Wed March 3, 2013 MAROVO LAGOON, UEPI & MATEANA ISLANDS & TELINA Village Tour
WOW - today is going to be packed tight with activities! We started with the most amazing sight ..... a blue sky and beautiful sunrise as we arrived at Marovo Lagoon, Solomon Islands. Breakfast was on the back deck in the Delphinus Cafe where the short order eggs cook was complaining about the sun in his eyes, which of course meant he was then subjected to jeers and shouts from everyone since we had hardly seen the sun since Port Vila, Vanuatu!
We were barely stopped before the zodiacs were being taken down from deck 6 and into the water - all of the 12 zodiacs will be in action today since there are so many activities: the market at Uepi Village, shark feeding, snorkelling from the beach over a double barrier reef, and the Telina Village Experience. I am so glad to say that after an early night last night and passing up on the dinner in the Constellation restaurant I am feeling much better today and ready for action!
Marovo Lagoon is in the middle of the New Georgia Islands, Solomon Islands and was described by James Michener as the eighth wonder of the world. This isolated spot has a double barrier reef enclosed lagoon and has been proposed for World Heritage listing. because it is both geographically and ecologically isolated it has an incredible diversity and richness of life both above and below the surface of the water. It is world known for its' coral reef eco systems teeming tropical fish and exceptional dive sites. The wood carvers of Marovo are reported to be the best in the Pacific so today we will get chance to explore the market at Uepi.
There are 12,000 people living in the lagoon in 70 villages scattered along the coast line, this is pretty much how all the 500,000 Solomon Islanders live - each in their own village or community along the coastline of the islands. Approximately 85% of all land and maine areas are held under the "traditional" or "custom" tenure systems as the villagers rely mainly on fishing, trade and subsistence agriculture for their food security and livelihoods. Solomon Islanders have one of the highest per capita seafood consumption rate in the world with 80% deriving their protein from the seafood and the marine environment.
We were ready for the first zodiac over to Uepi resort at 8am and we arrived at the small dock under the beautiful sunny blue skies. The villagers from around the Marovo Lagoon were all there with their beautiful carvings and baskets displayed for sale. To give you an idea, these men had all come by boat from their villages across the lagoon, travelling from 30 to 60 minutes - the last time that they had held a craft market next to the Uepi dive resort was 6 months ago when the last cruise ship came. So this was a very important day for them. Their carvings were simply beautiful and Mick Fogg had told us that at Uepi we would see some of the best carvings in the Solomon Islands. There were tables, carvings and bowls, most inlaid with the nautilus shell in a very fine pattern - each piece of the silver pearl being cut and sanded to the perfect pattern - such amazing fine work. The woods that they carve include ebony, rosewood and karosin? There were also the most beautiful baskets, again very fine work and great attention to detail.
At 8:45 we met Mick at the jetty for the shark feeding - the water was very shallow and clear, and there were maybe a couple of dozen sharks, mostly black & white tip reef sharks. Mick was feeding them with seafood scraps from the Orion. It was fun to watch before we raced back to the Orin to pick up snorkelling gear from the cabin and head over to the beach for snorkelling. The ride over was fairly long and slow due to the swells that were building as the morning progressed. Darren helped us, and we jumped out and the tide was so high that there really was no beach at all, so we were soon geared up and into the water which again was clear and warm.
The Orion Expedition staff set up a snorkel area each time and it has several buoys so you know where to stay within, they have 1 zodiac out there keeping a lookout for everyone, and especially anyone who might be tired or in difficulty, and they also have a zodiac with the ladder down at the furthest point it from the beach so that you can climb in and take a rest should you want to, before returning to the beach. The reef was beautiful - amazing varieties and colours of coral, all extremely healthy and loaded with small fish, again amazing varieties and colours. We put our heads down and swam without lifting our heads up once just loving what we could see - more varieties and healthier than we have seen in most places. The reef was very shallow on top (you felt like you had to hold your stomach in although there really was enough distance between you and the coral) and towards the outer edge there was a drop off into the blue with lots of underground channels and caves going back into the reef - we even saw 3 humpback wrasse swim by as we hit the blue.
All too soon we caught the zodiac heading back to the Orion where after a quick shower and change we were ready for a bite to eat for an early lunch before our afternoon cultural tour to the Telina Village. It was Mexican today with salads, enchiladas, soft tacos and churros! Chef Lothar does a grand job of keeping the food interesting and different for each meal. While eating lunch we could see these huge black clouds appearing from the other side of the lagoon, yup - rain was on its way! We weren't sure where the Telina Village was located inside the lagoon but we were pretty sure we would be getting wet at some point!
