A Solomon Ship Adventure

Beautiful Honiara Harbor.

I arrived in Honiara on the 18th of December and was picked up from the airport by a friend of the Choates.  Andy and Julie are a precious and generous young couple with a very sweet baby boy.  It was fun to get to know them during my stay in the Solomons.  They took me snorkeling on the 19th around a sunken WWII ship.  The fish were plentiful, showing off their vibrant colors and the corals that had grown up and attached themselves to the wreckage were beautiful.  It was amazing and serene- despite the sea lice- to just float and swim around enjoying the wonders of the sea world and how it beautifully copes with a large foreign mental object.

On the 20th I woke up early and gathered my cargo- 2 oversized thin plastic coated bags filled with my personal cargo, Christmas gifts for the Choates, fresh fruits, other Christmas foods and vegetables, and water safety equipment.  And a small bag with water, snacks and two dozen eggs packaged carefully so I could protect them during the short 6 hour boat ride.  Andy drove me to the boat dock arriving well before 7am and I was very intimidated by the large seemingly unorganized crowds milling around the loading docks and was doubtful that there would be space on the already very full Bikoi.  But I was up for an adventure so I hitched up my skirts as modestly and gracefully as possible and clambered over the side of the boat.  Andy found a space for my bags and a perch for me and then with my assurances that I would be just fine left me to wait for the scheduled 8am departure.

As I waited I greeted the people sitting around me, watched as copra bags, personal cargo, sacks of flour and sugar, bags of store bought bread and other items continued to be piled up in hanging nets, in the stairwell and around and behind me.  And of course people continued to climb over the side of the ship following their piles of Christmas luggage.  I didn’t dare move and I could only assume that the rest of the ship was being loaded with the same zeal as the parts that I could view from my seat.  Before our 8am departure, the ship was tilting noticeably towards the dock and sitting so low in the water, that at some point ocean began seeping through the side and the crew called for people to balance the ship by shifting cargo and bodies to the far side away from the dock.  I was happily sitting directly in the middle so I did my part of balancing the ship by staying put.  The people around me didn’t hesitate to tell me that it was very bad that the ship was already tilting and that people needed to stop moving around.  I agreed that it wasn’t good that the ship was tilting but other than telling some people to get off I didn’t see any viable solution so I just sat, observed and prayed.  I prayed for God’s protection and thanked him for the cumbersome lifejacket and safety equipment that I was required to carry with me.  If the ship was already tilting in the harbor well before 8am I could only imagine what would happen when we headed out into the open ocean.

But I am a happy optimist and decided that worrying wasn’t going to help anything so I just settled back into the piles of cargo around me, we left the harbor and headed off to the first stop in the Russell Islands and to pass the time I storied with the people around me and took cat naps when my eyes got heavy.  People were however quite eager to story and I had many questions to answer about where I was going alone, if I was married, why my Pidgin sounded funny, etc.  I used the time to start listening for the differences between Solomon Islands Pijin and Tok Pisin.  I could understand a lot of it but every once in awhile I would hear a word that was completely different and so I would just nod my head, smile and hope that I wasn’t agreeing to something too disagreeable.  I storied with one man about Arnold Schwarzenegger and the climate change- melting of the polar caps etc.  And one lady in particular named Grace took it upon herself to take care of me.  When the sun started beating down she had the men on the top of the cargo pile pull up a laplap to provide some shade, slowly I nestled into my copra bag throne, dozed with the roll of the ship, careful to cradle the eggs so that they wouldn’t crack.  At one point I shared a few biscuits and raisins around.  And when it got too hot a group started to fan themselves with pieces of cardboard which benefited me as well.  Every so often when people moved around too much the ship would tilt to one side or the other and the crew would once again tell people to balance the ship and I would just sit still praising God for calm seas and good weather.

The Russell Islands came into view and I tried from my seat to catch my first glimpses of the beautiful little chain of islands nestled into the bigger Solomon chain.  The water is deep sapphire blue and the lush green foliage growing out of the coral islands is just really stunning.  By this point I was very excited to see the Choates and in wonder at this beautiful little tropical paradise which they now call home.  When the ship finally stopped in the bay at Marulaon I looked around for familiar faces in the party of canoes and boats now gathered around the side of the ship.  I was very happy when I finally spotted Joanna.  The friends I had made on the ship helped to hoist my cargo over the side and the bags were passed over the bridge of canoes into the boat waiting with Joanna.  I was less eager to do the same with myself and when Joanna saw my hesitation she laughed and said “Just jump.”  And so I once again gathered up my skirts and scrambled over the side of the ship and using my negligible skills of balance made my way safely into the boat.  The engine started and we were whisked to shore where I was greeted by very happy, excited Choate children who looked content and comfortable in their island environment.

I had arrived safely in Marulaon and the Bikoi headed out to continue its long journey to the far side of the Western Province.  But I looked ahead and surveyed the village, greeting the people who over the next two weeks would endear themselves to me.  I didn’t know what to expect but I knew that I was thrilled to be spending time with the Choates and I was welcomes enthusiastically by their immediate family and new extended village family as well.  The next two weeks were filled with preparations for Christmas, Christmas celebrations, New Years celebrations and everything that is involved with living and working in a village in the Russells.