Linda's update to Ali Island, Papua New Guinea:






Some of the restaurant staff onboard the Silver Explorer having some fun in the sun, very well deserved.

Love the reports, Jim! Fabulous photos Linda!

We had 1½ days at sea travelling from Papua New Guinea to the Solomon Islands, arriving at dock in Honiara just after lunch. It was very smooth sailing across the Solomon Sea and the time was filled with interesting lectures. Honiara is the capitol city of the Solomon Islands Group and is on the island of Guadalcanal, which was the site of some well-known WWII battles against the Japanese. The ship was greeted by a local pan flute band which had very small flutes some larger ones which were blown on and some really large ones (bamboo pipes 3 to 6 feet long) which were beat like drums with some sort of flexible flapper that looked like the sole of a shoe. The music was a fast beat and melodic. The same group came back to send us off at sailing time. There was a bus tour to a cultural center on the outskirts of town where a “traditional village” where a dance was performed and some food tasting provided. Since we’ll see genuine remote villages the next 2 days we opted to stay behind and walk into town, as did many others, and we were told later that we didn’t really miss anything. We joined a group, including some Expedition Team members, and walked into the town and to the historical museum which was closed but had a carvers market. The Solomons are noted for their wood carvings with shell inlay, and the carvers in Honiara are among the best. The carvings are intricate, beautiful and expensive. The mahogany carvings are also very heavy. There are some shopping addicts on this cruise and I wonder how they will get everything home. It’s Saturday and many shops were closed and those open weren’t very interesting. It’s too bad that we didn’t have a snorkeling trip to the areas around the harbor where there are sunken boats, planes, tanks and other WWII remains. The Simpsons, Baileys & Bittles went to the upscale hotel for SolBrew, a local beer.

Jim's Photos from Honiara, Solomon Islands:






Pat, Linda, Jim, Chris, Ken, & Sheila,

Linda & Jim, thanks for the amazing photos and seamail.

We anchored off Santa Ana (Owaraha) Island in the Makira-Ulawa Province of the Solomon Islands at 9:30 on a beautiful sunny morning. It was a short Zodiac ride to a wet landing where we were greeted by spear carrying warriors challenging us to see if we came in peace or for war. While we waited for everyone to get on shore we walked around looking at the various crafts for sale. They had the Solomon style wood carvings, but of lesser quality compared to Honiara. There were the usual crowds of villagers around and plenty of laughing & smiling children. Many of the children had light brown hair that looked dyed but we were told it was genetic and also lightened by the hours they spend in the water & sun. We all gathered in a field area for a number of dances that told various stories. A pan pipe band like we saw in Honiara played their fast beat music. There were 3 women’s dances, one of which had 5 women blowing conch shells, and 3 men’s dances. During the final dance of both men & women, the Mud Men came out. They had on tree bark head covering masks and were completely covered in a tan mud. Then men with black ash covering their bodies came out and a mock battle happened. It was really hilarious with the black men poking the Mud Men in inappropriate places and the village crowd really laughed, particularly the children. Then the Mud Men suddenly ran off into the woods chased by the black men. It is a very popular dance to the villagers and portrays the attempted invasion by Polynesians (Mud Men) and the successful defeat and chasing away of the Polynesians by the Melanesians (black men.) Apparently the skit is always a bit slapstick and a great entertainment to the village. When that was finished we listened to some more pan pipe music and then returned to the ship for lunch. All of these villages we’ve seen had a few small solar panels and teenagers had iPhones and ear buds, so there is a connection to the real world. After lunch we returned to the beach for some snorkeling on the reef. The water wasn’t very deep and was a bit cloudy in places but we saw plenty of fish. We came across a beautiful blue anemone with several bright clown fish in it. As I was taking a picture, one clown fish (Nemo perhaps) kept darting towards the camera to chase us away.

Photos From Nikon Ken:

Photos From Jim:

The above photos are from Santa Ana (Owaraha) Island in Solomon Islands.
Jim

Photos From Linda at Santa Ana, Solomon Islands I just had to Post:

Another WOW Linda!

Nikon Ken's Photos From Loh Island, Vanuatu:




The Old Chief.


