Sport | Vízi sportok » David Lewis - Solomon Islands Cruising Guide

Solomon Islands Cruising Guide / Info by David Lewis - s.v Brave Current at September 2020 About the Lewis Family and how we came to be spending Cyclone Season in the Solomon Islands We moved onto our boat in July 2018, our home port was Picton in The South Island of New Zealand. We made our way up the coast of NZ to Opua in preparation for departing for Australia. While in Opua, waiting for the right weather window, we met Sally and Forfar who had done the Down Under Rally - Go East Rally the previous year. They highly recommended the rally and since we knew absolutely no cruisers in Australia, thought it would be a great way of meeting people who would be heading East. We sailed from Opua to Coffs Harbour, about 1300nm at the start of December 2018. Onboard we had extra crew including my 19 yr old nephew and a Canadian who had just sailed from Panama. The extra crew made the shifts much easier. We had a fairly uneventful trip until we started getting close to Australia where we

ended up in the EAC with sustained winds of 40-45 knots for a good part of our final night. We spent the summer cruising down to Sydney and then slowly back up to the Gold Coast before departing for New Cal in May 2019. About 2 months were spent in New Caledonia. The first week at Ilot Maitre was amazing, attending events with all the Go East participants. From then we just started to explore Thanks to our involvement with the rally we met some amazing cruisers and were never lonely. Next, we sailed to Vanuatu where we worked our way up the chain of islands, starting in Anatom and finally leaving from Sola on the island of Vanua Lava in the north. Spending about 8 weeks exploring these super friendly islands. Having left the rally cruisers behind in New Caledonia, we had less company, but our goal was to try and get to Palau in time for Xmas so we had to get moving. Vanuatu to Honiara in the Solomon’s was a bit of a dream sail for us, we had 25-30 knots from behind and so we arrived

quicker than expected. No complaints!! We didn’t know much about the Solomon Islands before we arrived. All the research I had done was in trying to make sure it was a safe country to visit with a yacht. There seems to be quite a negative perception of cruising the Solomon Islands, however, once you get past the rubbish, heat and betel nut, it’s a great place. Betel nut chewers look as though they’ve been eating children and spitting blood on the street. It’s unpleasant but chewers are harmless. Once you’re away from Honiara the country is breathtaking with amazing anchorages, diving and really friendly people. Cyclone season in the Solomon Islands has been fantastic and we will be very sad to leave. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, there were only 5 other cruising boats in the country which made our time there a bit lonely. Otherwise, the weather was consistent, giving us glorious day indispersed with afternoon showers, thunder and lightning. We have made some amazing friends

through the Rally. The contacts and businesses that we have been introduced too have been and still are, invaluable. We have travelled to some incredible places on our boat, however, it’s the people that you meet along the way that create the real memories. Honiara We visited in September / October and the winds were from the SE, I have been warned that if the wind comes around towards the North it really is not the place to be. Anchorage The general pattern we found was, a calm morning with the wind and swell developing from midday. By later in the afternoon the wind will drop but the swell will continue With no wind you’ll be side on to the swell, not fun!! The swell will drop off, however it can get pretty uncomfortable. The best spot to anchor is on the eastern side of the harbour and tie a stern line to the semi submerged fishing boat. You’ll be well sheltered from the swell that wraps around and comes into the harbour. There is a mooring owned by the dive shop which

operates from the Point Cruz yacht club. This mooring is on the western side of the harbour and not very well sheltered. You will need to check when it was inspected last. We spent a couple of days on it and got slapped around by the afternoon swell. Alternatively, Fred Douglas, who is the owner of the Breakwater Café, on the western side of the harbour, has a very good mooring. You can also tie a stern line back towards Freds café which keeps you pointed into the afternoon swell. This, in my opinion, is the best option if it’s available The Breakwater Café is probably the best café in the Solomon Islands and Fred is a bloody nice guy and very well connected. You can also leave your dinghy here, hop the fence and you’re into the Heritage Hotel!! Please get permission from Fred before you do this. Honiara Harbour looking SE. Honiara Harbour looking S, (the point Cruz Yacht club jetty has the dog leg) Brave on Fred’s Mooring Checking In Check Noonsite for the correct

