A rough passage with a nice calm anchorage at the end
Then we rounded the northeastern corner of Nendo Island, of which Lata is the main population canter. The island blocked the waves, the wind straightened up behind us, and we were suddenly having a nice sail. A few hours later, we rounded the corner into Graciosa Bay and were in completely calm conditions.
Since Lata is on what is typically the leeward side of the bay, the anchorage for clearing in is actually two miles away on the windward, eastern side, at a little cove that is home to a vocational school (Luesalo Institute - Rural Training Centre). In the center of the cove is a ketch on a mooring that is owned by one of the school's teachers (an American that sailed in and never left). Other boats anchor here, the bottom was clearly mostly coral, with a few (small and deep) sand patches, but the only way we felt we would have enough room was if we made the assumption that it was going to be flat calm the whole time. While that seemed likely, we don't like taking chances, so we moved further south to a deeper spot with more room to swing, and alongside another boat that had arrived earlier.
Maryanne messaged George, at Customs. Within half an hour, he arrived to clear us into the Solomon Islands. Since most of the paperwork was done in advance and sent electronically, the whole process was finished within fifteen minutes, and the officers never ventured further into the boat than the cockpit. They did mention, however, that we might be better off in the school's anchorage, saying there was some opportunistic theft around and that we may get harassed where we were by locals demanding anchor fees. We decided to stay put and move if that turned out to be the case.
A few minutes later, Piko arrived in a dugout canoe, hoping to trade for some carvings. We told him we were more interested in local produce, which he promised to return with the next day. He never asked for a fee.
We are officially arrived in the Solomon Islands
Later, as were napping off our night watches, we were boarded by a teenaged boy. Maryanne was the first out of bed to confront him as he was coming up the steps. He told her he had brought us a papaya as a gift, which we suspected may be more of an excuse to get a good look at any of the goodies in the cockpit. Maryanne declined the papaya and explained that we would need to rest today. No one else visited.
In the morning, we rowed ashore to visit the school and introduce ourselves. Since we have read that there were factions arguing over who was supposed to be in charge of "caring" for the yachts, we were very careful about who we asked to see and in which order.
It turns out we need not have been. It was school holidays and none of the people whose names we knew were in attendance. Almost all the adults were in Lata for the day. Only a few boarding students remained who didn't have enough time to go home before classes resume again. Our tour of the area was given by a series of children from six to about fifteen years of age. All were very polite and very happy to be showing off their tidy little school/village. Maryanne even got to have some fun acting as goalkeeper against the local "team" on their soccer pitch.
We saw others in the distance and were surprised that no one else seemed to be too interested in what was going on, and instead just kept going about whatever they were doing. One of the kids in our expanding group yelled out, "Mom! I'm following the white man!" There it is again.
Ashore to check out the technical school
She didn't seem the least bit concerned. Solomon Islanders so far seem more reserved than their ni-Vanuatu counterparts. Once our lap of the grounds was complete, they seemed happy enough to go back to their lives as we rowed back home.
Later that afternoon, Junior, one of the older kids, came over in one of the school's three canoes with a gift of some of the best produce from their garden. He had remembered us saying how impressed we were with their skills earlier.
A few hours later, after the boat from Lata returned, we were visited by Dickson, the electrics instructor, and his son, Oswald. Oswald was one of the kids who had joined us on our tour earlier. Dickson added the biggest papaya Maryanne and I had ever seen to the big pile of fruits and veggies Junior had brought earlier.
Plenty of visitors aboard Begonia
When Dickson returned it to us the next morning, he was in the school launch with Oswald and six other children who all wanted to see the sailboat. We invited them aboard. I was a little worried about how the kids would react to the new jungle gym, but they were all well behaved, and I soon stopped worrying about one of them falling overboard or slicing their head open on something. They really liked stretching out on the trampoline and gobbling up the banana pancakes Maryanne had, coincidentally, just made for her and my breakfast from Emeth's recipe. Maryanne set up Toy Story on her laptop. That kept them entranced while Dickson told us more about the school, Nendo, and the Solomons in general. Maryanne gave Dickson a hard drive which might have been full of movies to entertain the kids for months to come.
Dickson traded/gifted us several big papaya (here is just one) and explained to us how the locals chew betel nut. It is a mild stimulant. Here it is as common as smoking was back in the UK in the 1970's. The nut is chewed with some slaked lime (made from burning seashells or coral and ground into a powder) and a bit of Pepper leaf or vine (here they used the catkin from the Piper betel plant). It stains the mouth and teeth red, and is known to cause various mouth and throat cancers, but most locals still partake. It is not swallowed but spat out when "done". Chewing betel nut conconctions is widespread among all of micronesia and south-east asia
We weren't expecting much but quite enjoyed our snorkel along the shoreline
Since we had told everybody we would be leaving the next afternoon, we were expecting more canoes to come calling. The extra distance and pouring rain seemed to keep everyone at bay. All except for Junior, who paddled out with a friend in the deluge to gift us some bush limes and bid us farewell. He said he didn't mind being wet. The rain was warm and there was no way to avoid it anyway. We saw a few people fishing from their canoes in the distance who seemed to have the same mindset. If you want fish for dinner, your stomach doesn't care if it's raining.
The concerns about our anchorage turned out to be unwarranted in the end. We were never harassed. No one came to shake us down for "fees". Everyone we met was very polite and respectful of our privacy, and nobody ever asked us for anything before we offered. So far all of the Solomon Islanders we have met have been quiet, friendly and polite.
Anchorage location >> On google maps
