Island Guadalcanal – Honiara
I flew with Air Vanuatu to the Solomons to the island Guadalcanal to Honiara. If you walk out of the airport diagonally to the left for approx. 100m in the direction of the main road, you will find a bus stop between two red and white colored post´s. On the other side of the road are some small local market shops.
The ride to the capitol Honiara is only 3,-S$. I booked a bed in a Dorm in advance in the “United Church Rest house” up on the hill for 150,-S$, which was one of the cheapest I found. Don´t trust the prices on the homepage of the tourist bureau http://www.visitsolomons.com.sb by Accommodation, cause the most are not actual and to cheap.
I got out of the bus in front of the “New Generation Ltd shop” on the left side of the road. From here it was a walk to the United Church Rest house for 10 – 15 minutes, in the end by around 30 degree a bit demanding. One of the staff is “xxxxx” and she is very friendly. The rooms are quiet basic, with a fan, a table and chair. There is no Mosquito net, the toilet is OK and one of the three showers acceptable. It looks like, that the small bureau is in the house of the owner.
take off to the Solomon Islands
it was a rainy start again
view from the plane
nearly all Islands of the Solomons has no beaches
the arrival
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Islands
the dorm in the United Church Hostel
toilet was OK …
the ground floor
… from the three showers was only one useable
the United Church Hostel
the nice balkony on the first floor
and the view to the harbor
I had a very nice welcome
the dining area on the first floor
the kitchen
turn to the left upstairs behind the tree – from the bus stop to the house is a bit exhausting
From here are all shops and needed offices in walking distance, which is very good. If you go down to the Mendana main road and then to the left, you will find on the right side after 300 meter the “Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau” behind a red iron-fence. On that way you will also pass the “Plaza” on the left side, in which you can find many different shops and in the first floor some Internet cafes. After the Plaza on the same side is the National Museum, where you can visit two rooms with artifacts of the history of the Solmons. It is not so special, but free entrance.
Honiara town – mainstreet Mendana Ave
and along the many shops
in that road is the ferry office on your left in the firs floor and a bank
a good possibility for shopping and cheap cellphones
the Solomon Island Visitor Bureau – SIVB directly on the mainroad
the museum on the left side behind the PLAZA
inside of the small museum
inside of the small museum
inside of the small museum
here is the closest busstop to the United Church Hostel
inside of the National Airport
thats the airport from outside, it´s behind the International
the view to Guadalcanal, coming back from Savo Island (the short way)
my second accommodation in Honiara – the „Chester resthouse“ up the hill
the groundfloor with the rooms and restrooms
and from here the view to the harbor
american war memorial up the hill
the local living area, just under the memorial
and the view to the town
I love peace!
they selling here at every corner by that kind of shops the „Betel nut“
they selling here at every corner by that kind of shops the „Betel nut“
the holy cross cathedral
the Honiara Central Market
selling food, like on Vanuatu, but here you get good cheap Fish´n´Chips
and some deep frozen stuff, like chicken
My village-stay in the Marovo Lagoon
In case of the information from Lisa, the owner of the “Solomon Dive Adventures”, I decided to go as soon as possible to the “Marovo Lagoon”, the biggest saltwater lagoon on earth. If you check the map exactly then you will see, that the place is not really “in” the Marovo lagoon, only just on the south east border. The name of the island is “Gatokae” with a close (grass-) airstrip in Sombiro. Lisa organized for me a homestay in the “Peava Village”, by one of her employee names “Delnia”. I arrived after my one our flight in a small propeller plane BN2B (for 1050,-S$) over the Central Province and the Russel islands, which I can really recommend, on the rumbling grass airstrip in Sombiro. If the weather conditions are bad, they change the arrival port to Seghe, so you better check by phone shortly before. You get quiet good information’s by “Getting here” also on the Internet page from Lisa www.solomondiveadventures.com.
I had to carry my luggage from the strip to a small jetty for about 300 meters (good to have a backpack!), where the diving boat from Lisa waited already. The transfer to her place names “Vuana” is only about 15 minutes and you arrive right in front of the three rooms, where she offering accommodation. Her divemaster Brian and the cook “Patty Boy” brought me into the 10 minutes away Peava village to the house of Delnia and Tokabai Moses. They are both very friendly and helpful people and I can only recommend staying with them together! Beside them are living her daughter Andriana and stepson Webu, which are both a bit shy with talking. But that is no wonder, I am their first guest beside their friend Paul from Australia and my coming was quiet quick after the arrangement.
They living in the last house before the way go up to the hill, which is one place, where you can reach the handy net signal. The village is narrow along the coast between palm trees. Nearly all houses are built on wood post´s and you will find along the coast also some public showers, which are in use in the evening from the peoples and me.