The Chief.


Ceremonial Dances.




Coconut Crab.


These women were brought over from another island specifically for the visit. They made amazing
noises in the water using their arms and hands, they imitated lots of sounds including the dolphins.






Three pretty ladies.

Malo Island is in the Santa Cruz Islands region and on February 6, 2013 a 7.9 scale earthquake in the Solomons caused a 3 meter tsunami that did extensive damage to Malo & several neighboring islands. The types of thatch homes they build can be replaced and it was in fairly good shape. Fortunately the reef avoided destruction and snorkeling was great. The reef extended far out from the island and dropped off so steeply that the ship couldn’t anchor and had to maintain position with its engines. We headed ashore at 10:30am and there were a lot of children out in their small canoes which didn’t have outriggers. We had a wet landing and walked 100 meters or so into the village where several locals had craftwork for sale and another pipe flute band was playing. Tapa cloth, made from the inner bark of various trees is one of their crafts and is also used for clothing. Quite a variety of tapa was for sale. The large flutes were of PVC pipe. Once we were all there the dancing began. There was one man blowing a conch shell and several men dancers in tapa loincloths performed along with 2 topless women. They did quite a number of dances including some that had the kids in hysterics. After the adults there was a dance by young boys followed by a dance symbolizing a funeral. The dances were much different from on the previous islands. One group of women under a tree had a fire going as we arrived and they were heating stones. During the performances they made a traditional dish by piling a cabbage and taro on a large leaf, covered by a leaf with hot stones placed on top. This was done in several layers and was available to taste as we left. It was really delicious and resembled steamed & buttered spinach. We made our way back to the ship for lunch and returned to the beach early afternoon to snorkel. The reef wasn’t deep but had an amazing variety of hard & soft coral. There were far more fish than on previous days and we saw lots of blue starfish as well as some strange pentagon shaped thick starfish with no arms. Clams that were florescent blue, green & brown colored were imbedded in hard coral. It was by far the best snorkeling we have had on this trip. This was our final stop in the Solomon Islands and as we sailed away towards Vanuatu, during Sundowner Cocktails & Tapas on the back deck, we spotted a cloud formation jutting up in a column from the cloud bank and it had a rainbow in it, quite a unique sight, and it was followed by a spectacular sunset.

Wow, all these pictures are just fantastic. I would have tried the cabbage dish.

This is exactly what you hope for from an expedition trip. What an unbelievable adventure. Thanks for the wonderful pictures and narrative.

This has been a once in a life time experience. The six of us LCTers have had a wonderful time with incredible memories.

It's our last island today and hopefully we'll be able to get in…..50/50 chance last night as wind has been a bit strong. We'll all be disappointed if we don't manage it.

I loved all the incredible photos and reports. It was nice to see you all together relaxing and enjoying your beverages on Honiara!

