Boat Work and Bow Parties
28 November 2008 | Honiara
Randy
The morning was cool so we slept in a bit and did a 250 hour service on the starboard engine. We also cleaned the boat up. Things get progressively more untidy each day you're underway.
We also replaced the pre-filters on the water maker and ran it for an hour. The Spectra was down to 5 gallons an hour and 400ppm salinity. Not good. I think it was maybe air in the system rather than the filters. I just replaced the 50 micron (the first one) and cleaned the strainer then ran the pump with the pressure release open to get things flowing and move the bubbles along. Once I closed the pressure release the feed pressure returned to the normal 88PSI or so and the gallons per hour went back up to 12 or so with a salinity under 200ppm. The water around here is hot (88 degrees) and salty which seems to reduce performance a bit.
We came ashore today to complete all of out business and get ready to sail for Gizo. The dream came crashing down when the lady at the PNG office said, "no visa, you come back Monday". Ug. Three more days in Honiara. It wouldn't be so bad if the harbor was really a harbor and the police boat parked on the dock actually had police on it (add to that, police who actually police). In actuality the weather is the big threat, though we have heard cruisers saying boats have been boarded and robbed in the harbor recently. No different from Bora Bora in that way. The big black dog seems to inhibit the boarders.
After hitting the PNG visa office we stopped by the government mapping agency. I had read somewhere that you could get good charts for the Solomons here and that they were inexpensive. If this was ever so, it is no more. The only charts they have are 1980s vintage British Admiralty, some updated to 2002. If you buy a set they make copies for you. These copies are ok but not great and, as far as I know, you are not supposed to copy the BA charts (US charts or ok for copying). I paid 240 Solomon for a couple of Gizo area charts and received no receipt. Hmmm.
Some of the tourist maps are useful for getting around as well. That said there are so many battle monuments and sunk wrecks that have been lost to the annals of time here that no reference can uncover all of the lost history of this place. If you drive through the hills you will see many war memorials but the majority have been stripped by black hearts who sell the metal plaques and even statues for scrap.
There was a little festival going on in the park as we walked back to the hotel. We stopped by to watch the traditional musicians. The band was completely manned by pan pipe players. These bundles of bamboo range in size from small one handed affairs to huge six foot long honkers that require a massive hoot to sound. They also have an upright configuration that the guys beat on with what looks like a long flat rice spoon. This adds a percussion back beat. Pretty cool to see and hear.
We wound up the day ashore at the Kitano Mendana hotel. They closed up the lunch room in the afternoon and cranked the air conditioning which was nice. We got close to completely caught up on out internet stuff.
As the sun set we retired to the big boat with Will and Charlie (a NGO/RAMSI couple) and Hank and Alison (a charter skipper/RAMSI couple) for drinks. We bought a sack of ice at the hotel and had some lovely G&Ts as the sun set over Guadalcanal. Given the season we have had lovely weather here and only one night of anything but calm seas in the roadstead. Pretty wonderful stuff.