If you just go straight further, you will reach the wilderness lodge on your right side, behind a fence.
I got a room for myself in Delnia´s house and ate together with the whole family. Delnia is a very good cook and my body weight went straight up again. You will eat very fresh fish, which was caught by Toka maybe on the same day early in the morning. He loves to do “Trolling” and you can join him, if you ask. Please pay him the hooks he lost on a shark, they are not expensive at all!
On one day we went with Toka´s boat around the island to the village “Mbiche”. The boat trip took about 30 minutes (if you want to walk over 1,5 hours) and on the other side, big waves are running to the coast in beautiful colors. Toka is a good captain and you will usually get not wet. You have to jump quickly on sharp rocks at the arrival by the village, so choose the right shoes before.
In Mbiche village you can see the sea eels, which get food from the returning fisherman. The kids are playing and taking a bath with them. I saw already a BBC-documentation about that in the TV in Germany “The South Pacific”. A guide can take you around to show you more from the village and skulls from the early head hunter for 80,-S$. I paid for the boat trip and the eels 115,-S$ (=13,-€).
I enjoyed very much the delicious local cooking of Delnia.
It looks like, that in the evening the whole village meets each other around the volleyball field. They start playing from 04:00PM to 06:00PM, not on Tuesday and Friday and visitors are more than welcome. Beside the volleyball field are sitting the men, which are doing “Carving” from different kind of wood, under a big tree in the shade. Sometimes they organize a carving-show for the tourist, where you can buy handicrafts. Toka is one of them and has some very nice stuff at home, ask him to show you his work.
Around the volleyball field kids every age (from 2 – 16) are playing soccer or other games, running over the volleyball field during the game, which is no problem at all for every one – JUST A BIG FUN FOR ALL! Players changing wild after every won set. You gonna be fast if you wanna play 😉
Delnia is also a teacher for some kids in a class room beside the diving center. Lisa is paying her salary, so there is no school fee to pay for them.
There is a nice reef along the village, where the best place is between the school (between Lisas place and the village, behind the soccer field) and the Volleyball field. It´s like a wall is going down maybe to 30 meters with some terraces and overhangs. Mostly you will see hard corals, many small reef fishes, blacktip reef sharks, whitetip reef sharks, turtles, porcupine fishes and maybe small moray eals and sea snake quiet shallow. That’s a bit tricky to come out, over the quiet shallow corals, maybe only 20 cm space between your belly and them. It is even more hard by low tide!
The place for sitting together, if it´s too hot inside or for a talk with friends.
mother and daughter, together they preparing our dinner.
Toka and Delnia started already the building for a new custom leafhouse for the next coming visitors for a homestay.
If you are interested, which you should be, please contact their friend on the island names Wayde (a very nice guy from Australia) email-adress: Wade.Fairle(a)y@gmail.com
„Insect-Activities“
That is my darling in the village.
and always very good food for my – not so good for my figure 🙁
Toka is a very good and professional carver.
The bay in front of the village
I had always big fun with their neighbour „John Doe“, which is a fisherman and the tour guide for the water activities in Wilderness. My darling is his daughter.
… what can I say more …. dess hatt´ma fei echt gut g´schmeckt!
Toka´s working tools by carving
two pretty girls
Toka´s present for me – thank you very much again!
some more of his work
new friends
the snorkeling-guy
We went out for trolling on my last day to catch the fishes for the BBQ
… succesful!
That village is now also a part of „Franken“ and we love BBQ (even fish)
the boy´s are grilling ….
… and everyone who´s coming along is immedeately inited for eating
Toka and Webu drove me in the evening around 07:00PM over to Bunicallo (40 minutes), where the ferry “Phoenix” arrived. I followed the recommendation of Toka using that ship, because all the others are not going directly to the warf.
There is a good chance to buy cheap local food at every port, like coconut, Maniok (=Kasawa-pudding), rice balls ect..
From the Marovo Lagoon I went up to Munda
I drove with that ship via Batuna – Chea – Seghe – Veru – Ugele to my next destination “Munda” – costs 220,-S$ and 12 hours duration, most of the time sleeping by very quiet sea.
on the ferry at a stopover
the best to do during the trip is sleeping
At the Warf on Munda is every day a market with fruits, vegetables and small local food. On the right side is the entrance of the Agnes Lodge, which you have to use also, when you like to go to the dive center “Munda Dive”.
Munda Dive
email: divemunda@solomon.com.sb
web: http://mundadive.com
You enter the Agnes Lodge and follow the way straight to the restaurant. Go there around and to the left behind the restaurant, there is the dive center.
