The Marovo Lagoon region is located in the Western Province, and seems to cater for the lion's share of tourists. With our spearing and camping gear packed, transport options were restricted by the luggage weight allowances on the small domestic aircraft (only 16kg per person).
We had plenty of warning from friends and relatives about the what to expect, and sure enough, much of the advice was very relevant. Solomon Time is a real phenomenon and pervades most aspects of life. It's not a bad thing so long as you anticipate its effects and go with the flow.
Foreboding airport mural: a sign of things to come?
Loading chaos: hundreds of people stuffing their luggage and cargo onto the ferry.
Ferry Trouble
Or, the trouble with Ferries! We visited the ticket office of the MV Solomon Express to pre-purchase tickets for our journey into the Western Province. Being a little worried about the overcrowding, we arrived at the wharf super early to claim our place on the Ferry. Several hours later, I took our tickets back to the ticket office. Upon displaying the ticket, the clerk refunded our money, but couldn't explain why the Ferry didn't show.
This was a real pain for a few reasons. The villagers at Peava were expecting us, we had no accommodation arranged for Honiara, the next ferry doesn't depart for another two days, and our plans relied on that ferry running in the coming weeks.
Our second attempt at departure two days later was a success, and we were finally heading west.
High & dry: ferry grave on the shores of Honiara.
Unloading chaos: the skipper allows about 3 minutes to disembark on a 5m slab of concrete.
Peava Village
The home of The Wilderness Lodge, Peava Village is nestled in the farthest southeastern reaches of Marovo on the Island of Nggatokae (Gatokae). We visited the nearby Islands of Malemale, Mbulo and Minjanga – all have good spearfishing spots. Ocean currents dominate the fish activity making local knowledge a definite requirement.
Glass off: excellent conditions for putting around with a 10HP outboard!
We were quite lucky to have very calm weather.. the south-east tradewinds that normally push 15 knots this time of year had vanished. Quite literally they disappeared when we arrived, and returned as we left.
Divin' Ivin: keen!
Ivin, is a Peava Spearfisherman who guided us to his favourite spearfishing grounds. Most days we headed out in a 19' fibreglass canoe with a 9.8HP outboard on a new adventure. Fuel is SBD$14/litre, or around A$2.40/litre – the conditions and the efficiency of the little outboard kept the costs down. We spent about $50 each on fuel... for the whole week. That even includes an excursion to Mataki seamount and a FAD in a larger boat!
Dive boat: also our ferry transfer service.
The Wilderness Lodge is a tourism enterprise operated by the Peava villagers with the help of Corey – an ex-pat Aussie – and his wife Waelinah. Corey is quite busy with the Lodge, but we didn't have to twist his arm too hard to get out for some spearfishing.
Amazingly, the distance between the near-side reef of Malemale and the Peava barrier reef is only 600m, but drops away to a massive 200m. Wahoo, Blue Marlin and Sailfish are regularly hooked or spotted in the current right there! The dominant underwater structure of these areas is the sheer drop of the coral reef – straight down more than 50 metres – often much more.
After the delays trying to depart Honiara we were keen to get under the water as soon as possible. We arrived at Peava around lunchtime, and our gear wasn't out of the boat long, before we had most of it back in again ready for a dive. What an eye-opener! Hectic bait fish, clear warm water and sheer drops.
Sharks are ever-present, but only occasionally go hard for the speared fish. We quickly learned to shoot straight and bring the fish in before swimming for the surface.
Matakai Seamount
Corey had a chance to get away from work, and we scooted out to Mataki Seamount in his larger aluminium boat. We had Steward and Ivin on board who were quite excited to get out beyond their local grounds. Unfortunately Ivin's Marovo Speargun was mis-firing and he couldn't use it. I was hoping to see it put to use and capture some of the action on video. Steward – from a nearby village – takes Wilderness Lodge guests snorkelling and spearfishing under the banner of Bluewater Solomons.
20 nautical miles out to sea, with hundreds and hundreds of metres-deep water all around Matakai comes up to around 15m. Most drifts took us from 200m up-current amongst Wahoo, onto the reef edge with the Dogtooth Tuna, back across 2km of coral flats with Maori Sea Perch, Jobfish, Coral Trout and various Cod. We both saw good Doggies, but embarrassingly missed with the spear falling short! Wilso got into the Flowery Cod, and I crossed paths with an enourmous (6+ metre span) Manta Ray. I took one of the two 20+ kg Giant Trevally swimming in its shadow.
Steward had a suggestion to go find a FAD that he had found weeks before. We found small Wahoo, Dolphinfish, Yellowfin Tuna and 2 Blue Marlin. Wilso nabbed a Dollie, and we all got onto the little Wahoo. Corey and Steward saw a 250+ kg Blue Marlin smashing Rainbow Runner right in front of them right before a small Blue Marlin cruised past me... but on the other side of the FAD. I didn't have a clear shot, so didn't take it. An amazing fish to see in the water.. brightly lit in feeding mode. None of us got the timing right to dive on the Yellowfin for a shot, although Corey got close enough to spot some XL models below the babies.
[L]Dolphinfish
[R]Giant Trevally
Once back at the village, the weather was still perfect and our bodies not completely spent, so we transferred the gear into the little boat, and zipped over to Malemale for a quick evening dive. Wilso elected to have a swim with the video camera, while Corey and I paddled around looking for what was making the baitfish so anxious. The light was slowly fading and the schools of Rainbow Runner a little more energetic. I had started for the surface when Wilso grabbed my leg and pointed at a big shape in the gloom. With the video rolling, I reached out and planted a shot in the Spanish just as it was reaching the end of range. It fired up and made a good run taking the gun, 25m of rope and 10m of bungee before I grabbed the float and went for a ride.
Spanish Mackerel
Each day our host grabbed a fish for our dinner, and all the rest went into the village. The village kids were keen to check out the catch each day.
Big Fish: well, for a little guy.
Have a browse through the photos on flickr:
Solomons 2009 - Before Peava
Solomons 2009 - Peava Village
Part 2 to follow soon
