The Solomon Islands

Here at Vella Lavella, hords of local children in their dugout canoes thronged around AKAMA. We generally blew up a bunch of balloons and they paddled like crazy to win one of the prizes.

AKAMA was boarded in the night in the Florida Islands. Here we see the footprints of the culprit. He took about three steps, got into the beam of the alarm, and then jumped and dived over the side. Even during this incident we never felt particularly vulnerable; such acts of petty thievery could happen anywhere.

Here are some dugout canoes being built at Bureh Village. While we westerners may think of these things as relics of the past that we learned about in social studies, they remain the primary means of transport throughout most of the pacific islands.

As soon as we showed up in any village in the Solomon Islands the locals would put together an ad hoc craft fair in the hopes of selling their beautiful carvings and other crafts. We usually bought more than we intended to. This display is a Peava.

These statues, carved from king ebony (pure black), like the piece in the background, are called Nuzu Nuzu. Large ones were placed on the bow of the big canoes when visiting another village. If the Nuzu Nuzu was carrying a bird (right) it meant that the canoe came in peace; if carrying a skull (left) it meant war.

We bought this "Spirit of the Solomons" walking stick, made from queen ebony (black and brown streaked). The man in the photo is the carver.

Up in the hills above Egholo Village we were shown the wreck of a US bomber. It was a sad sight, as the aircraft landed in the trees and then exploded before hitting the ground. Pieces of wreckage are scattered everywhere, including this big propeller, dug into the ground.

We were amazed to find this eco-resort on Ghavutu island in the Florida Group Islands. Here they study and train dolphins. They hope that the research will be supported by the income from the resort, now under construction.

Although Ghizo is the second largest "city" in the Solomon Islands, its market, and most of its other buildings are rather rustic. It was an interesting place to visit.