The dive center is running by Jeanne and Graham from England, with local staff in the office and boat crew. They have three boats, two smaller ones, each for max. 6 divers – a pity, no shadow! – and one for max. 10 divers with two big engines and shadow. Ahi in the office is the good soul of the dive center and always very helpful with everything (she organized my accommodation). The boys a bit shy, but if you talk to them they are all quiet friendly. The equipment was very good and everything looked quiet professional. You don´t have to be really worry about, if you are not on time at the dive center in the morning “Solomon time”. The whole equipment is carried by the boys to the boat. Me as a German, had sometimes problems to understand or hear the dry English humor of Graham (maybe my age). The trip to the diving spots between 20 and 45 minutes is a bit loud and choppy on the boat. A helping hand by setting up the equipment before the dive would be a perfect service. To get in the boat after the dive without a ladder, is maybe not so easy for everyone. You will really enjoy the dive alone on a spot in a small group. We drove for our surface break (ca. 1,5 hours) always to a small island (with shadow place) and had some tuna sandwiches, pineapple, cookies and drinking water.
the rinsing tab and dry store place
the map with the diving spot´s
the office
The diving spots have most hard corals, not so many soft corals and colors. But you can see big unbroken gorgonian at nice wall dives. It´s always possible to see White tip- or grey reef sharks (thanks to the bottle in Grahams hands). In the blue maybe hammerhead if you are lucky, more possible are eagle rays. They have also plane fighter wrecks; I saw two on two different spots, but counting as one dive, which is a very nice offer. Graham is doing also TEC diving and if you like to go a bit deeper, he is the perfect man for you. If you stay longer, ask for a dive package.
the break is always on a island in a nice shadow place
other accommodation
the Warf with the entrance on the right side to …
The Agnes Lodge – a bit more expensive
One of the few supermarket
the road to the airstrip
… not really brandnew …
the view from the hill behind
if you turn right before …
… the Telecom building …
the bank with an ATM machine outside
and the post office
sometimes it was raining!
very important, the only one bottle shop in town (village)!
the local drinks
Some more diving impressions
huge fancorals
the aircraft tail of the wreck
amazing big unbroken gorgonias
the entry in a cave, like the cenotes on Mexico
a tiger-cowry
the exit
humphead parrot fishes
the market place
the police station (not really busy)
in Germany you would have a car in your garage – here it´s different
The Munda guesthouse – owner is David Ernest Kepo
his email dek@solomoms.com.sb phone 62113
my room
private bathroom
you share the kitchen with the owner
here I took my breakfast
the garden with the drinkwater container
the floor to the rooms
„cheers Munda – it was nice“
G I Z O
starting by ferra to Gizo
Gizo is much bigger than Munda and looks similar to Ovalau on the Fiji Islands. The Gizo Hotel is the biggest in town, beside some other Resthouses. There is only one main road around the island. If you go from the Warf to the right you will come first to the market, directly on the sea. They selling fresh caught fish, Vegetables, fruits, Beetlenut, Bakery stuff and small local food – specially fish and chips for 10,- to 20,-S$ (= 1,20 – 2,30€), which are very good. Along the road are many small shops for cloth and food. There are two banks on the left side with ATM machines in front. If you go straight further, you will see on your right side the PT 109 Bar, which is beside the Gizo Hotel the only place to go out in the evening. In the opposite of that is Dive Gizo.
Arrival!
divegizo@solomon.com.sb – www.divegizo.com
The owners of Dive Gizo were during my stay on vacation in Europe. I had before email contact with Vanessa, a pretty very friendly girl from Spain (if you ask me, a little bit too skinny – no wonder, she is Vegetarian). She worked there with her French boyfriend names Nico since six month. I met Nico on the first day and got very good information’s about all the diving there. If you stay longer, ask for a dive package. He is also a very friendly fellow. Beside them were a young divemaster names Kael, which guided me the first dives. There are many local staff jumping around, I don´t know, what they are all really doing there. Some of them are also guides and boat captains, like Bradley and Charlie.
I didn´t dive with the “Simbo Island Resort”, because I was “too complicated” for them. I think I asked too many professional questions, that was no problem at all for Nico before (I hope his toe is good again).
What I saw from the divingcenter, looked a little bit less fitted with Equipment. It was more a handicraft shop, as a diving center. The water in the rinsing bath after diving was every day very low. They used the same thin loud boats, like at Munda Dive, BUT all boats have a roof for spending shadow! Their jetty is on the opposite side of the road, beside the PT 109 Bar. The crew is carrying your whole equipment to the boat. The trips to the dive spots are between 20 and 40 minutes.
