As we arrive in Niendo we are greeted by the province festival. When we go onshore we are welcomed with a pipe band playing and all the villagers dancing. We are invited to join in and Nicolas is making the show dancing with the ladies. We are very fortunate to meet a charming couple,Titus and Margaret, who invites us for lunch in their home. On our daily visits the boys are surrounded by dozens of children and they love it. Canoes are queuing around Chasse Spleen offering fruits and vegetables which we happily trade as our reserves are very low. We are also shown the traditional feather money which was used in the past for important occasions such as proposing to a future wife. Feather money is unique to Temotu province whereas other provinces use shell money. We can only stay a short week as we need to head North with the cyclone season approaching.
We stop at Malaupaina Island, one of the so called Three Sisters ( Makira Province) . We drop the anchor in Mosquito Anchorage (named after the HMS Mosquito, not the bloody insects !) where we are greeted by "charming" Chief Divine and his clan. They work in their copra plantation and grow gardens on islands nearby. They better be self sufficient as they only see one commercial boat per year.
We are very wary of putting a foot in the water and especially in the lagoon; mangrove is renowned for saltwater crocodiles hide outs. Divine has a special way to talk to them and manages to capture the beasts without any weapon. Apparently crocodile meat tastes like chicken.
We need to leave the island in a rush as the wind turns and our stern gets very close to the coral heads.