Still bobbing around in the Florida Islands

Four catamarans in Tulagi Bay

The heat has twice caused our windlass motor button to spontaneously start (they are triggered by air pressure instead of an electrical switch). It has been when the cover was lifted and the hot Solomon sun blazed down on it. Both times it was the 'down' button (which is good) and we were on board and stopped it by turning off the breaker. Another sign of the heat. And I think we've learned to keep that cover down!



WWII bullets (50 cal?) found by /given to Conrad.
Of course, now he wants a grenade....

We have been waiting around to get a bit of welding done (there was a small crack on a mast tang which we eventually had welded at Avi Avi slipway). In the meantime, the kids have been having fun catching frogs with their friends and taking in the rich World War II history everywhere.

Collecting shells

WWII LST (Landing Ship- Tank) wrecked in the mangroves. Can't blame the enemy
for this one- the captain took a wrong turn and ended on a reef!

My poison ivy-like rashes are finally healed and I am over a case of what may have been a mild case of dengue. We are all provisioned up and ready to head to Morovo. The wind is light so it will be a slow ride.

Hand-dug road cut canyon (by prisoners)

Another view of the boats from Tulagi

Temporary crew and normal life

Poor man's drone photo: Matt took this shot from the mast
as he checked our tricolor light.

As we were leaving for Honiara, John (the leader of the village near our anchorage in Roderick Bay) asked whether we and our buddy boats could take some kids with us for a school event. We hemmed and hawed to ourselves and weren't thrilled with a number of considerations, not the least of which was the idea of folks we really didn't know being on the boat, even if only for 5 hours.  We ultimately said we could take 10 (our friends on Field Trip said they could take up to 15). We were on the verge of saying no and even 10 seemed like an awful lot, mostly because of safety.

Some of the 18 villagers who joined us on our 5-hour run to Honiara

But the villagers have treated us very well and we felt we should try to accommodate them. Well, the morning of our departure, we ended up with 18 villagers and our friends on Field Trip got 19. Luckily our concerns were not met and they were all very well-behaved and there were no issues, except for one older girl who tossed her cookies despite the relatively calm passage.

We spent a few days in Honiara running errands and then headed back to Roderick Bay. Here in the relative calm, Matt went up the mast to work on a connection issue with our tricolor masthead light.  He also ran a new main wire from the battery bank to the circuit panel as there had been a bit of a voltage drop he wanted to correct. The old wire was probably original to the boat. We plan to hang out here for a bit longer to do more projects and recover from our various injuries that are keeping us out of the water for the time being. Matt's leg infection has cleared up but the skin is still filling in and I got a bad case of poison-ivy-like blisters on my legs that may take a few weeks to clear up.

It's still hot and rainy but we are lucky to have Rehua and Field Trip around, with the extra bonus of other kids. The kids (and we) are studying World War II and The Solomons has a lot to offer with its historical sites, memorials and wrecks.