her house and see a lot of my nephew.  So while it would have been nice to have another week to get to Cambridge and Dunedin I fitted a lot in including getting a lot of things we needed for the boat, returning with about 55 kg of extra luggage. That included the Starlink which I had taken back to test with the new cable and a new furler for our Genoa. Packing was going well and everything was fitting in just fine, then the zip on the bag broke! I decided to get a large box instead of another bag as I didn't want to rush buying something. With not a lot of storage on the boat a standard suitcase is not an option. Sam took me to the airport and thankfully came in with me as the box I had packed the furler and starlink in along with a lot of other stuff was a bit oversized and needed to be plastic wrapped. Sam helped me do this and go back and forward to check in. The tears flowed as we said goodbye, I didn’t know when I would see Sam next and it was just awful saying goodbye. I'd already had tears earlier saying goodbye to Mum and Dad. It never gets easier! One of the hardest things about living this life is being away from my family and my friends. 

                                                      

                                          Stunning views of Auckland city from Mt Eden 

       

                                                     A beautiful Beach wedding                      

                                             Dance Friends, Forever friends

     Farewell at Mum & Dad's before the airport, managed to hold 

the tears until I got in the car with Sam 😢

I got to my Fiji stopover and the box had gone missing - this was really stressful. I was really upset. They got me to fill in a missing baggage claim. They thought it was probably still in Auckland and would try to trace it. I had some dinner and was just lying down on a bench to get some sleep overnight while I waited for my flight next morning when one of the baggage ladies came up to me and told me they had found the box. She told me she had gone looking for it on her break and had found it in the domestic departure area. I was so thrilled I hugged her and couldn’t thank her enough for going above and beyond. Now I really could get some sleep.

I arrived in Honiara the next day with bag and box. I had one night there before I finally got back to the boat. 

I was so glad to finally arrive in Munda and be back in Dave's arms.

We got the luggage onto the tender and then zoomed over to the boat. When we were trying to get the large box from the tender onto the boat we dropped it in the water! Twice!! And Dave went in with it the second time. It was funny afterwards, but really not at the time. If anyone had been watching it would have looked like a comedy sketch. Thankfully Auckland airport making me plastic wrap the box pretty much saved the day. When we finally did get it on the boat everything inside was ok. Whew!!      

Now we wanted to get the Starlink set up. We spent a whole day getting all the cable down poles, through holes and behind walls so it was just where we wanted it. It was all ready to plug in and set up. But again it didn’t work, what the heck! I had tested it with Daves brother in NZ and it worked, so why didn’t it now?? We even had our friends on Salty - who were now also back in Munda- bring their cable over and tested it with that but it didn’t work with that either, it wasn't the cable this time, so we were back to square one. The dish would not talk to the modem.  When we tested it in NZ the modem and dish were basically right next to each other and it seemed with any distance between them they didn’t work. So now we were back to dealing with Starlink, which is not that easy as it is all on chat through the app. Finally they said they would replace the whole thing with a new Gen 3. Great. Only problem they would only send it to our registered address in NZ. We were getting the feeling we were just not meant to have starlink. 

That problem aside we hung out in Munda for just over a week, getting the boat restocked, which meant a couple of trips on the bus through to Noro to the blue container store. A really lovely bus ride through the bush. 

We celebrated Dave's Birthday with cake and presents and a night out with the Salty and Complicite crew.  We enjoyed having a fresh produce market on our doorstep and a not so bad restaurant too.  Dave was working on getting the new furler fitted, trying to fix the anchor winch which was continuously tripping and doing a few other boat jobs. On top of that our inverter started playing up and so we were having power issues, again! I got the sewing machine out and made some cushions - sewing time between 10 and 2 and only when the sun was out. 

