Mokisha
22 June 2016
22 June 2016
22 June 2016
31 May 2016 | Samal Island
05 April 2014 | Andaman Islands, India
04 April 2014 | Andaman Islands, India
04 April 2014 | Thailand
04 April 2014 | Thailand
09 January 2014 | Phuket, Thailand
07 December 2013
26 October 2013 | On the Equator....or close to it!
26 October 2013 | Gili Air, Lombok, monkeys.....
26 October 2013 | Komodo Island, Indonesia
26 October 2013
26 October 2013 | Lambeta, Indonesia
26 October 2013 | Grupita, East Timor - Indonesia
18 August 2013 | Wini, Indonesia
14 August 2013 | Kupang, Indonesia
15 July 2013 | Port Moresby - Papua New Guinea
15 July 2013 | Solomon's to Papua New Guinea
Shortlands & Treasury Island - WWII Tours
12 May 2013 | Solomon Islands
Colleen
Hello from the Western Province of the Solomon Islands –
Tom’s 65th birthday came and went with a quiet celebration on Mokisha in Liaperi. Our evening was spent reminiscing about our past cruising years together over wine and a special birthday dinner. Hard to believe the years keep rolling by and we’ve been cruising for 12 years!
After a solid 8 days of getting Mokisha ready for sailing we were ready to take off from Vela Lavela. She still needs lots of work but we figured we could do chores and organizing along the way. Our time here is short & we wanted to make the best of it so we took off to see the northwest and northeastern provinces of the Solomon’s.
The Shortland Islands and Mono (Treasury Island) played an essential part in WWII although; you rarely hear the history of these islands.
The Shortlands had been taken over by the Japanese, while Treasury Island was secured by the Allied troops – Americans, New Zealand & Australia after success in Guadalcanal. Both these islands proved to be fascinating with rich WWII stories and remnants of bomber planes, old equipment and piles of Coca-Cola bottles and Sake bottles. We’ve decided these rarely visited islands are the “Jewel of the Solomon Islands”. Visitors rarely arrive in this part of the world so we encountered warm and friendly people happy to show us around & give us ‘tours’ of the old WWII sites. We spent an entire day with Jonathon who is a spry 81 year old. He told us stories of when the Americans came to Treasury Island and he was only 10 years old. His friend Roy, was 8 years old. Together they gave us an insight of what it was like to see a white man for the first time. What it was like for us to come in and bulldoze an island flat so they could bring in supplies and make an airfield. The airstrip is about a mile and a half long – it was built in a week!
Tom wrote my Dad about our time there so instead of me writing something again, I’ve copied and pasted his email below.
Besides the wonderful history lesson we been trading for lobster and the freezer is full. Every time I put my fishing line in the water I’m catching something. In just a few days I’m up to one tuna & 3 Mahi. My largest catch, a 4’-2” Mahi we gave to Chief Benjamin at Treasury Island. Boy, did that ever go a long way with the chief.
Enjoy the pictures (Picture Gallery on the right) and we’ll try & update the blog whenever we can.
Tom’s Email to my Dad:
Hey Big Guy! What is up?
That promise I made to you about getting Jap stuff I have kept with more to come. I also have video interviews with two 81 year old natives who remember the Japs on Mono Island, in the Treasury Island group, back in '42. They told us stories of when they were 10 year-olds as the US arrived, witnessed air and sea battles in the area, pilot rescues and cat and mouse games with the Japs in hiding these pilots for a year on Mono I.
These are remarkable stories and I am now studying WW2 S Pacific Theatre and trying to put it all together in my mind. The US wanted to keep the Japs from, theoretically, cutting off communication with Australia. A large airstrip was being built on Guadacanal and the allies wanted to stop it from being finished since it was just 800 miles from the Aussies. There were various estimates on Jap strength in this area as preparations were being made immediately after Pearl Harbor. Plans were put in place to attack Guadacanal and supplies and men were quickly assembled in a gargantuan undertaking. I had always heard that materials needed for the war were in short supply; from typewriters to bullets but I did not know why. I thought it was the normal kind reasons like trying to produce so much in such a short amount of time. What it really was is that there were literally not enough flat places to put things in the S Pacific!! Not in New Caledonia, Fiji or even New Zealand. When the US pounced on Guadalcanal the estimates were that there was 8 thousand japs on that Island and 3 thousand more on Tulagi, 20 miles to the West. We landed with 19,000 solders, Dick. It turned out that the Japs had under 1000 on Tulagi and about 3100 on Guadalcanal. Few were combat troops most were engineers and laborers. The Japs didn’t put up much of a fight and pretty much let us have the airbase later known as Henderson Airfield. I am going to take a detailed tour of the battlefields in Tulagi and Guadalcanal when I get back there next month now that I am all amped up on this. The US landing at Red Beach, on Guadalcanal, was just the beginning, the easy part, of the horrific fighting that was to come. The US broke Japan on Guadalcanal.