procedure. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon, anchored, stayed on the boat until the morning and then went into The Point Cruz yacht club where we left the dinghy. The staff at the yacht club pointed us in the direction of Customs and Quarantine, a short 5-10 minute walk. After completing each task, Customs Quarantine, Immigration etc. you need to pay the corresponding fee You have to take your invoice/bill to another building/ department and pay the fee, you will then be given a receipt at which point you return to the original building and collect your paperwork. Customs and Quarantine are in the same building, however payment for Customs is out the door and across the street, payment for Quarantine is about a 20min walk to the Ministry of Agriculture, don’t forget you have to walk back with your receipt. Immigration is about 10 minutes walk in the opposite direction. We did Customs and Quarantine in the morning and Immigration after lunch. Most government departments are shut at

lunchtime We started at 9am and were fully checked in by 3pm. If you check in through Noro it would be a much quicker process. Billy the Immigration man in Noro is the most helpful official I’ve come across! Money As soon as you leave Honiara there are very few places that you can use a credit card. We travelled mainly in the Western Province. There is a BSP bank and ATM in Noro and also in Gizo The ANZ in Gizo shut as of September 2020. Unlike most ATM’s, if you draw money out from the BSP and the machine has run out of money, it will still charge you. You need to lodge an enquiry with your own bank to get the money refunded. It’s a good idea to check the machine has money before trying a withdrawal. Always make sure you have plenty of cash as the ATM’s don’t always work and there aren’t many of them! Cell Phones We only used ‘Our Telekom’ therefore can’t vouch for B Mobile. In Honiara it was fast 4G, outside of Honiara at best you’ll get is 3G. You need to

change the settings on your phone to get internet outside of Honiara. With iPhones, you go into settings, mobile data, APN Settings, where it says APN you need to write “internet”. This is for the three categories, Mobile Data, LTE Setup and Personal Hotspot. Having left Honiara, we spent two weeks wondering why our phones didn’t work Put credit on your phone at a Topup or Telekom store. Once you have credit you have to purchase Data or voice credit. *121# will give you your credit balance. *155# will take you to options to buy data etc. They have special data plans We’ve been able to buy “Red Hot Giga Specials” $30 sd for 3GB valid for 7 days. Once your plan has run out, it will chew through your credit very quickly if you don’t purchase a new plan. We usually topup well before the data has run out Food/ Provisioning Honiara There is a small supermarket in Honiara which is halfway between the airport and the yacht club. Taxis are easy to flag down. The supermarket has a

reasonable selection of food, and there is also a Bulk Shop within walking distance of Point Cruz. The Market is great for fruit and veg Get used to powdered milk, there is not much of a dairy industry here!! Outside of Honiara the only other reasonable provisioning is in Noro and Gizo. Noro Noro is the hub for the Solomon Island fishing fleet, it has a reasonable Market, a BSP ATM. It also has one of the best shops outside Honiara for Western foods, Muzi Boku, or otherwise known as the Blue Container shop. It has food straight from Australia and they take VISA. Noro is also a Port of Entry and has one of the most accommodating immigration officers I have ever met. You can get gas bottles refilled here. Security We’ve found the Solomon Islands to be very friendly and have never felt unsafe. Just take normal precautions, such as don’t leave stuff out that could invite theft and possibly leave a deck light on if you have concerns about an area. Spares and flying parts in Parts are

pretty hard to come by, unless you have a Yamaha or Suzuki outboard. We have been using Pacific Air Cargo, they have a depot in Brisbane and will arrange to fly parts to Honiara, Gizo etc. The owner of Pacific Air Cargo and Sanbis Resort are good friends which makes this process seamless. From parts arriving with PAC in Brisbane to pick up at Sanbis Resort is generally a week to 10 days. You can send multiple packages to the Brisbane depot from different sources, they will pack them all into one package and forward on to you. They organise all customs clearance etc Other cruisers we know have also said good things about DHL. have used them to deliver to Sanbis Resort near Gizo. Which is where we pick packages up from Favourite Anchorages There are heaps of really amazing anchorages in the Solomon Islands. Here are a few of our favourites: Marovo Lagoon Mbilli Passage 8 39.834s 158 11238e, sand, great holding, well protected Nice family on Tambapeava Island They will show you WW2

