Offerings of the Solomons, good and bad

Stuart was nice enough to let Matt tag along on one of
his fishing trips. Blue fin trevally.

We have now been in the Solomon Islands for over seven months. For most of our stay, we have barely seen any other cruising boats except for the one (and sometimes two) we travelled with. As the season comes to an end, more boats have been popping up for short stays in the islands here but we are still mostly on our own. That's why yesterday was unusual.

And we're waiting, we're waiting...

Conrad and Mark surfing and boogie boarding

When we mailed our roller furler to Australia to get the seals and bearings replaced, the friendly and helpful Munda Post Office worker, Riko, couldn't find the receipt book. Apparently our package was the first one of the year sent from this branch (yes, it was almost June; yes, they operate on a calendar year). This gave us pause. We'll be on the edge of our seat waiting to see if/when the package gets there.

So we were all set to leave the Solomons...

Mark chilling at Lola with his pals Pepi and Culi

We went to Noro and Munda to get our final diesel and other provisions so that we could check out by June 1. Before we stocked up on frozen meat from the fabulous Muzi Boko (a store made up exclusively of shipping containers and packed with reasonably priced goodies shipped from Australia), we decided to defrost the nearly-empty freezer. The thing hadn't been defrosted since leaving New Zealand over a year ago and had built up a good coating of ice.