Sunday, August 17, 2014

Solomon Islands, Vona Vona Lagoon

Vona Vona Lagoon

We entered Vona Vona Lagoon with a little trepidation.   It is reef strewn and very shallow in places.   We were given some track lines on charts that we used with Open CPN program and it was a big help.    We could anchor just about any place we wanted to, reefs considered, of course.    A very beautiful place.

 Coral snake, resort huts and small black tip reef sharks at Lola Island.   


 Skull Island is a kastom burial place for the local families.  They separate male and female burial sights.
 Upon leaving Vona Vona lagoon, we went up Diamond Narrows and into Bat Harbor.    There were a lot of mangroves here and swimming was not an option due to the high probability of crocs.   You could wander around and see some old WWII relics such as gun emplacements. 
 This man, Freddy, came up to trade.  He gave me some long beans and I gave him a can of meat which I had purchased in Indonesia.   A few minutes later I heard a knock on the hull and he was out there looking at the can and read the expiration date to me.  "This expired in 2011", he said, "it is now 2014."    Most of my canned goods are probably out of date due to our lost year and over stocking to begin with.    I added a package of spaghetti noodles to the deal and he went away happy.

Cruiser Notes:   Bat harbor was easy to get into.  There is supposed to be a large bat cave to see but darned if we could find it.  You would need to hike back into the village a bit and find someone to guide you.   Swimming could be done on the reef before going into the harbor, easy to dinghy to.    There were a lot of flies, eventually drove us out of there.   Anchorage:  08 05.21S; 157 11.26E

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