They have a nice wreck names Toa Maru, which is very good to dive, because it lies between 35m and 10m. From all the other spots I liked most the “Pinnacle”. They offer, like Munda Dive, a shallow third dive on an air plane fighter wreck, just with the rest air in the bottle from the dive before. The break is always on a tiny island, for example Kennedy island, where you take lunch: Tuna sandwich, Pineapple, Cookies, water and cucumber. If there are more divers on the boat or some guys from the police, then you will get a nice fish or chicken BBQ. The break was always minimum 1,5 hours. You are back on Gizo between 02:30PM or 04:00PM. The spots have most hard corals, less soft corals and colors. There were fewer sharks to see as at Munda. They have wall dives and reefs going down as slopes.
I saw on “Secret spot” by 28m, my second Leopard shark (first time more in Thailand, years ago), which was my highlight!
The unlucky thing, what happened before that dive was, that I hit my food on the boat by my backwards roll entry. That was my fault! The question is only, if the wound which I got should be so badly?! I lost some skin (I used snorkeling fins) on my heel. On the Solomons you have to take care of every little scratch, because you get very easily an infection! After the dive, when I hold on at the same patch (grooved Aluminum rail) I got a cut in my finger – very sharp. I used my own medic first aid staff…..(it looked better).
Gizo-Town with the Gizo-Hotel, shops, my favorite fish´N´chips with daily diffrent prices and my accommodation with beautiful ocean-vew!
SAVO – Island
I went after Gizo to Savo Island. The boat transfer service from the Gizo Hotel brought me from the jetty opposite of the hotel to the small island, on which is only the airport, ca. 10 minutes boat ride for 60,-S$. I had two stops, first on Munda and second on Seghe, before I arrived on Honiara.
I called Manuel, the owner of “Longaka Village Stay” by mobile from Gizo before – Phone no. xxxxxxxxxx
We met each other in the Solomon Tourist Visitors Bureau. If you want contact Manuel then you have to use the mail address from the STVB = info@sivb.com.sb. I bought before some food and water for my stay on the island – check the prices of the meals before, which they offering. We went together down to the Yacht harbor behind the STVB and took a Motor Canoe, which Manuel organized in advance. It costs 100,-S$ for one way and took about 45 minutes to drive to Savo Island.
Before we reached the beach of Longaka Village Stay, we passed the place of the Dolphins, which stay since years there for bearing their babies, close to a cave. I asked many different peoples there and all told me the same. The Dolphins are living there FREE, in their nature way. There is no cage or feeding going on. It is possible to book an excursion to go close to them by boat, even to hang on a rope beside the boat, during the Dolphins swimming in front, under and beside you. It was a pity I couldn´t do that, in case of my wound on my heel.
They offering you at your arrival an nice welcome-drink and a handout with all possible excursions, which you can relaxed read later.The Longaka Village Stay has four rooms in two houses directly on the beach on a sandy grass bottom place. The houses have a roofed Terrace and sitting place. Beside them are a shared shower and a toilet, which looks quite nice. Electricity is only on, if the generator is running in the evening. The Alternative is to hand your stuff over to Manuel, which recharge it in the sunset lodge beside.
You will have amazing sunsets, sitting right in front of the beach, with a cold beer in your hand and a smooth breeze from the ocean. Or you join the locals or fishermen by telling stories during the sun go down. Well, sometimes you´ll get a bit more wind. Close the houses is a kitchen with a tree beside. There are seats around the tree, where Kathrins mother, the owner of the Longaka Village stay, often is sitting around. Now and then their children or Enkelkinder are showing up or playing beside.
The food is very good and always too much. In variation of chicken, beef, veggis, local roots, fresh caught fish, rice and chips and fruits for dessert. Manuel and his wife doing everything, that all is perfect. There is always FREE tea and coffee on the table on your terrace. Beside the houses are growing magic flowers, which open up only with enough sun.
Behind the tourist houses on top of a small hill is the Longaka village. You can visit it every time and Manuel takes you also along the beach to the other villages beside.
They have a grey stony beach in front of the village stay and the sunset lodge.
I did the excursion to the Megapod birds in the morning. It´s a 10-minute boat ride along Savo, before we reached that part of the beach, where they lay their eggs. Savo is a volcano island and that kind of birds using the heat in the ground of the volcano for getting their eggs breading. I couldn´t see the birds, in case of two big boats with children, which did chasing the birds away, before we arrived. So we saw only the holes and the eggs. Every family has a special part of the beach and all eggs in that part belongs to them. After digging 1,5 meters deep in the sand, you will find two eggs. They are selling the eggs each for 10,-S§ afterwards. The birds using that beach only three month and they move closer to the volcano before the rain season starts.
My standard packing-process before the check in