31/8/2011 Arriving in Russel Islands late, having lead lights and dinner ready and waiting rafting up all thanks to Mollie made our late arrival very easy.
The next morning the monsters from the deep could be seen lurking for some unsuspecting morsels as if waiting for breakfast.
I’m pleased to say they remain unfed, or at least, they didn’t feed on us mortals.
Later that day I went on my own as Crash expressed her concerns when we got nearer than about 30m. So a quick trip up the river was bound to give us some better pictures.
While it was interesting, I will never make a crocodile hunter.
The village across the way confirmed this was indeed a croc haven, so swimming was out.
01/09/2011 Russel Islands passage runs between a couple of the major Islands within the group. As we head south in light winds under motor we enter some clear and interesting waters. Dr Smith….. Did you see that, you must have seen it, please tell me you did it was a huge roller can be seen curling and breaking we must avoid ……,I got a glimpse of a seeming lee large around 2-3m roller in the the entrance but definitely something to avoid. It must have been one of those 1 in 30 or 50 waves because we never saw it again, but Im certainly glad I saw it the first time, and took a wider angle
Just in side the passage entrance was a lovely spot again with beautiful water. Crash went in search of the surf, Ken and Louise went diving and I explored the coral.
Working hard sailing takes it out of you as we cruise along Dr Smith is sleeping, Crash is watchng out for what ever there is to be seen, and Im slaving over the chart plotter with depth and concentration
My thongs are worn out and I could do with a new Wallet but this guy was just akeing it wasy so we let him live to be a pair of boots some other day
As we wonder up the passage villages Scream out as Crash does concert weave motion on the front deck, and kids faces all light up. I’m quietly glad we aren’t stopping here, as I’m sure we would be swamped.
Ken hopes to go diving on wreck further up the passage. Dr Smith… Tell me more about this under water ammunitions dump and live mines how do we know where we can drop the anchor, what about these sunken wrecks, what if we hit one, or get tangled with one……This is probably the third or fourth place Screensaver has been where there is suspected live ammunition still on the bottom with warnings about anchoring due to ammunition left over from the war. New Cal and Vanuatu and Solomon’s all have at least one area like this.
That night we headed further up the passage in search of a better anchorage than Mollie had chosen, but it wasn’t to be so we returned and rafted up together. Later in the night Dr Smith…. We are dragging getup do something the drag alarm has gone off…….Yea Yea hang about lets see first before we disturb the neighbours. We had moved about 30 to 40 ft beyond the chain swing, so it might just be taking up the slack or digging in deeper in these stronger winds.. Dr Smith so why are we still going backwards now 60ft we are already in the coral according to the chart…..Clearly it wasn’t stopping… All hands on deck now !!!were still going backwards. Screensaver made a hasty split, in the pitch black and pouring rain. It was a little disconcerting moving about in these spaces in the dark wind and rain, but we found a spot and put out a heap of chain. Crash went back to bed while I stood watch for the next hour, and wind slowly dropped. Mollie stoped going backwards after we got off.
02/09/2011 We set off with the intention of stopping in one of the outer reef islands of the group, but on arrival it really wasn’t suitable for an overnight stop, so we pushed on to Guadalcanal, one step closer to Honiara. We had sent a couple of emails for Ken and Louise via Sailmail, and received one back confirming Ken was a grandfather again ! In celebration we enjoyed Pizza, wine, champagne welcoming in the new born Charlie at 2.3kg
03/09/2011 Honiara is in our sights, as we head south. We manage to sail the last half in great conditions, arriving and anchoring in a confined and poorly protected anchorage.