I am sitting on the bow of Swingin' on a Star and the sun has just set. It is very dark and straining my touch typing skills. I have WIFI from my laptop to the hotel which is very surprising. Honiara actually looks pretty lit up at night from the anchorage. The starboard engine is making some power while we run the water maker. I can hear fish, some good size, jumping and splashing around the boat. It is a lovely end to a lovely day.

We got up at 7AM ate some Cheerios, took our Malarone and set off for the yacht club. After anchoring Shooting Star (I have become more and more impressed by the little dinghy anchor's holding ability) we walked over to the Hotel to meet with John Innis.

We had the most amazing day. The Battlefield tour John took us on was certainly the most intriguing and deeply historical tour we have ever done in our travels. It is rare to have access to someone with as much knowledge as John has when touring an area where famous battles were fought.

Hideko and I were both impressed as we were guided through the Japanese and US monuments spread out across the hills, beaches and ridges of Guadalcanal. The vistas were fantastic and the weather was fine. You could easily see all the way to Tulagi and the Floridas and imagine the battles there as John described them. As you looked about from the top of some of the hills John would point out where all of the old air strips used to be and were the various companies of soldiers would have approached your position from. His in-depth commentary literally brought the entire area to life.

We did our tour with some interesting folks. All expats in the Solomon Islands are interesting folks at present, you sort of have to be. Most were Ozzies with RAMSI or the High Commission (the equivalent of our embassy). By the end of the day we had made a whole new group of friends.

If you come to The Solomon Islands and don't do John's Battlefield tour, you have really missed something special.