Bomber You will be approached by carvers Sevae Island 8 35.204s, 158 8287e sand, good holding, not very protected Really nice family own this island, they will make themselves known Carvers in the area Image: Peter, the owner’s grandson, with Sevae in the background Mbatuna Village 8 33.466s, 158 7434e mud/sand good holding Market day is Thursday, starts at about 7 am Really friendly locals Chinese shop in adjacent bay, which sells good fishing lures Matui Island (Sarumara Anchorage) 8 29.694s, 158 8930s sand, great holding, very well protected Important to follow the directions for approach (see picture) BEST anchorage in Marovo Lagoon, you won’t get visited much. Rendova Island Lubaria Island Lubaria Island 8 24.183s, 157 18731e The bay is about 30m deep and gets shallow quickly around the sides, we dropped the anchor in about 18-20m and backed into the shore and tied off to a coconut tree. That way we were facing into the prevailing wind and didn’t need to worry

about pulling the anchor out if the wind changed. The Island is owned by a man close to 80 called “Nicely” he really lives up to his name. This is where JFK’s patrol boat was stationed during WW2, there is a memorial here. Awesome swimming, however, there are some crocs in the area. Nusaghele 8 19.946s, 157 11512e Anchor in sand, great holding and protection from the SE This is one of our favourite spots, reasonable internet coverage Excellent snorkelling and Manta rays in the area Noro is a well protected dinghy ride away, takes about 25 mins at 12-15 knots Munda is about 20 mins away by dinghy. Fan corals and bombies in the anchorage. Arnavon Islands Kerehikapa Island 7 27.551s, 158 1585e Anchor in approx. 20m outside the Ranger’s buildings Excellent holding, not very well protected from SE There are fees to stay here, including anchorage fees and a park entry fee. When we stayed it was $100 SD per night and $80 SD per adult to enter the park. There are also costs

associated with the various activities you can do with the rangers. Cigarettes are also good currency! The turtle sanctuary is amazing, the Rangers are incredibly knowledgeable and patient. We saw turtles laying, turtles hatching, turtles being tagged, crocodiles and heaps more. A must visit spot!! The diving and fishing in this area are also very good. Gizo Gizo is the second largest town/ city in The Solomons, it has a good market and lots of Chinese shops. You can anchor outside the Market or further in opposite the fuel dock It has a BSP ATM you can buy most things here. The best internet is in The Telekom shop where you can buy Wi-Fi based on time, you can actually upload movies from here. We generally anchor outside Sanbis Resort and take the dinghy into Gizo and leave it outside the Market. Sanbis Resort 8 6.864s, 156 52933e Anchoring in coral!!! Not the best. Generally, we drop the anchor in 13m directly out from the resort and back up parallel to the shore. It is a tricky

anchorage, we always attach a bouy to a trip line on our anchor Lots of banana boats coming and going. They have a full-time dive instructor, and do great Pizzas. It’s well worth the visit, Hans, the Swiss owner is really helpful Sanbis Resort with Gizo in the back ground Vella Lavella Liapari Island 7 56.731s, 156 42765e Excellent Anchorage with great holding and good protection. You need satellite images to make the initial entrance, our Garmin charts were appalling. Once in follow the channel markers, it can get quite shallow through the inner pass at low tide. Any concerns contact Noel on noelhudsonliapari@gmailcom Noel has some moorings available. This is the only place in the Solomons that you can comfortably leave your boat for any length of time. We left Brave here for 5 months, Noel organised a cleaner for us to come on the boat a couple of times a week. Good mechanics available and an excellent workshop. Haul out slip. Noel and Rosie cook Pizzas for everyone on

Sundays. This is a really sociable, nice spot Supato Village 7 51.481s, 156 35591e Good holding in sand, a lot more protected than it looks A very friendly village Inquisitive kids A favourite anchorage Great diving close by. To view videos of the Lewis Family sailing adventures including their time in the Solomon Islands visit their YouTube Channel BRAVE SAILING at: https://www.youtubecom/channel/UCf1ghGaGUXh8Dw09VkJvjEw Kim also writes a blog, which you can subscribe to at http://followingsea.net/ For information about sailing the SW Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and making memories with the Down Under Rally visit: www.downunderrallycom