Where in the heck are the Solomon Islands? And why would you go there? And what is the Marovo Lagoon?All are good questions I would have asked myself before I set out on my journey.The Solomon Islands was not a planned stop but as I researched how to travel from Vanuatu to the Philippines, I saw one of the cheapest and fastest routes was a quick layover in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, followed by a stopover in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, before a flight to Manila.
Since this journey is about unplanned stops, I figured I might as well stay a little while and see what the country is all about. The Solomon Islands is an island nation made up of over 1,000 islands positioned between Papua New Guinea to the west, Vanuatu to the east and and just south of the equator. So yes, it’s extremely hot and humid.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: THIRD WORLD NATION
When I landed in Honiara, the capital city of the Solomon Islands, I quickly saw why the country was a third world nation. There is only one main road through the entire city and some of it is paved. My host Wendy picked me up and it took us over an hour and a half to travel 10km through traffic. Cars meticulously zigzagged across the road to miss the huge potholes that scattered the entire road, both the paved and dirt sections. Trash lined the road and people walked along the dirt sidewalks in flip flops and under umbrellas to provide shade from the blazing sun. It was about 90 degrees Fahrenheit with no breeze and no clouds.
I stayed at Hibiscus Homestay, a house with other expats that was recommended to me from a German friend that I met while diving in Vanuatu since he had stayed at this same house. After doing some research on the Solomon Islands before arriving, I learned that the country’s main tourist attractions are activities in the water and World War II history since the islands were a huge battleground between the Japanese and the Americans.
WORLD’S LARGEST DOUBLE BARRIER REEF ENCLOSED LAGOON
During my research, I read about the Marovo Lagoon in the western province and how it was one of the top spots to dive. The lagoon is the largest double barrier reef enclosed lagoon in the world full of tropical sea life. Since I just earned my dive certification I figured the lagoon was the perfect spot to spend a few days in the Solomon Islands. Now I needed to figure out how to get to the lagoon. Many villages are scattered on different islands in the lagoon but I chose to go to the town of Seghe which is in the center.
I read about three passenger ferry boats between Honiara and the Marovo Lagoon that were much cheaper (albeit longer in journey) than the expensive flights between Honiara and the island villages. The Anjeanette departs once a week on Saturday evenings at 9pm and arrived in Seghe around 1pm the next day (16 hours). The Fair Glory departs Honiara at 9am on Sundays and arrived in Seghe at 10pm (13 hours). And the Cusco departs Honiara Sunday evenings at 9pm. But the Anjeanette passed through the entire lagoon in the morning sunlight so it’s more scenic than the Fair Glory which arrives at the lagoon at night time. Both have a first class room accomodation which is a small room that has air conditioning. Given the extremely humid air, I opted for first class on the Anjeanette.
FIRST CLASS BOAT CABIN GETS YOU A SPOT ON THE FLOOR (WITH AIRCON)
Taking the overnight ferry was quite the experience!! I bought a Chinese mat to lay down on the floor of the room since there are no beds. First class is just an empty room with aircon. The woman at the ticket office told me to board the ship around 6pm to get my spot on the floor since it fills up fast. I arrived around 7pm thinking that was two hours from departure so there had to be a spot available. When I arrived I luckily found the last amount of floor space available. I put my mat down, secured my bags and decided to walk around the boat.
Everyone kept staring at me wondering what I was doing. I quickly learned I was the only foreigner aboard the boat. The Solomon Islands don’t receive that many tourists and of the tourists that do visit, they spend the money and fly to other islands. I felt a little nervous at first but I just acted confident like I knew what I was doing and smiled at people when they looked at me. They always smiled back since they clearly know I am not a local. That helped me relax.
I stood on the outside deck overlooking the chaotic jetty as people carried items onto the ship. Anyone could just walk on while the ship was docked. And they were loading large boxes with a crane on the front of the ship. So many things were happening as the sun had set and we prepared for our voyage.
PARROTS IN FIRST CLASS
I bought a one way ticket to Seghe for $380 Solomon dollars which is about USD$68. A one way flight was USD$180. I went back down to the first class cabin to my spot on the floor and ate some food that I bought at a local market: canned tuna and crackers. I looked around and the people in the cabin were bringing so many different things with them. One family who came into the room late and wedged their way into a spot had brought a parrot with them in a cardboard box with a blanket over the top. Wow. I thought to myself “that bird better not chirp at night while we sleep”. Others brought large bags of rice. Some had bags of clothing for their families. This once a week boat is a lifeline for the people out in the western province. So it’s imperative that people bring supplies to their families and their villages from the city.
