Honiara, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands

                                    

We decided to go off on our own today rather than stick with the group with the private tour. Someone on Cruise Critic had written up all of our ports before we left so we had a list of things we wanted to see, from WWII and not. We were off the ship by 8:10. They had maps on the pier which showed where the craft markets were. We went to an ATM first as we had been told that they would not accept US$. The market closest to the pier was a ladies market. They had mostly clothing and jewelry. The one stall that had beautiful carvings had no prices. We went back to them 3 times to get prices. We ended up buying one item from them and a mask from a different vendor. From there we started walking to the National Museum where there was supposed to be crafts for sale also. A man started walking with us and asking about where we were from. He told us he had a stall at a craft market which turned out to be very large, across the street from the museum. They had beautiful carvings but they were also very expensive. We are used to paying a few dollars not $100. We started to look at the native people carvings, a man and a woman decorated with shell bead jewelry. They came in all sizes. We bought a couple of things then went to the museum. 

       

The National Museum was in several buildings around a garden. They had large totem like statues in the garden from different south sea islands like Fiji and Easter Island. Inside were artifacts as well as some information about the war in the Solomons. In back there was a stage with native dancers. They had different ones scheduled for all day. We visited the store there then went to look at the crafts at the entrance. Mel talked to the men taking admission there about getting us a taxi for the day. A man named John called his brother who drives a taxi. While we were waiting for him to arrive we ran back across the street to take another look at the carved native couple. John went with us. I think he was afraid that we wouldn't go back. In the mean time the lady selling the couple at the museum had lowered her price in half. It was tempting but we decided to see if we might find something else that we liked better. 

The taxi arrived and we got in. It was like the lights went out. He had his windows so shaded that we could barely see out, not ideal for sightseeing. But we were kind of stuck so just went anyway. We'd been told he had A/C also but that was barely functioning. It was again very hot. We headed out of town to the east. Our first stop was the airport! Turns out it is Henderson field and has a lot of history from the war. Next to it is a cemetery where a lot of servicemen are buried. Each headstone had a tree next to it so the area was full of trees in perfect rows. 

From there we took a very rough road to the top of a hill. This was Bloody Ridge where a famous battle took place. On the way back down we stopped at a table by the road where they were selling old Coke bottles. There was a small village just off the road. All the villagers came running to see us at the road while we headed straight back to the village! There were some very cute little kids. One older lady with a big blonde Afro told us that they were her grandchildren. Everyone said hello and had big smiles for us. All the people we encountered were very nice. We then went to a carving school. They had some beautiful pieces but the prices were very high so we continued 

                                                                     

We had told one of our table mates that we would be back around noon to get into our swimsuits and get our snorkel gear. We asked our guides to wait for 30 minutes and when we came back we would bring them lunch. We found Don and arranged to meet at the gangway. I made 2 sandwiches and got a lot of cheese and cookies. Back at the room I remembered that I also wanted to take apples so went back up to the Lido for them. They had pears also so I grabbed 2 of those too. Our guides had never eaten an apple!  I was glad that I took the effort. I tried to explain to them that the pears would be better in 2 or 3 days. Within 30 minutes they had eaten everything including the pears and about 10 cookies! I guess they were hungry. 

We read on our list about a research center that is trying to save the giant clams. Figured that would be interesting so headed there first. After about 40 minutes we were wondering where we were going. The list had said it was 14 miles. Well, we finally found it but it looked like it had been closed for years. There was a river nearby with women washing their clothes. The old cement tanks were now being used to dry clothes, there was clothing spread out in most of them. Now we headed back the way we'd come to go to a WWII War Museum. The entrance fee was $15 and it was just an open yard filled with old planes, guns, etc. not very exciting but I guess Mel and Don enjoyed it. 

       

 

It was finally time to go to the beach. I had seen the sign on the way out but couldn't remember where it was. We had traveled a long way out of town. We finally pulled in to the right area. They wanted an entrance fee of $7 per person which I thought odd. We paid then went in. There was an old, rusted ship sticking out of the water a ways away so we walked to that. We all got in the water. It was warmer than the air!  But it wasn't very clear so the visibility wasn't great. That was disappointing. I didn't want to get near the ship until Mel did. Turns out it was covered with all kinds of coral, many different colors and shapes, just beautiful. Of course I'd forgotten to take my underwater camera so no pics. Mel did take movies. The wreck was acting like a reef so when you got near it the water would pull you closer. I thought it was quite creepy swimming around an old ship but when Mel passed over the side, I did too. Now we could see the deck of the ship below us, creepy. The fish and coral were beautiful though. 

John told us it was time to go so we got out of the water and packed up our gear. It was about 3:30, all aboard was at 4:30. Then the car wouldn't start! He fussed with it then went to talk to a group down the beach who were there with 2 trucks. They were going to try to jump the car but the cables they had were about the size of a regular power cord. Did not look promising! I said we should start walking to the road to hitch a ride and if they got it started they could pick us up. It was getting close to when we needed to be back at the ship. Then we went back to ask the truck driver if he would take us to town. He said no. Not sure how it came about but then he said he was going to town now and we could go. So we hopped into the back and off we went! We gave our taxi guys about 3/4 of what we had agreed on. They were not happy but they could have made us miss the ship and now we needed to pay this other guy. I felt bad but oh well, we were on our way. Mel and I were cracking up, Don did not look amused. I said to him that he didn't look very happy. He replied "I am happy inside!"  Too funny. (His wife told us that she never knows when he is enjoying something either.)

So we are in the bed of a truck bouncing along and it stops. Driver had to buy some betel nuts. Next stop was to get gas, guess we are on the milk run. When we leave the cover of the gas station it is now raining, just what we need. Of course we were still pretty wet from swimming so it was not a big deal. Stopped again to unload whatever I had been leaning against in the back. Next stop was to drop off the last guy then the driver comes around and asks "Where are you going?" We said to the ship, no comprehension. Big boat, still nothing. I tried the museum which would be close enough, nada. He finally said "the port", yes! More bumps and traffic and we pulled up at the gate to the pier at 4:10. Don headed straight for the ship. I told Mel that we still had time to go to the nearby market to get a mask for Dorothy. She had asked us to get one, no more than $20. I quickly went to the market while Mel took pics of a statue for the Coastal Watchers.  I asked the price of a couple of items, still too high. I went to another table and realized that the woman speaking on the loudspeaker was now saying a prayer. The minute she said Amen, I asked the price of the masks. $12, perfect. Bought it for Dorothy and headed out of there. Just outside the gate to the market a man came up to us and said he had our dolls. Huh? Then he said little people. Have no idea how he found us but it was the guy from the large market we had gone to in the morning and he had some native people carvings. We didn't buy them in the morning because they were over $100. He offered them to us for $50. We countered with $40 and bought them. They are a bit smaller than the ones we had really liked, with a bit less detail but for $40 they were not a major investment. How the heck he found us.....  He had had them wrapped in a sheet and didn't want to give that up so I had him put the woman carefully in my bag and I just carried the man. I told him I was taking a man home from the Solomon Islands and they all laughed. 

Finally on the pier there were hundreds of people waving goodbye and watching the native dancers. Ours was the largest ship that they had seen in 13 years! There were also about 200 passengers on deck 3 watching all the activity. As we pushed our way thru the crowd they started yelling at us, it was quite loud and funny. The people actually just parted when they saw that there were passengers trying to get thru. The officer at the gangway said we still had 4 minutes so were not late but, we were the LAST people onboard. They took up the gangway as soon as we passed. It had been a GREAT day!