26 Oct 2015

Kwai Island Warriors

Overnight we experienced something quite unusual for the Solomon Islands – wind gusting up to 30knots at a time. In spite of the wind we still made good progress and at dawn the Spirit of Enderby was in position ready to once again release our birders upon the remote shores of the Solomon Islands. A truck was waiting ashore to ferry them into the hills in search of the endemic White-eye and Myzomlema. A successful morning resulted and both species were seen along with many others. The rest of us enjoyed some lovely snorkelling along the protected shores of Leli Island. With a swell rolling through, it was a great to find such a sheltered shore and soon all those that were so inclined were enjoying the azure waters and great diversity of fish and corals along the edge of the reef.

In the morning Suzanne had introduced us all to the culture of the Solomon Islands which proved timely as after lunch we landed on Kwai Island and were able to enjoy it first hand.

Upon landing we were ‘greeted’ by a fierce band of warriors that emerged from the interior of the island at a great pace and with a lot of noise. Our initiation over, we were treated to a performance which demonstrated a traditional Melanesian wedding and men’s dance. Then there was time to explore the island with its high density housing all built on stilts for when the inevitable waves wash over the island. We are now sailing the remote shores of eastern Malaita with beautiful views into the high and largely unexplored hills.