JOCKEYING FOR SLEEPING SPACE
The boat pushed away the wharf around 9:30pm and I was ready to shut my eyes. It was very warm in the cabin as the air conditioning was working but no air was moving. The air didn’t reach me and my skin was damp from the humidity. People started to go to sleep and they shut the lights off. One of the teenage boys with the family next to me laid down at the edge of my mat since there wasn’t much space for him with his family.
Over the course of the night I had to jockey for leg space at the end of my mat since the teenager splayed his arms out when he slept so they were across my legs. I had to move his arms away. And then he would reach up and his hands touched my hands at my side so I had to shift his arms out of the way. He didn’t know he was doing it since he was sleeping. So it was ok but just annoying since I am a light sleeper.
BUGS CRAWLING OVER YOU IS PART OF THE EXPERIENCE
Even though there were some small bugs crawling around the floor and at times crawling on me, I actually slept ok. I had to just take my mind out of it and know the bugs wouldn’t hurt me. None of the locals cared so why should I? I had periods of deep sleep and dreams. I am thankful I brought my neck pillow that I use on the airplane to use as a pillow on the floor. That helped a lot. And I was also thankful for putting in my headphones and turning on my white noise that blocked out all the snoring, parrot noises, chatting in the middle of the night and the 15 minute 6am sunrise Sunday scripture reading over the loudspeaker. I was the only one that didn’t rise to listen to the reading. I would say I got an “ok” eight hours of sleep.
SMOKE IN MY FACE AND HOLDING YOUR BOWEL MOVEMENT
Around 8am I went out on deck for some fresh air and found a spot among the dirty deck machinery and all the people strewn across the stern. And of course everyone was smoking and the breeze would shift the smoke right into my face. Lovely. I moved around on some decks to find a spot out of the blazing sun with a breeze but every inch of the deck was occupied by someone. Crazy.
Eventually we spotted land and made our first of four stops before Seghe. The entire village of the first port had prepared food for sale and welcomed our ship. I should have gotten off like a lot of people did to buy some local food and come back onto the ship. But, I was afraid if I ate anything that my bowels would shift and I would need to take a bowel movement. Normally, a “bm” is a good, natural thing to do. But when you only have one toilet bowl on the entire ship that does not flush (the urinals were broken) and is only collecting urine (that is sloshing out onto the floor as the boat moves), you certainly don’t want to have a bowel movement until you are off of the ship!
I COULDN’T BELIEVE MY EYES: BEAUTY QUICKLY TURNED TO DISGUST
I watched everyone move around the tiny port. Alongside the ship were gorgeous fish swimming around super clear water where you could see all the way to the bottom about 15 meters below. Such beauty. I smiled and thought to myself “this is why I came to the Solomon Islands!!”
However, just moments later my euphoria quickly ended. Just as I was admiring the amazingly colored fish and crystal clear water, someone threw an empty plastic soda bottle off the boat and into the sea. My heart just stopped. And then another guy tossed his used soda can into the water like it was just a normal thing to do. Everyone saw this happen but no one blinked. Ugh, I wanted to jump off and pick it up but there wasn’t much I could do.
GENERATIONS OF TRASH IN THE WATER
Before we had embarked on our journey in Honiara, they made an announcement about being responsible with the environment and to remind the passengers to throw all rubbish into bins on the ship. But I quickly learned that people aren’t educated here in the Solomon Islands about why it’s very harmful to the entire food chain by polluting the waters. Here I am floating on a boat in beautiful blue water and local people are trashing the beauty they live in. I couldn’t believe it.
I later would talk to Jillie, the host of the Matikuri Eco Lodge where I stayed for four nights, and she told me that there are no landfills in the Solomon Islands. And the locals have very little education. While they may know it’s not good to toss your garbage into the water, they don’t care. All of the villages on the islands have been tossing their garbage into the sea for centuries.
The local people don’t understand the consequences for throwing trash into the sea. There is no incentive for them not to throw rubbish into the beautiful ecosystem. It is more work for them to try to collect and then store their rubbish someplace. No infrastructure is in place to even recycle. This is extremely alarming. I wanted to do something but it was so overwhelming and it was difficult to imagine a time when everyone cares for the beautiful planet we live on.
MY VERY OWN PRIVATE ISLAND
The Anjeanette arrived at Seghe, the nearest village to my lodge, around 1pm on Sunday. I didn’t know where to disembark since the normal door they used at each port was too far from the jetty. And then a woman came up to me on the boat and asked “are you Cory?” It was Jillie. She had boarded the boat to find me. It wasn’t hard to find me since I was the only white guy. We walked down to a lower deck and a side door of the ship opposite the dock side was opened. Down below were small fiberglass boats floating alongside the ship. I handed off my two backpacks (I had left my large luggage back in Honiara) and stepped down into the small boat. And a minute later we were boating away from the ship and across the bay to the lodge.