We had Sidnie coming to visit before she returned back to work and so we were able to order a new inverter from Australia for her to bring from Brisbane where she had been visiting a friend. Easy, but in true Isis fashion nothing ever goes that smoothly! Poor Sid got to the airport in Brisbane and they weren’t going to let her check the inverter in. They thought it had a battery in it. She phoned us and long story short after a lot of stress for poor Sid and a ph calls including a call to the supplier to explain to the airport staff that the inverter charges batteries but does not contain a battery they said they would check it in. Meantime poor Sid had to get rushed through customs to make her flight and guess what? When she landed in Honiara the inverter was not on the plane. Really!! After all the drama in Brisbane! But thankfully we managed to trace it and get it on a plane to Munda from Brisbane. Solomon Air were fantastic to deal with. We had to wait 3 more days for it, but it arrived.  During those 3 days we did a couple more trips on the bus to Noro hunting down bits and pieces Dave needed to fix things and stocking up on a few more bits and bobs. 

Despite the jobs needing doing we still enjoyed some beautiful days and stunning sunsets

                                   Another day, another small space, but still smiling

Sewing up a storm 

Spoilt for choice at the market

Birthday Boy, and what was left of the birthday cake at the end of the day

Sticky date banana cake with caramel sauce goes down well!

                                              1 daughter safely arrived,  0 inverter

                                         Inverter arrives. One very happy Dave

So Sid and the inverter aboard it was time to go do some fun stuff. We set off for Lola Island, Zipola resort. We spent easter here which was really nice. We went to skull island and saw a lot of skulls and Dave actually had a wee surf. We enjoyed Easter Sunday lunch at the resort and finally felt like things were getting back to normal.

And the inverter got installed, Sid was so invested in this damn thing by now she actually helped Dave install it and helped him fix the anchor winch. Legend!  Installing the inverter turned into a bit of a drama. The new inverter was too big to go under the bed where the old one had been so it had to go on the wall which meant a whole new lot of wiring and Dave found a fuse not working so then we had to try and track down another fuse, because of course we didn’t have a spare the right size. Sid and Dave got there though and we celebrated when all systems were go. 

Nothing on a boat is easy, especially when you are in remote places, but amazingly you get there in the end.

Some of the many skulls on Skull Island and an old cooking pot maybe 😉??

                      Preparing the surfboard for a much awaited surf but not before 

             we have hot cross buns for breakfast with the Salty and Complicite crews

   Sid on the swing at Lola resort and doing a little boat job, a very 

productive crew member

We left Lola Island, stopping again in Noro - this time anchoring up getting some fuel for the tender and heading ashore in the hope the blue container would have new supplies. There were a few new things but sadly the new shipment had not been completely unpacked We then made our way back to Mbambari Harbour and then Leva bay New Georgia. No crocodile sightings this time, but beautiful birdsong and some lobsters which we traded for in Leva Bay. 

Relaxing and listening to the birds                       Sid on Croc watch!

                            

         

           

                                  SV Salty looking stunning in Mbambari Harbour

More beautiful Sunset skies

                                                         Pink skies and rainbows

                                    SV Salty under the rainbow sailing to Arnarvon 

Yes,  we were heading back to Arnarvon in the hope of seeing a big turtle hatching!!  Not such a smooth start to the sail as Dave got me to put a reef in the sail for the first time as I need to learn to do it. I lowered the sail and got the reef in fine but I took the sail up too tight when putting it back up and broke the reef latch!! Aaagh, I was so annoyed.   My steps in mastering sailing are definitely baby steps after 3 years they feel like very small steps. You learn from your mistakes though and I’m learning. Slightly slower than Dave would like but it’s just keeping on doing it over and over again to get confident.  Most of the time I am fairly confident especially taking the genoa in and out but the main sail is so big it freaks me out a bit. I just need a bit more faith in myself and a bit more practice with the main. 

We did manage to catch a fish on this sail but sadly it was a barracuda so it went back in the water. A bit of excitement, but no fish for dinner.