Yesterday we skipped Loh Island, our first stop in Vanuatu, because it was raining & windy. The people who did go to the island had a wet & windy visit and got wet on the Zodiac rides due to the swells, but they enjoyed it anyway. After all our busy days it was nice to have a break. The dinner was “Melanesian Night” where everyone was encouraged to wear necklaces, headbands and whatever they purchased in Melanesia. The dining room was decorated with palm fronds & flowers and the wait staff also dressed for the occasion. One of the highlights was an Australian couple who dressed to the hilt including a penis gourd on the man. It was a lively evening and we all had fun.
Oct 15. Vanuatu was formerly known as the New Hebrides and was administered by both France and the UK as the British-French Condominium until independence in 1980. Prior to independence there was The Coconut War where an uprising led by Jimmy Stevens tried to make Espiritu Island a separate independent state. Neither France nor Britain entered the fray so the incoming government asked for help from Papua New Guinea which sent troops and quelled the 12 week war. Stevens & his rebels fought with only bows & arrows, slings and rocks so there were few causalities. The Zodiac runs to shore began at 8am and it was a short ride so we all got on shore quickly. We were greeted by girls putting frangipani flowers in our hair and a string band played. Vanuatu music is done with guitars, ukuleles and wood drums. Villagers would gather us in groups of 6 to 8 and walked us from the landing site to the village and told us a bit about their island. The first thing that impressed us was that villagers hadn’t cleared large areas of trees for their houses but built in amongst the foliage. It was a very picturesque setting with everything clean & neat. We were taken to a ceremonial clearing to watch various dances. There were supposed to be dancers from 3 villages, but only 1 showed up, however they improvised and did some unplanned but traditional dances. They wore practically nothing but palm leaf wrapped around their penis and held in place bu a leather belt. Some had body paint, headdresses and anklets of shells which made tambourine sounds as they stamped around. One final dance was termed “Bamboo Wrestling” which was meant to demonstrate the magical & spiritual power of bamboo. At the end of the dances we were again organized into small groups and toured around the village to visit various demonstrations of village life. We saw traditional fire making, yam planting, copra gathering, trapping of wild chickens and mat weaving. Our small group had a guide named Peter who gave us some extra. At his property he knocked down some nuts and cut them open for us to taste and they were delicious. The nuts grow in a cluster with the yellow flowers looking like a bottle brush before growing the nuts. We also stopped for a kava tasting that most of the others missed. Kava is a root that is shredded, soaked in water and then put in a cloth and squeezed to get the juice out into a bowl. It looks like muddy water, is used for ceremonial purposes and slightly numbs the inside of your mouth. It’s not narcotic or alcoholic and had an interesting flavor and is common in Vanuatu and the Fijian islands. We then walked through the rest of the village and learned that they produce cocoa, mango, copra (the coconut meat) and coffee beans for export. They also grow their own taro, yam & kava for village use. There were a few mats of artifacts for sale and I bought a Tusker beer, same name as in Africa, but brewed on Espiritu Santo and is a tasty Vanuatuan lager. The doctors again ran a clinic and were frustrated that there was little they could do without facilities. They saw a young child which was blind, another who had lost most of her hearing from a previous bout with pneumonia and an adult with a heart problem so serious that she would die very soon. We had free time to swim in the warm clear water, but there was no reef to generate good snorkeling. What reef there was had an excessive grouping of Crown of Thorn starfish, a reef destroying species. During the afternoon sailing we had a choice from 3 discussion groups, WWII in the Pacific, Tropical fish or tropical birds and we chose the WWII for some interesting history.

Tanna Island is our last stop in Vanuatu and the final stop of our cruise before we debark in Fiji on the day after tomorrow. Tanna is well visited by plane because of an active volcano so the villages aren’t as remote and have schools, clinics and plenty of vehicles, mainly pickup trucks. Each of the islands we have visited in Melanesia have a specific Christian religion based on the first missionaries to arrive and affect their traditional culture. Tanna is Seventh Day Adventist. It is also home to the John Frum Cult which began in the 1930s and gained popularity just after WWII. When the Americans had bases here, a lot of cargo was flown or parachuted in and, when they left, the followers of John Frum constructed mock landing strips, aircraft & buildings believing that the spirits would encourage cargo to again be brought to them and they became known as a “Cargo Cult.” February 15 of each year is known as John Frum Day in Vanuatu and that day is believed to be when John Frum will return with cargo.
We anchored just outside of Resolution Bay and took a 15 minute Zodiac ride to the beach of Port Resolution (named after Capt. Cook’s ship) for a wet landing on a black volcanic sand beach. A small string band was playing to greet us and we walked into the wooded area where there were bamboo pole benches set up around the ceremonial ground. There were a few artifacts for sale, but nothing of any quality. 3 sets of dances were performed by men & women in grass skirts and each told a story. After the performances we all got into the backs of pickups and were driven up the mountain, over a rough & bumpy dirt track, to the Port Resolution Village where we went into the school lunch room where the children sang for us. We then toured around the village which wasn’t as neat and orderly as at previous villages in Vanuatu. The homes were made of a mix of wood, thatch, corrugated metal and cinder block with no standard architectural style. We saw demonstrations of mat weaving, cooking & pig feeding. Due to the distance to the ship there was a lot of standing around waiting for Zodiacs to make their round trip and the string band played on the beach for us. They had 3 guitars and a bass made from a wood box with a string attached to it and one end of a wood pole on which the player changed the tension to make the different notes. The players were all singing and having a grand time of it. The ride in the Zodiac back to the ship was rough & wet due to the wind & swells. After lunch there was an opportunity to return to the island and visit the top of the volcano. We had been advised that to get to the volcano required a 55 minute ride up a very bumpy and mostly washed out dirt road sitting in the back of pickups followed by a 15 minute hike up a dirt or mud track. Only a few younger guests even bothered to take the tour. This evening was the Captain’s farewell cocktail party and dinner and we were invited to join the table of Chris Harbard, the Birder, and Christian Walter, Lecturer, both of the Expedition Team. The special item on the menu was spiny lobster from Santa Ana Island that we visited this week.

