Some of my best and worst experiences in the Solomon Islands have involved boat travel.
Banana boats, small fiberglass dinghies with outboard motors are the preferred method of travel between Honiara and the Central Province where there are a couple of great resorts. They are also the main means of transport to get to remote villages that are not accessible by road.
The most traumatic experience I had was on the way back from a weekend in Maravagi, which is an amazing spot for snorkelling and just generally relaxing.
Setting off from the Honiara ‘wharf’
I was away with a big group of friends to celebrate a 30th birthday for a weekend. It is about 1 ½ to 2 hours by boat and on the way out there the heavens opened and we were drenched to the core. But that was nothing compared to the way back where we were in at least 2 metre swells (scary when the boat sits about 20 cm out of the water at most) and the boat drivers had absolutely no idea what they were doing.
Instead of navigating through the waves as a good driver would he was just trying to power through them. I almost knocked my teeth out on the front of the both on one particularly big misjudged wave. But the really scary bit came when we hit not one but two logs with the motor! The boat flew into the air and the motor screamed and I really thought we were going to die. What was making it worse was that I had forgotten to pack the E-Perb (personal locator beacon) so if we did go into the drink it was going to be my fault that no one could find us to rescue us! Sitting in the middle of the ocean in huge swell with the motor not working and bailing out water from the boat, I was too scared to even turn around and look back to see if the back of the boat was still there. I am eternally grateful to my good friend who engaged in my nervous chatter for the whole trip and helped when I was starting to really panic. We eventually got back to Honiara and I headed off to work as planned as it was Monday morning but I clearly showed the signs of distress as my colleagues sent me off home to ‘rest’ and recover from the trip.
The second terrible trip was a 6 hour overnight ferry to Malaita to attend the Shell Money Festival at Langa Langa lagoon, an absolutely gorgeous spot. Now if you are squeamish it might be a good idea to skip the next paragraph or two.
We hopped onto the ferry and it was pretty full but we managed to get seats upstairs so we settled in for the journey. We were quite a spectacle with our AVI issued bright yellow lifejackets which we kept in a big bag but the safety officer who was demonstrating the use of the on board lifejackets was delighted to point out the Missuses with the yellow lifejackets.
Shortly after this there was a commotion on the side of the boat when a banana boat came and buzzed the side we were on, someone was late getting to the ship and had missed out, the boat slowed and the captain said over the loud speaker that it was ok for them to pull up and come on board. Crazy!
Now I have been known to struggle with seasickness from time to time, particularly if I am below deck without a breeze, generally outside I am ok. This night we were inside with not much breeze and with it being pitch black there was no horizon for me to look out to and it was rough! So the inevitable happened and I eventually throw up, luckily into a sandwich bag that I had on hand.
The awkward part came next as to what to do with the offensive material? There are no such things as bins in the Solomon’s and the bag was heavy and warm, yuck! There was a local older man sitting behind me and he said throw it into the sea! I argued that I couldn’t throw plastic into the ocean. Now being an older local man he is someone I am considered below and need to respect. He was quite insistent that I throw it away because it was food for the fishes, what does another piece of plastic in the sea matter? And that holding it is going to make me be sick again. My friend told me the story today of how she had been sleeping, opened her eyes to see me holding the bag, listening to the man and then shrugging my shoulders and flinging the bag out of the window! Not my proudest moment and my apologies for littering but sometimes you just have to swallow your beliefs and your pride and go with the flow. I did make sure I threw it hard though so it didn’t land on anyone on the lower deck!
The funniest part of that trip was getting off the ferry. The tide was out which meant the deck was about a metre below the pier which made for an awkward climb up onto the pier. Luckily there were plenty of people about to help the hopeless white women trying to get off the boat!
Arriving at the Auki Wharf in Malaita, taken from the upper deck
All of the drama was quickly forgotten though when we were cruising through the lagoon at about midnight over clear calm waters under the full moon and the stars with intermittent torch light for navigation, one of my favourite memories of the Sollies.
There aren’t any particular trips I remember as being the best but many times I have just felt my heart swell with gratitude and happiness cruising over open water with the wind in my hair and sea spray covering my face. I have seen countless flying fish, Manta rays leaping and somersaulting into the air and just the clearest blue waters you could imaging in your wildest dreams. Families travelling in their canoes and waving is also a heart-warming sight.
Heading home from church on Easter Sunday
The boat trips is one of the big things I am going to miss on leaving the Sollies but I will take many good memories with me.
Thanks for reading,
El
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