Now here in NW Solomon's it gets real interesting. The Japs had Mono Island in the Treasury group and Balalai in the Shortlands along with Poporang, 24 miles away from Treasury. An airstrip and gun installation was built here in the Shortlands. The Japs had these islands since before the battle at Guadalcanal. Jonathan and Roy were 10 and 11 year-old natives at the time. They remember the Japanese and dogfights in the sky above the Islands. They remember pilots, 7 total, being rescued in the waters off the islands and the locals hiding them in the bush for a year--moving them about in cat and mouse games. The locals would point in opposite directions when asked where they thought the US pilots were. 3 of the pilots where canoed by natives to Vella Lavella Island, where we kept Mokisha, 50 miles to the Southeast. They were spotted by a US amphibious plane and rescued about half way. The natives rowed their canoe all the way back.
When the US took care of Guadalcanal they came here to the Treasury group and killed all the Japs. Roy and Jonathan remember the landing craft and the Jap blood in the water where we anchored Mokisha for two days. Then in 7 days, working 24 hours a day, the US Seabees built a 7000' runway that is about 400' wide and literally flattened the entire island of Stirling that lays adjacent Mono I in the Treasury group. With the Japs 24 miles to the North in the Shortlands there were many dogfights and once the the US airstrip was bombed. I got you a small piece of a US P38 there for you. There were 5 large stores on Stirling I each with an anti aircraft gun, probably 80mm. The US flattened large portions of Mono that is used today for gardens and getting around on this rugged island. The treated posts are still there for a wharf that spans 400'. Locals cut some of the tops off and still use them to hold up their huts. There were some very large ships that off-loaded there at Stirling I. There were at least 15 PT boats there with isolated fuel and torpedo dumps. Jonathan and Roy remember a young US soldier that befriended them. Being both naked, this US solder gave them military clothes and shared cokes with them. They speak very fondly of him. They remember the segregated camps for black US solders and said that every time the whites and blacks played baseball or volleyball the blacks won. We hiked in the Jungle with 81 year old Jonathan, his son and schoolmaster, Jacob, and our guide, Danny. All these guys are related, of coarse. We took a few Coke bottles out of a 7 meter high pile that trees had grown into and now blown over with the bottles caught in the root ball. It has been estimated that there are 20k-50k bottles there in the thick jungle. We gave chief Benjamin a 4' 2" Mahi Mahi Colleen caught on the way to the island so we were in tight with him and he promised we would be welcomed back. We were given messages to pass on to relatives in Choissel Bay when we get there. We also left them a boat card so they can email us someday when they get an internet connection to the island. We have contacts now in Honiara who are well connected that we look forward to meeting.
We sailed back to Poporang I in the Shortlands yesterday and I hired 6 kids to hike us to a hilltop where the Japs had 6 anti aircraft guns, a large spotlight, two radar antennas, at least two 6" diameter guns still laying there and basically intact. There is also a motorcycle with a side cart that you'll enjoy seeing. Today we'll see Balalai, 5 miles away from where we are anchored. The japs had an air base at Balalai and there are jap planes there, all in good shape. What happened here they said is that the US had such momentum built after Guadalcanal that they went into the Treasury Islands and set their sites on Rabaul up in New Brittain so they could then deal with Philippines. The US literally just blew by the Shortlands and having cut off the Jap supply line these chaps starved to death on the island though occasionally they tried to steal food from the native's gardens. We have video-ed lots of conversations with witnesses to the war and plenty of pics, of coarse. I got some "bullets" and sake bottles that some jap drank out of. I was told that at Balalai there are many things laying around so I'll be on the hunt.