Twenty minutes after leaving the ship we arrived at Matikuri Eco Lodge which was on its own private island! So cool. Jillie showed me to my “honeymoon bungalow” (how ironic) which was down a long sandy walkway. We passed a couple other bungalows but Jillie told me I was the only guest for the entire week. Wow, it was truly my own private island!
OFF THE GRID
Eco lodges are known for being constructed with natural resources and remaining “off the grid”. The lodge had no generator which means no electricity, no refrigerator, no ice, no plugin to charge my computer. Only the main lodge had a portable solar panel they used to charge torches, the lights used in the kitchen and living areas at night. Two flushing toilets exist in a separate hut using a pump by solar power (and you can guess where that toilet outflow goes). Only one outdoor shower exists that uses rainwater. They collect rainwater in a large holding tank that is used for drinking and cooking.
MY HONEYMOON BUNGALOW FOR ME AND MY NEW PARTNER, THE GLOBE!
My honeymoon bungalow was built out over the water. The roof, walls and windows were constructed from local bamboo and coconut leaves. All of the windows could be propped open to let air inside. Only a couple windows had screens but four of the windows did not. And the space above was a coconut leaf thatched roof but was open air with no screen so any type of flying animal or insect could easily come in. The bungalow certainly was the opposite of air-tight and had many cracks and openings. The space inside had one room with a bed and a mosquito net hung above. The wooden flooring had slats with small gaps where you could see small glimpses of the water lapping on shore below.
A nice deck in the backside overlooked the lagoon with a long wooden couch to sit. The deck was deteriorating and Jillie told me not to go to the far end of the deck since it was rotting and I could fall in. Lovely. She proceeded to tell me that her husband passed away last year and she has not done any work to the place since he passed as that is what her husband did. It was sad to hear her story and it eroded some more of my euphoria of being in such a far away land full of beauty and mystery. You could tell she was still grieving (and rightly so). But her grieving had depressed all of her ambition of running the eco lodge business.
FINDING NEMO
The beach in front of the lodge was nice and perfect for snorkeling. Each day in the morning and late afternoon I would go for a swim around the beautiful coral teeming with colorful fish. Not many large fish, but gorgeous reef fish. I found Nemo!! At dusk one evening, we saw several sharks from the main lodge deck that were one meter long. Another evening we saw manta rays swimming by. The Solomon Islands certainly lived up to the name “fish soup”. Fish everywhere.
MOIST FOR DAYS
The Marovo Lagoon is such a calm place since it has barrier islands all around to protect the water. The water surface is like glass most of the time with very small occasional waves created from passing boats. The lagoon is like a big saltwater lake. But unfortunately this means no wind or breeze. And the temperature is in the upper 80 degrees constantly with high humidity.
Sleeping at night was not the most comfortable sleep because of the humidity. I walked back to my bungalow after dinner and some nights after playing the card game “Locke” with the host and staff. And the moist air stuck to my skin. My sheets were damp. Everything I had was moist. My skin was covered in a layer of moisture so I used a towel (that was damp) to wipe down. All of my windows were open to try to let any type of breeze into my space.
I removed all of my clothes since I knew the mosquito net will protect me from any bugs. One night there was a large spider on the outside of my mosquito net that freaked me out. But I had to remind myself to keep my mind over matter. I knew the net would not let anything in. So I laid down and hoped for some air movement but the air just sat motionless. I slowly drifted off into sleep listening to the water slowly lapping underneath me and to the peaceful sounds of the jungle at night.
NO THAT’S NOT SOMEONE ON MY ROOF SHAKING IT …. EARTHQUAKE!!
On the very first night, I woke up at 4am and felt my entire bungalow shaking. I jumped up in my bed and thought someone had somehow climbed onto the roof or onto the deck of my bungalow. The coconut leaf roof and ceiling joints creaked, the floor boards rattled and the bamboo walls made a scratching noise as they rubbed together. My mosquito wavered. Holy crap! It was an earthquake. The quake lasted about eight seconds and wasn’t a huge quake but certainly my first one to experience ever. I spoke to Jillie and the staff at breakfast the next morning and they certainly felt it also. Earthquakes are common in this area since it is along the “ring of fire” region.
YOU WANT TO CHARGE ME THAT?
One of the largest deterrents of tourism to the Solomon Islands is the lack of infrastructure leading to extremely high costs. As you can imagine, my eco lodge was the only structure on the small island I visited. No restaurants. No other people. The only way to travel is by boat and the nearest town is 20 minutes away. Therefore you are stuck to pay for the food at the lodge (which was reasonably priced and decent food) or you could bring your own food if you wanted.