We had 4 amazing days in Arnarvon - the weather was beautiful and we did some pretty cool snorkelling out on the reef. It was so nice to be back in the water we went 3 days in a row. On one occasion we saw an octopus and watched it for about 15 minutes just moving around on a rock, they are such incredible creatures. Sid saw a massive turtle sleeping under some reef and we saw a little one swimming by. We also got to see 3 turtle hatchings and it was amazing! Both Greenback and Hawksbill babies. It is so incredible to watch them climb out of their sandy hole and make their way to the water. The rangers help them a bit so the process is quicker and the hermits don’t get to them. They dig a trench for them to follow to the sea from the hole. There were just so many of them clambering over each other trying to get to the water. (check out the reel on my instagram  Love_Laughter_ and_ a _ yacht) 

Sadly not all of them will survive, statistics say only 1 in 1000. Pretty sad!  Even as they entered the water there were reef tip sharks lurking ready for a feed. Of the females who survive they will return back to the very spot they were born to lay their eggs, and that is after possibly swimming off as far as the Great Barrier reef. Pretty mind blowing.

On our last day we got the boat into the shallows alongside Salty and got in to clean our hulls. We could almost stand on the bottom! 

It had been a great few days but it was time to get moving. 

    A bit grey and stormy looking when we arrived but still beautiful turquoise water

Our amazing turtle experience

                                         

 Sid Making a track so these little guys have an easier path to the water                    

Some of the amazing Arnavon turtle rangers              Us with one of the rangers and the Salty crew

A daily cooldown in the beautiful crystal clear water

                         

Enjoying a sundowner on the beach on the other side of the anchorage

                    

We next stopped in Via inlet which we discovered is a logging site. A guy came up in a canoe as we were anchoring and was pretty rude, we couldn't really hear as we were mid anchoring and so Dave asked him to wait until we had anchored but he took off. Once we anchored Dave went ashore to find him and told him we would only be there for a night and would be leaving first thing in the morning, was that ok? Dave said he was a bit odd but seemed to be ok with that. We then had several very friendly locals canoe up to the yacht to trade produce and we checked with them that it was ok for us to be there and should we come to see their chief. They said it was totally fine and were very happy with the trading,  as we were. A few fresh vegetables in the middle of nowhere are a godsend.  We even traded for some leafy vegetable that we weren't really sure what it was, but it was just so nice to see greens! We decided it was maybe a bit like spinach and so made a saagwala curry sauce and it was pretty good.  

Just before sunset a banana boat pulled up alongside with about 8-10 men aboard. Dave told Sid and I to stay inside and he went out to talk to them. They were staying at the logging site and were pretty rude and aggressive, they were demanding money for us to stay. Dave explained it was now too late for us to leave and that we had never been asked to pay for anchoring before, that we had our cruising permit and had paid our fees to the government. We actually had paid to anchor in a couple of bays where there were things provided for us and an effort was made for yachties, but these guys seemed to be on the scam. They said they would call the police to check our papers, to which Dave said that was totally fine. After a bit more chat they finally left.

It was a bit tense and we now felt pretty wary, so cancelled our sundowners with Salty and decided we should all stay on our yachts and lock up well for the night. We were up and off pretty early next morning!

We headed to Siruku Bay and lots of locals came to see us with fabulous produce to trade. We got pineapple, banana, limes and kumura. Our basket was full and just as well as the fishing had not been as successful, a couple of Barracuda only!  A bit disappointing and it wasn't for lack of trying, but that's the way it goes. Mel and Scott had a bit more success and had us over for a lovely Mahi-Mahi dinner - such a treat!

                                                     Pineapple delivery - YUM!

Another hop skip and a sail and we were at  Nughu point. Again very friendly locals and a small amount of trading was done. They told us there was a fresh water river to swim in so we went ashore for a fabulous cool swim. Some of the kids from the village came and joined us. The boys were playing on the shore with a bow and arrow. Dave, Scott and Mel joined the fun and all had a go. Sid and I chatted to 3 young teenage girls about school and what they studied. One had great English and she told us she wanted to become a doctor, another wanted to be a teacher and the third a policewoman. Great ambition for 3 young ladies on a remote Island. We encouraged them all to keep studying hard and they would reach their goals. They took a real liking to Sidnie and late that night as we were getting ready for bed they turned up at the boat with a sack  pampelmousse (kind of like a large sweet grapefruit) for her as a gift. It was so sweet of them and we were worried they were out in the dark but they said they were totally fine. We wondered why they came so late but we think they had had to wait for the boys to return with the canoes before they could come to see us as the boys were out in the canoes until just after sunset.