Colleen is fine and I try to take good care of her and keep her safe. She slept in today because she is exhausted. We have been cruising now for only 1 week and if this is any indication it is going to be an exciting year with 5500 miles to go. Some actress in some movie said of her partner "You really know how to show a girl a good time!" I have taken that as my job and, at least this week, kept my end of the bargain. We move out now to the E and will come down the 90 miles of Choissel Island to the Arnavon Island marine reserve. We'll scuba dive there with friends and then hop down the 120 miles of Isabel Island. Then to the Florida group where we'll see Tulagi before crossing 25 miles back to Honiara on Guadalcanal. By mid May we'll be getting ready to go West into Papua New Guinea and visit the remote Louisiade Islands. I have to say though, the Shortlands are a remote island group too and nobody on the net knew where we were when we gave the island names. Few boats come up here. We can see Bouganville Island in PNG 10 miles away and we are about 5 miles from the border between PNG and the Solomons now. I think we have surprised our friends how we came back, cleaned and put the boat in order, and sailed off to these hinterlands when they said there was no way we could do it with the amount of time we had. When Colleen rattled off the places we have been on the morning radio SSB net someone asked, "Are you still in the Solomon's?"!
I hope you are well. Give Pat a hug for me.
Love, Tom
Tom’s 65th birthday came and went with a quiet celebration on Mokisha in Liaperi. Our evening was spent reminiscing about our past cruising years together over wine and a special birthday dinner. Hard to believe the years keep rolling by and we’ve been cruising for 12 years!
After a solid 8 days of getting Mokisha ready for sailing we were ready to take off from Vela Lavela. She still needs lots of work but we figured we could do chores and organizing along the way. Our time here is short & we wanted to make the best of it so we took off to see the northwest and northeastern provinces of the Solomon’s.
The Shortland Islands and Mono (Treasury Island) played an essential part in WWII although; you rarely hear the history of these islands.
The Shortlands had been taken over by the Japanese, while Treasury Island was secured by the Allied troops – Americans, New Zealand & Australia after success in Guadalcanal. Both these islands proved to be fascinating with rich WWII stories and remnants of bomber planes, old equipment and piles of Coca-Cola bottles and Sake bottles. We’ve decided these rarely visited islands are the “Jewel of the Solomon Islands”. Visitors rarely arrive in this part of the world so we encountered warm and friendly people happy to show us around & give us ‘tours’ of the old WWII sites. We spent an entire day with Jonathon who is a spry 81 year old. He told us stories of when the Americans came to Treasury Island and he was only 10 years old. His friend Roy, was 8 years old. Together they gave us an insight of what it was like to see a white man for the first time. What it was like for us to come in and bulldoze an island flat so they could bring in supplies and make an airfield. The airstrip is about a mile and a half long – it was built in a week!
Tom wrote my Dad about our time there so instead of me writing something again, I’ve copied and pasted his email below.
Besides the wonderful history lesson we been trading for lobster and the freezer is full. Every time I put my fishing line in the water I’m catching something. In just a few days I’m up to one tuna & 3 Mahi. My largest catch, a 4’-2” Mahi we gave to Chief Benjamin at Treasury Island. Boy, did that ever go a long way with the chief.
Enjoy the pictures (Picture Gallery on the right) and we’ll try & update the blog whenever we can.
Tom’s Email to my Dad:
Hey Big Guy! What is up?
That promise I made to you about getting Jap stuff I have kept with more to come. I also have video interviews with two 81 year old natives who remember the Japs on Mono Island, in the Treasury Island group, back in '42. They told us stories of when they were 10 year-olds as the US arrived, witnessed air and sea battles in the area, pilot rescues and cat and mouse games with the Japs in hiding these pilots for a year on Mono I.
These are remarkable stories and I am now studying WW2 S Pacific Theatre and trying to put it all together in my mind. The US wanted to keep the Japs from, theoretically, cutting off communication with Australia. A large airstrip was being built on Guadacanal and the allies wanted to stop it from being finished since it was just 800 miles from the Aussies. There were various estimates on Jap strength in this area as preparations were being made immediately after Pearl Harbor. Plans were put in place to attack Guadacanal and supplies and men were quickly assembled in a gargantuan undertaking. I had always heard that materials needed for the war were in short supply; from typewriters to bullets but I did not know why. I thought it was the normal kind reasons like trying to produce so much in such a short amount of time. What it really was is that there were literally not enough flat places to put things in the S Pacific!! Not in New Caledonia, Fiji or even New Zealand. When the US pounced on Guadalcanal the estimates were that there was 8 thousand japs on that Island and 3 thousand more on Tulagi, 20 miles to the West. We landed with 19,000 solders, Dick. It turned out that the Japs had under 1000 on Tulagi and about 3100 on Guadalcanal. Few were combat troops most were engineers and laborers. The Japs didn’t put up much of a fight and pretty much let us have the airbase later known as Henderson Airfield. I am going to take a detailed tour of the battlefields in Tulagi and Guadalcanal when I get back there next month now that I am all amped up on this. The US landing at Red Beach, on Guadalcanal, was just the beginning, the easy part, of the horrific fighting that was to come. The US broke Japan on Guadalcanal.
