Journey to the Solo's

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Before clearing Vanuaut we spent one extra day in Luganville. I was keen to scuba dive the Coolidge another time, so myself and 3 others got up early and caught the morning session. This time the guide took us inside the wreck! We went in a door at about 100ft down called Ewett's door, supposedly the last place Mess Cpt. Ewett was seen as the liner sank. Dropping into the door veritcally was like floating down an elevator shaft that decended into darkness. Armed with torches we eventually were 3 floors down and began to traverse horizontally down a large corridor. Incredibly surreal. Way up you could catch a glimpse of blue light through the odd port hole. Coral and angel fish are everywhere. the hallway ended in a large room with an old fireplace hearth and mantle. Above it was the ships crest- a woman in front of a white horse. We had been instructed that it was customary to kiss the woman on the mouth, so we all did that removing our regulators form our mouths. We then passed through some narrow doors, up and over fallen girders eventually to the vehicle hold where we could vividly see an upside down tank, an old jeep wrangler witht the same design grill as they have today. We also passed through the ships head(bathroom) which had a row of toilets mounted across the ceiling.


We got into the Solomon Islands a couple of days ago, and then spent a day sailing along the islands to the central main island of Guadalcanal, where the capital Honiara is. The trip here took four days at sea, we had some good winds and past through a couple of intense electrical storms with bolts of lightning all around us. The atmosphere was so charged that it caused a phenomena where the maintop mast and the counter stays (metal cords at the top of the ship) were glowing. Sailors call this St. Thomas' fire, pretty insane. We also caught another Marlin and a group of dolphins were swimming in the waves around us. I have seen every sunrise and sunset this last week, all have been excellent. Sailing this traditional boat around the coral sea is totally surreal. With nobody around for miles and lying on the bowsprit half asleep with the noise of the wind in the sails- its easy to imagine that you've gone back in time to the days of Captain Cook. One day there was a lull in the wind and the boat pretty much stopped completely. So we swam around the boat- the depth at that point was close to 8000ft, so I was careful not to drop anything as I'm pretty sure I couldn't hold my breath for that long. Visibility was easily 50ft. Could see lots of fish backdropped by the blue abyss. The rope swing has had some good use. We were doing back flips as the crew watched out for sharks and jellyfish. That same afternoon we had a Halloween party on deck- most abstract party of my life. floating on a tallship, alone on the coral sea, music blaring Michael Jackson's Thriller and 30 people dressed in rediculous costumes dancing on the booms on the rigging and everywhere else. Myself and two buddies were dressed as Fire fighter calendar posers with our waterproof overalls and aviators. sweet.


Santo Espiritu (where we just were) was the main US strategic position for their campaign against Honiara (where we are now). This place was the centre of the Pacific WW2 action. 30,000 Americans died trying to wrestle this postion away from the Japanese- they eventually won it and many more Japanese died. There are memorials everywhere. The bay in front of the town is called Iron Bottom Sound because close to 70 US ships and destroyers were sunk out there. I'm going to try and dive there before we leave.


The culture here is cool. I'm getting a good taste of Melanesia, which is very different to Polynesia. As we move west (vanuatu-solomons-papua new guinea) it seems the people are becoming more darker skinned, and the areas are more remote and less developed. In Vanuatu cannibalism has pretty much ended. In remote areas of the Solo's they still eat people, worship sharks, and there was almost a civil war here a few years ago caused by warring tribes. Apparently PNG gets better, with headhunting, active cannibalism and head shrinking. Still cool places to visit. I've been getting some sweet photos.



We are heading out tonight towards Morovo lagoon and Gizo island- Morovo is apparently the largest lagoon in the world and ranks right up there in terms of beauty. Lots of WW2 wrecks and Japanese Zero planes which I'm itching to dive. Gizo island is supposed to be a cool, remote island where we'll probably spend a week or so. I've done some research and apparently there are 5 surf spots in the area- one called Skull island. Then the plan is to keep heading NW through the Treasury and Shortland Is, to Bougainville PNG by the end of the month. I read an article about a Japanese soldier that was stationed on an island out there and was discovered in 1965. He was by himself and didn't know that WW2 was over. Poor guy- double disappointment- knowing he was on the losing side and that he'd wasted 20yrs of his life.

Its been great stopping into this port with internet and a/c, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow andgetting back off the beaten path to spend some more quality time at a remote village somewhere.

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