Sunday 24 August 2008

Honiara Part 2!

Back in Honiara we soon were joined by s/v Luna & s/v Emelia, with whom we have been bumping into for some time. Emelia & Barraveigh will be buddy boating together for next leg to PNG & then around the northern side of PNG into Indonesia. Fewer boats sail this route, most opting for the Torres Straight between Australia & PNG but we are taking the route less travelled. With the two boats together we hope to experience less problems with pirates & hoping there is safety in numbers. Unfortunately for Emelia awaiting the seal for our transmission is becoming a bit of a nightmare. It never seems to make it onto the plane in Australia! No complaints from me, each day we are here I get to enjoy a roti & ice cream!
I finally treated myself to a night on land. My parents very kindly bought me an early birthday present, a weekend diving. I think Mum wanted to take it back when she realised one of the dives was going to be with manta rays! I had a fantastic time, completing 5 dive including a night dive & a wreak dive. Unfortunately the manta rays weren't working on our schedule but my confidence underwater has come on leaps & bounds.

To be in Honiara during the anniversary of the American landings was very special. Beautiful wreaths packed full of orchids were placed at the American memorial & even here at the yacht club. Now for a short history lesson! During WW2 the Americans attempted to land right here on the beach at Point Cruz where the yacht club stands. The Japanese lay in wait only opening fire once all the troops had disembarked. Signalman First Class Douglas Munro, officer in charge of a group of Higgins boats led five small boats to the shore to rescue nearly 500 solders. He put his boat with two small guns on board between beachhead & the enemy fire allowing the troops to shelter behind & evacuate. Douglas Munro was killed by enemy fire towards the end of the evacuation but was awarded the Medal of Honor (no I haven't misspell it, its a yank medal so I should spell it their way!!) for his bravery that allowed so many soldiers to survive. As I write this I am sat looking out over the calm waters of Point Cruz with the sea gently lapping up on the beach. It's hard to imagine all the fighting that went on right here.

During the anniversary we were honoured to meet a very special man, Theron MacKay (known as Mac). An 84 year old American Navy veteran who was a seaman in the Solomon Islands during WW2. His boat, LST-342, was torpedoed on 18th July 1943. Amazingly he survived. Thrown into the water during the explosion he swam to the bow of the boat, which had broken off & miraculously still floating. Other survivors pulled him out the water & up onto the bow. They were rescued the following day. Of the 85 crew only 5 men survived, along with only a handful of the 100 troops onboard. Mac has returned to the boat to lay a wreath for the last 10 years in memory of his lost comrades. It was a true honour to meet this lovely man & moments spent with him will never be forgotten. In the rush of our busy lives we rarely reflect on how different it could have been had all those young men from all the allied forces not fought for their countries. As time marches on there are very few still around to tell their stories & the first hand experiences will all too soon remain only in history books.

I will never forget working in Central London during a Remembrance Day Parade. Proud elderly men walking behind their ensign or being pushed in wheelchairs by their comrades. I was moved to tears & bitterly disappointed at people from my own generation who show these men very little appreciation. This November buy a poppy & wear it with pride. Wear it & remember it displays your respect for all those men who have fought in the many wars fighting for our futures.


photo courtesy of Greg Barr

Wednesday 20 August 2008

Retracing our steps

We were 12 hours out of Honiara when we had to make a decision. 12 hours of motoring due to no wind, led us to notice we had a transmission fluid leak. Bobby made the hard decision to turn around & head back to Honiara where we knew there were the facilities & expertise to fix the problem. It is horrible go backwards when we have so far to go but it was the right decision.


Bobby immediately hit a low - I think it was the thought of the 185 American dollars we had just burnt in fuel for going no where! To make it worse we turned back into a strong current doing 3 knots at the best. It didn't do too much for the flagging spirits. I didn't tell Bobby that when he went to bed we were only doing 1 knot! Even the dolphins swimming at our bow weren't impressed at our slow speed.

We came back into Honiara bay at night & dropped anchor. 24 hours at sea & we were back where we started. It's all part of the adventure!

Honiara

I haven't boarded a plane home, I'm staying & have loved our time in Honiara. We arrived tired & are leaving fully recovered. For those of you who haven't got a clue where in the world the Solomon Islands are, get onto google earth! It's east of Australia & south of Papua New Guinea. The name Guadalcanal may ring a few bells. This is where the Japanese & the Americans battled it out during WW2. I have trekked over hills, through jungle & jumped in & out of Japanese fox holes & imagined what those men went through. Much of the island is as untouched & undeveloped as it was back in 1942. Rusting Japanese & American WW2 tanks, jeeps, planes equipment lay where they were left. A few days of discovering war paraphernalia was enough for me so I left the boys to dig up fox holes whilst I sat by the pool with a good book.


Honiara is not a pretty town by any standard but it wove a magic spell on me & I love it. I will admit to feeling apprehensive upon first walking down the street. Metal grates pulled down over every shop & drunk guys loitering on the street, one of whom took offence when Bobby won't hand over his ice cream! The pavement & shop fronts are littered with red splodges. It looks like someone has taken a pot of red paint & flicked a paint brush everywhere. This decorative red that the Solomon people put all over their towns & villages is the result of betel nut. Every country & society has its drug of choice but this is the worst I have seen to date! You chew a green looking nut the size of a small kiwi fruit, your mouth is then full & you look like a hamster storing food in your cheeks! You then dip a green bean (like a runner bean) into a ground white lime powder & put that in your mouth. The combination turns your mouth bright red & at some point you have to spit the contents out & apparently the nearest bit of pavement is acceptable! In this country you don't see “do not litter signs” instead there are “no spitting” signs & job adverts in the paper state the list of qualifications required & “must not chew betel nut”! Bobby, a willing guinea pig to try anything once, only managed to cope with the nut in his mouth for a matter of seconds before spitting it all out due to the horrible taste. I just wasn't quick enough with the camera!


Honiara quickly grew on us. Yes, it looks a little rough & Sunday is not a day to walk around town as all the men have been spending the weekend drinking but underneath the rough exterior the people as with all the South Pacific are wonderfully friendly & smiley. Honiara has a big expat community. Due to the ethnic tension the country experienced a few years ago the Australians have stepped in & assisting the country to get back on its feet again. The yacht club here in Honiara is the expat & local hang out. Only about 3 boats actually remain here in Honiara & there were no other cruisers when we arrived so we were somewhat of a novelty. The local people were much friendlier that the expats & the staff at the yacht club just couldn't do enough to assist us.


We met Laurie, an ozzie guy working out here who became a firm friend. He drove us up to the villages where we all clambered about the ridges where battles took place in the war. The local boys picked a bunch of wild flowers for me which I placed on the American War Memorial. Bobby & Laurie seemed to be having a competition over how many grenades (still with pins!) they could find. I made sure I was standing some distance from them! We took a walk through the fantastic jungle to an amazing waterfall. Bobby was given a piggyback through the many rivers as he didn't want to get his boots wet (check photo gallery for his embarrassing photo) whilst I waded through like a real man! Towards the end of the walk (some four hours!) his boot totally gave in & the sole completely came off! Walking through a field past a village church with beautiful singing pouring out & the children running out of church towards us – not too sure the vicar would have been too impressed with us unintentionally interrupting his service!


We have stayed here much longer than we expected, there is no beach & you can't swim in the ocean here due to the raw sewage but have I have enjoyed every minute. It's time to leave we have too keep going, we did consider staying for a year & getting jobs but after weighing up the options we are moving on. Its time to get to those islands & Thai curries!