Now here in NW Solomon's it gets real interesting. The Japs had Mono Island in the Treasury group and Balalai in the Shortlands along with Poporang, 24 miles away from Treasury. An airstrip and gun installation was built here in the Shortlands. The Japs had these islands since before the battle at Guadalcanal. Jonathan and Roy were 10 and 11 year-old natives at the time. They remember the Japanese and dogfights in the sky above the Islands. They remember pilots, 7 total, being rescued in the waters off the islands and the locals hiding them in the bush for a year--moving them about in cat and mouse games. The locals would point in opposite directions when asked where they thought the US pilots were. 3 of the pilots where canoed by natives to Vella Lavella Island, where we kept Mokisha, 50 miles to the Southeast. They were spotted by a US amphibious plane and rescued about half way. The natives rowed their canoe all the way back.
When the US took care of Guadalcanal they came here to the Treasury group and killed all the Japs. Roy and Jonathan remember the landing craft and the Jap blood in the water where we anchored Mokisha for two days. Then in 7 days, working 24 hours a day, the US Seabees built a 7000' runway that is about 400' wide and literally flattened the entire island of Stirling that lays adjacent Mono I in the Treasury group. With the Japs 24 miles to the North in the Shortlands there were many dogfights and once the the US airstrip was bombed. I got you a small piece of a US P38 there for you. There were 5 large stores on Stirling I each with an anti aircraft gun, probably 80mm. The US flattened large portions of Mono that is used today for gardens and getting around on this rugged island. The treated posts are still there for a wharf that spans 400'. Locals cut some of the tops off and still use them to hold up their huts. There were some very large ships that off-loaded there at Stirling I. There were at least 15 PT boats there with isolated fuel and torpedo dumps. Jonathan and Roy remember a young US soldier that befriended them. Being both naked, this US solder gave them military clothes and shared cokes with them. They speak very fondly of him. They remember the segregated camps for black US solders and said that every time the whites and blacks played baseball or volleyball the blacks won. We hiked in the Jungle with 81 year old Jonathan, his son and schoolmaster, Jacob, and our guide, Danny. All these guys are related, of coarse. We took a few Coke bottles out of a 7 meter high pile that trees had grown into and now blown over with the bottles caught in the root ball. It has been estimated that there are 20k-50k bottles there in the thick jungle. We gave chief Benjamin a 4' 2" Mahi Mahi Colleen caught on the way to the island so we were in tight with him and he promised we would be welcomed back. We were given messages to pass on to relatives in Choissel Bay when we get there. We also left them a boat card so they can email us someday when they get an internet connection to the island. We have contacts now in Honiara who are well connected that we look forward to meeting.
We sailed back to Poporang I in the Shortlands yesterday and I hired 6 kids to hike us to a hilltop where the Japs had 6 anti aircraft guns, a large spotlight, two radar antennas, at least two 6" diameter guns still laying there and basically intact. There is also a motorcycle with a side cart that you'll enjoy seeing. Today we'll see Balalai, 5 miles away from where we are anchored. The japs had an air base at Balalai and there are jap planes there, all in good shape. What happened here they said is that the US had such momentum built after Guadalcanal that they went into the Treasury Islands and set their sites on Rabaul up in New Brittain so they could then deal with Philippines. The US literally just blew by the Shortlands and having cut off the Jap supply line these chaps starved to death on the island though occasionally they tried to steal food from the native's gardens. We have video-ed lots of conversations with witnesses to the war and plenty of pics, of coarse. I got some "bullets" and sake bottles that some jap drank out of. I was told that at Balalai there are many things laying around so I'll be on the hunt.
