s/v Field Trip

Author: Sarah Date: Nov 25, 2016, 7am Solomon Islands Location: 10 12 S - 166 18 E Conditions: 8-10kts ENE, calm anchorage with overcast skies and a bar of 1006 Our Thanksgiving this year left us all feeling full. The morning was spent cleaning the boat and cooking. Turns out all those young coconuts that the locals gift us for drinking leave a nasty sap stain on the gelcoat that is a bugger to get off. We also spent some time digging out treasured items from the bilge that I'd hidden away for just this holiday - a jar of cranberry sauce and a packet of traditional stuffing mix that I'd bought in Port Vila, Vanuatu months ago. The rest of the meal came together beautifully, and completely coincidentally. It happens that the Solomon Islanders' gardens are plentiful with green beans, and we have eaten green beans in curry, stir fry, vegetable soup, goulash, or as a side dish almost every day since we've been here. So, naturally, the washed beans in the frid...

Author: Sarah & Mark Date: Nov 21, 2016, 6am Solomon Islands Location: 10 18 S - 166 18 E Conditions: 0-5kts ENE, calm anchorage with overcast skies and a bar of 1005 We've anchored at a place with no write-ups in the few available cruising guides, no recommendations from friends, and no information at all except for the satellite images that showed a plausible anchorage here. The images from space were exactly what brought us here. It looked too beautiful to miss. Reef Islands… the little group of islands surrounded by reefs just east of Santa Cruz is reminiscent of the Tuomotus with the bright turquoise shallow water inside the lagoon. Yet also similar to Fulaga, Fiji where we saw our first mushroom-shaped coral islets capped with shrubs poking up from the sea. I am captivated by the view from the bow as we drop anchor in 20 meters of water. The water is every shade of blue and green imaginable as the depth changes from extremely deep to barely covering the sand...

We’d heard all the hype from other cruisers.  We’d seen the overwhelming 5-star ratings on Trip Advisor.  We’d read about this tour in guidebooks and novels.  Now it was our turn.  Us versus the volcano.  This tour has been on our bucket list since we first learned of it’s existence. We anchored in Port Resolution, with the red glow of the volcano visible in the night sky just over the mountains surrounding the bay.  Steam vents billowed along the rocky walls lining the shore.  All of these signs were small preludes to a sight I will never forget. Arrangements were made in typical island telegraph fashion - Stanley sent a messenger out in a dugout outrigger canoe to confirm our plans, then sister of so-and-so told brother of Stanley that two more folks would be joining us.  Go here, pay there, cash only, meet up here.  Back and forth went the relayed messages and instructions until finally, an hour after our planned departure, we pile...