18 Oct 2017

A Festive Welcome to the Solomon Islands

This morning the sea was glassy calm as the Spirit of Enderby glided into the sheltered harbour at Taro, the first order of business being to complete customs clearance which we had done by 0800.

The morning was spent enjoying a lovely and fascinating zodiac cruise along the Sui River, starting from the Mangroves we progressed inland through forest that eventually became beautiful rainforest towering over our heads.

The river was navigatable nearly all the way to the falls and along the way there were excellent views of Imperial Pigeons, Cockatoos, Blyth's Hornbill and about 5 species of kingfisher amongst others, there was also several brief crocodile sightings and monitor lizards seen clambering through the mangrove roots.

Returning from the river we landed on Taro Island to a rapturous welcome as it turns out this week was womens festival week and women had gathered from around Choisul for the first time in 10 years so were were treated to an exception series of performances from no less than five dance groups and at the end of it all we joined them for a modified version of the hokey pokey.

This afternoon there was the opportunity for snorkelling or swimming from the beach, the snorkelling turned out to be excellent and the beach is just always lovely!