At 1230pm we were in the zodiac back to Uepi resort where we changed to a fast motor powered long boat with Captain Rex who sped across the lagoon for 30 minutes to Telina Village. This lagoon is huge, and is surrounded with incredibly dense foliage - so even though you see very little in the way of houses or villages along the shore - you understand that it truly is big enough to sustain the 12,000 villagers in the 70 villages! As we arrived, a large decorated war canoe came out to visit us, with all the men inside chanting and welcoming us to the village! They turned around and led us into their wharf where just a few feet away there were half a dozen small boys playing on a wooden framework, jumping into the water and having a wonderful time - completely naked and oblivious to the white folk arriving!
As we walked up the uneven coral pathway, a couple of dozen boys painted in their white war paint (a mix of ground coral and shell) came running at us with spears and palm leaves hung around their heads, arms, and waists - generally having a wonderful time laughing as they tried to be fierce with us! This was followed by about 20 young girls, with a couple of mothers, singing a lovely welcome song to us - all in beautiful harmony while one young girl held up a board with the words all written on there for them to sing. This was so unexpected and then they all walked over to us and gave each of the 20 of us a hand made lei garland of threaded leaves and flowers. It was at this point that we felt a couple of rain drops which very quickly became a huge tropical downpour! By the time we put our rain jackets on we were soaked - but we continued our walk with the local chief who was acting as the guide. We walked through Telina village, their homes being a large platform built on stilts, with openings for windows in the woven straw mats which were the walls, and palm thatching for the roofs. All the men and women were very welcoming as we passed, smiling and greeting us.
We started climbing up a hill through the foliage, again with all the young warriors pretending to attack us around each corner - all of us by now soaked through to the skin! At the top was their sacred mound, where they used to prepare for wars with other villages - they made a sacrifice here in order to ensure their success in the next battle. Certainly we have heard of the cannibalism that used to exist in Papua New Guinea, and how skulls were displayed by the villages, especially if they had killed a chief from another village.
Coming down from this walk where the guide also talked about the natural medicines that they use, we were treated to a display of basket weaving (used in fans, handbags, mats etc) and carving, including wood carving and also the nautilus cutting for decorating the bowls and carvings. One lady was making tapa cloth from a tree, this is very expensive these days when you do find it - the last time we saw beautiful printed tapa cloth was in the Marquesas Islands. We also saw tapioca wrapped and placed in an underground oven to cook - which took about one hour after which we were treated to sample later in the day. it was very hot and some what like a sweet potato! There was a display of the traditional "shell money" made from various shells including large shell money made from clam shells. By this time we had about 3 tropical downpours and we were taking great efforts to take photos and not get the camera wet!
We made our departure around 330pm and many of the villagers came out to wave us farewell. It was a really special and interesting afternoon - our guide at the village told us that Orion first came last year and arranged to tour the village and that next March 2014 there is another ship (the Bremen) scheduled to come and visit. So we are the second group to ever visit the Telina Village - how lucky are we? The small kids were playing in the dug out canoes as we left - one little girl probably 3 years or younger quite happily paddling herself around with no one taking any notice of her, or looking after her! We headed out at full speed - no cover on the longboat - and almost made it back to Uepi before the tropical downpour started, but not quite - we were drowned once more!
At Uepi the market was finishing packing all their beautiful unsold goods back into their long boats under protective tarps, and we said more farewells and arranged to gather same place, same time, next year!! We were the last zodiac back on the Orion and looking like drowned rats we turned the last 2 tags back to ONBOARD and dripped all the way through the Leda Lounge on our way to our stateroom which looked like a Chinese Laundry by the time we had hung up every dripping piece of clothing, backpacks and shoes to dry!
After donning dry clothes we were soon enjoying a welcome gin & tonic in the lounge as we departed from Uepi and watched a recap of the day's adventures with Richard showing us all the photos he had taken during the day - it's always such a great way to end the afternoon. Then Mick talked us through what to expect tomorrow on our day at sea as we head to Rabaul Papua New Guinea. Dinner in the Constellation restaurant we shared a table with MD from Ohio and David from Townesville, Aussie - a really interesting conversation - they are both travelling as singles and had met before on previous Orion cruises to Sub Antarctic.
Another day full of amazing adventures and new experiences in Solomon Islands.
Cheers ..... Jan Umbach
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