Next stop Choiseul Bay Taro where Sidnie would fly out from and we would check out of the Solomons from.  We caught a nice tuna on the way and so it was Tuna for dinner that night. ery happy. We decided to make Sushi but the Nori sheets had been on the boat quite some time and had all stuck together but in the end it wasn't a bad effort. It was just so nice to have fresh fish. Sid wasn't actually with us when we caught it as she had sailed with Salty that day, but she had also reeled in a nice tuna on their boat!

                   

We found a nice wee anchorage not far from Taro - Poroporo / Kondakanimboko Island. What a name! We went ashore the next day for a look around and to see what provisioning we could get. There wasn’t a lot but the market was fairly good, we got some tomatoes and a kind of bok choy we could use for salad and we got eggs at one shop. We went to check out the airport and where we could take the tender in when Sidnie left. Sid and I spoke to the guy at the airport about her flight. She had very little time to make her international flight once she got to Honiara and we were a wee bit worried. We asked if there was anyway he could let Honiara International know she would be on the flight from Choiseul. He said he would. Not that that was overly reassuring. The domestic flights don’t always run to the set schedule. One flight we heard of was delayed as they had to change a tyre at one of the stopovers!!! 

Anyway the next day she got a call from the guy at the airport telling her he could get her on another flight first to Gizo then to Honiara and it would get her there in plenty of time for her international flight. What a legend!! We went to see him to double check everything and sure enough this flight with one stop-over would have her in Honiara in plenty of time for her international flight. Big relief. The day she checked in the very same guy was doing the 

check-ins, weighing and tagging bags and was then getting ready in his high-vis to go out and wave the plane into landing - man of all trades!

We decided to have a snorkel that afternoon. We saw some nice floral corals and a few fish, nothing amazing but it was nice to be in te water again as we hadn't swam since Arnavon.  Later we were told by a local not to swim there as there would most likely be crocs around! eeeek!! Lucky!!

We went and officially checked out of the Solomons on the 15th April, we had been here for 7 months. We got more spare fuel for the tender as we didn't know when we would next be anywhere to top up. It poured with rain while we were getting it which was such a nice cool down, but also meant we were grateful for the new sealed runway at Choiseul airport as a grass one, which quite a few are here, would have possibly meant Sid's flight being cancelled!

We spent our last night with Sidnie enjoying a nice meal and the next day took the tender to the beach by the airport and wheeled her bags up the runway - Only in the Solomons!! Her flight was delayed so we had a tearful farewell at the terminal. We couldn’t wait to see her get on the plane as we had to get going to get to our next anchorage, wanting to arrive before we lost light. I cried all the way back to the tender. I knew I would probably be seeing her again in a few months but it never makes saying goodbye any easier.

Stocked up again with eggs it was Tuna and egg salad with tomatos, which we hadn't managed to get since Munda, and salad greens, sometimes the 

simplest things make you happy

Bit of a trim before we leave the Solomons 

Mel and I outside the immigration office and Dave looking over the signing of our exit paperwork

               

In the rain getting fuel

                           Walking up the runway to the check in office at Choiseul Airport

                              

Legend airport 'man of all trades' who changed Sids flight

                                                                                           & farewell until next time 😢 It's never easy

We lifted anchor and set off. We were buddy boating with Salty still and would be with them all the way to Indonesia.  We sailed to Oema Island - still actually in the Solomons, but Papua New Guinea here we come. 

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed the second part of our Solomons journey. 

Love to all our family and friends. Miss you all. Papua New Guinea post coming soon 

Much love 

Tracey and Dave