Colleen is fine and I try to take good care of her and keep her safe. She slept in today because she is exhausted. We have been cruising now for only 1 week and if this is any indication it is going to be an exciting year with 5500 miles to go. Some actress in some movie said of her partner "You really know how to show a girl a good time!" I have taken that as my job and, at least this week, kept my end of the bargain. We move out now to the E and will come down the 90 miles of Choissel Island to the Arnavon Island marine reserve. We'll scuba dive there with friends and then hop down the 120 miles of Isabel Island. Then to the Florida group where we'll see Tulagi before crossing 25 miles back to Honiara on Guadalcanal. By mid May we'll be getting ready to go West into Papua New Guinea and visit the remote Louisiade Islands. I have to say though, the Shortlands are a remote island group too and nobody on the net knew where we were when we gave the island names. Few boats come up here. We can see Bouganville Island in PNG 10 miles away and we are about 5 miles from the border between PNG and the Solomons now. I think we have surprised our friends how we came back, cleaned and put the boat in order, and sailed off to these hinterlands when they said there was no way we could do it with the amount of time we had. When Colleen rattled off the places we have been on the morning radio SSB net someone asked, "Are you still in the Solomon's?"!
I hope you are well. Give Pat a hug for me.
Love, Tom
Comments
| Vessel Name: | Mokisha |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Catalina 38 |
| Hailing Port: | Big Sur, Ca |
| Crew: | Tom & Colleen |
| About: | |
| Social: |
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Mokisha's Photos - Main
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Here's some of the diving pics while Matt was here. Enjoy!
12 Photos
Created 9 January 2014
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We've spent the last 45 days in Malaysia, starting from the south to the northern tip.....next stop Thailand!
45 Photos
Created 7 December 2013
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We'll be back next year though. We LOVE Indonesia.
4 Photos
Created 26 October 2013
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Gili Air, Monkeys, Lovina Beach. There's so many pictures & so little time that I've really jumped ahead and tried to show the best of what we've got! Enjoy
40 Photos
Created 26 October 2013
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Indonesia has the only Komodo Dragons in the world!
34 Photos
Created 26 October 2013
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I love you Dad & miss you You are with Tom & I everyday.
15 Photos
Created 26 October 2013
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The only village sanctioned in the world to hunt whales....not sure I wanted to go but glad I did!
19 Photos
Created 26 October 2013
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The highlight of the rally!
40 Photos
Created 26 October 2013
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2 day tour with friends.....Cassowaries, Horn Bills, Cus-Cus and the Highlands
33 Photos
Created 15 July 2013
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Our last pics of the Solomon's - mostly Marovo Lagoon
28 Photos
Created 3 June 2013
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Plus great underwater pics. This place was great!
45 Photos
Created 12 May 2013
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Incredible WWII stories & pics - great part of the Solomons
20 Photos
Created 12 May 2013
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Central Station, Tu Mara, Japanese wreck and snorkeling
25 Photos
Created 9 April 2013
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Ferry trip to Gizo, Liaperi, Gizo & Sanbis Resort
33 Photos
Created 7 April 2013
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50 days of village life & island hopping. No banks, no stores, simple life & warm people in these islands -
37 Photos
Created 23 August 2012
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50 days of village life & island hopping. No banks, no stores, simple life & warm people in these islands -
No Photos
Created 23 August 2012
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50 days of village life & island hopping. No banks, no stores, simple life & warm people in these islands -
No Photos
Created 23 August 2012
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50 days of village life & island hopping. No banks, no stores, simple life & warm people in these islands -
No Photos
Created 23 August 2012
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Let me show you Port Vila, Efate island, Matt, Lelapa, Matt & the touristy stuff we did!
44 Photos
Created 23 August 2012
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Tuti's village, Also Island, Palmea, & various shots of locals
34 Photos
Created 23 October 2010
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Lots of fun - so many pictures I hard a hard time paring them down! Enjoy
56 Photos
Created 8 August 2010
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An amazing cultral show - fire everywhere!
16 Photos
Created 8 August 2010
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Waitomo Caves, West Coast & Wellington
45 Photos
Created 15 February 2010
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The new Van, north island pic & sailing with our Kiwi friends, Mike & Sheryle
26 Photos
Created 6 February 2010
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New pictures - above & below the water!
8 Photos
Created 21 May 2008
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Under sail, Marquasas, Tuamotos, Tahiti
13 Photos | 1 Sub-Album
Created 7 April 2008
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World Wanderer's
Who: Tom & Colleen
Port: Big Sur, Ca
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