I had ambitions of going diving and seeing some of the sights like a sunken airplane from WWII. However the lodge charged a flat fee of 250 Solomon dollars plus the price of fuel. I did the math and the transportation to the diving company would have cost me USD $160. And the cost of the dive and transportation to the dive site would have cost me USD $100. So all in, it would cost me USD$260 for a 45 minute dive. Instead, I chose to snorkel for free off the island of the lodge. I was able to see beautiful fish at my own pace. I knew I would have other opportunities to dive in other locations!
IS YOUR MOUTH BLEEDING?
One day the host, staff and I took a boat into Seghe village to visit the weekly market where people came to sell their goods. Fruit, bread, baskets, and this fruit-shaped plant called betel-nut but it sounds like “bitternut” when the locals say it. It is shaped like a short, green banana but inside are these seeds that provide a natural buzz when eaten and are extremely bitter. I would equate the feeling to a high when smoking a cigarette (I wouldn’t actually know).
But the seeds turn your entire mouth and teeth dark red. I wondered why everyone had dark red teeth all the time. It was like their mouth was all bloody. And they spit out their saliva like chewing tobacco so there are spots of red spit all around. But it’s almost like a badge of honor here. In Vanuatu the locals drink kava and in the Solomon Islands they chew betel-nut.
HOW DO YOU DEVELOP AN ECONOMY IN THE HEAT?
The village of Seghe was used as a small American base during WWII. And today it is a small village that has a school, hospital, small grass runway and airport, a couple convenience stores and of course a bottle shop selling only beer. There wasn’t much of an “economy” in these villages as people didn’t do much during the day and sat around. I am not sure how many of them support their lives to eat and live each day. While the women sold their goods, the men drove things around on boats and hung out in the shade. I can see why it would difficult to work hard in the heat of the day.
16-HOUR BOAT RIDE OR 45 MINUTE FLIGHT?
Three ships go between Honiara and Gizo, making a stop at Seghe. All three leave Honiara at different times, reach Gizo and then return back to Honiara. I could have timed it better to take the first ship from Honiara, the Anjeanette, stayed a couple nights in Seghe and then taken the Cusco back to Honiara as it passed back through the Marovo Lagoon. It isn’t very clear online how to do this but it’s possible to travel by ship only. You could book your ticket out to the lagoon and then speak with the locals to help you arrange the trip back to Honiara since they all know the times. Instead, I bought an expensive one way flight back to Honiara.
The airport terminal was a small one room building. I had to step on the scale since it was a small plane and they have to make sure the weight is ok. Before the incoming aircraft landed, they made an announcement outside to make sure no one was crossing the runway since the runway was in the middle of town. The small, 12-seat prop plane (DHC-6 Twin Otter) from Honiara landed at 9:45am onto the grass runway. The five passengers stepped off, the six new passengers got on, they threw on a couple of bags and around 9:55am, a ten minute turnaround, we took off for Honiara with no TSA security check (or any kind of security check).
STUNNING ISLAND AFTER ISLAND
The ground fell away as we lifted off and I could see the raw beauty of the Solomon Islands. So many islands dotting the water with emerald water surrounding the pieces of land. You could visibly see how shallow it was because of the light colored water which then gave way to a deep blue color. I could see so many islands. The lagoon is such a cool feature basically creating such a calm, serene ecosystem protecting the area from the turbulent sea. We flew over islands that looked like they would be huge, circular skyscrapers if no water surrounded them. They just popped straight up out of the water and the island wall went straight down into the water instead of a gentle slope. Incredible!
EARTH’S CITIZENS SHARE COMMON TASK OF PRESERVING PLANET
I stayed one final night in Honiara before departing. The host’s Internet was down so I walked to one of the nicest hotels nearby and worked on my laptop. On the way back to my lodging, I passed some locals in a back alley playing volleyball on the dirt. Of course I had to stop to watch. They were pretty good at volleyball and eventually invited me to play. I had bad shoes on and not great athletic clothing but figured why not. We had so much fun. I played for about an hour as the sun went down and was dripping with sweat. We all didn’t want the evening to end but I had to get back and pack before leaving the next day.
I’m glad I made a stop to the Solomon Islands on my journey. It was a great reminder that not all countries and places are created equally. And how people in third world countries struggle to get by each day. Reminding me of how we take things for granted in our lives. And that you can survive on a few simple things. Sure it’s nice to have many things and possessions, but we don’t really need it all. And it was a great reminder of how we are all connected in the world. A reminder of how we need each other, especially when it comes to education and the environment. We are all citizens of the earth and share the common task of preserving the land we live on so it can be clean and safe for our future families.
Have you been to the Solomon Islands or are interested in going to the Solomon Islands? Where did you go and why? Share your story below in the comments. It would be great for others to learn about traveling to this unique destination.