When we left Tanna it was very windy & rough that night, all yesterday and last night. The ship was really tossing around. Shela said she doesn't want to go on that ship again, but who knows how she'll feel after a while. Simpsons, Baileys & Bittles all debarked today, but only Baileys are flying out tonight.

I am sorry to have your adventure come to an end. It has been fascinating and I have enjoyed all postings and photos. Thank you.

RANO ISLAND, VANUATU[b][/b]

Rano Island - Pat & Linda with performers

Tanna Island, Vanuatu

Great great shots. Love the one of the men under the tree. We will miss you all being onboard this ship been fascinating to go on this voyage with you via LCT.

Thank you EVERYONE for all the great reporting and pictures.

What an absolutely fascinating thread! The descriptions and photographs brought your journey to life. This is now a trip that we hope to take in the future. Thank you!!!!!

This has been one of the best threads ever.....these photos should be in a book.Thank you so much for including those of us at home!

There is a bit of life after SUMO.
We had very rough seas sailing 2 nights & 1 day from Vanuatu to Fiji. The winds exceeded 90 knots and swells were 5 to 7 meters high. As the ship rose & fell in the sea the spray would come up as high as deck 5. It was too rough to even be out on deck. It was announced that we would likely be delayed by 2 ½ hours, but time was made up, we arrived Saturday morning and were ready to leave the ship in Lautoka at 11:00am. We had booked 4 days at First Landing Beach Resort in Vuda and a car was there to meet us. Instead of booking a luxury (and very expensive) trendy resort at Denaru Beach near Nadi, we opted for a 3 star place away from the tourist areas because, after 49 busy days aboard ship, we wanted to just relax and take it easy for 3 ½ days. The bure (cottage) that we’re in is spacious and well enough ventilated that we don’t even use the air conditioner. The room was decorated with hibiscus & frangipani blooms and “Welcome” was spelled out on the bed in leaves. We have coffee & tea making items as well as a small fridge in the room and breakfast is included. The restaurant menu has a lot of choices including Indian, Asian, Local and Western selections and several fresh local fish varieties are available. In the afternoon we walked 5 minutes to the Vuda marina which also has a restaurant & bar and small grocery market. Before dinner at the resort we had a spectacular sunset and saw a green flash. The outdoor dinner that night featured a Polynesian dance show with Samoan, Kiribati and Tahitian dancing and a couple of fire dances were also performed. Although it was a made for tourists show with recorded rock tempo music, it was still enjoyable but not authentic as we have had the past 3 weeks.
On Sunday we had an easy day, went to the marina for a light lunch at the open air bar by the water and listened to ballad style music. That evening we shared a small pizza and had happy hour wines.
On Monday we took a cab to the Lautoka market and the driver gave us a brief tour around the city to get our bearings. It is an under roof market with produce, fish, handicrafts, other assorted goods for sale and food stalls, much like the market in Saigon. We wandered around the town which was decorated for the upcoming Festival of Lights, an Indian inspired holiday. Shops were selling festival gear, fireworks & jewelry. We stopped at a local food court and had a delicious spicy lamb curry & roti. We spent 2 ½ hours in Lautoka, which was enough because it was hot and we had nothing to shop for, and our driver was waiting to return us to the resort. At night we walked to the marina and enjoyed a Fijian dinner at the bar. The bar was crowded and it appeared that most patrons were from our resort.
We spent another lazy day before flying to Wellington to spend 3 weeks in New Zealand.