15 - 17 July 2010 Chea Village, Marovo Island After strong winds and rain throughout our stay in Tetepare, we were dreading the island crossing from Tetepare to Marovo Lagoon, New Georgia. We were bracing ourselves for big waves and made sure all our belongings were packed water tight and safely under the tarp. I [...]
10 – 14 July 2010 Tetepare Island The wild coast of Tetepare The Tetepare Descendants' Association take their conservation work very seriously. They protect and manage the entire island most especially their 13km-long Marine Protected Area. Since 2004, they have had a dedicated roster of rangers and different marine monitoring teams from scientists to [...]
10 - 14 July 2010 Tetepare Island Mystery shrouds Tetepare Island with its rainforest getting its fair share of rain Tetepare is the largest uninhabited island in the South Pacific where a tiny portion of its massive land is a dedicated research field station and a cooperative ecolodge run by the Tetepare Descendants’ Association or [...]
7 - 9 July 2010 Imbu Rano Lodge The only chance we had during this entire expedition to visit a forest was here in the Pacific. A forest, you might ask? What has that got to do with the Coral Triangle? With marine life? Nature, from the highest forest to the deepest sea has deep [...]
6 - 7 July 2010 WorldFish Center, Nusa Tupe & Gizo Airport Onma Lodge, Kolombangara The April 2007 earthquake and tsunami wrecked havoc to the lives of many in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. Foreign aid and rebuilding was slow and difficult, but the people of the Western Province persevered and rebuilt their [...]
6 July 2010 Gizo & Ranonga One morning in 2 April 2007, we woke up at home in Cairns. By force of habit, even before breakfast, I turned on the computer and checked BOM, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, for the day's weather. There was a tsunami warning button in red. Blink, blink. Huh? As we had [...]
28 – 30 July 2010 M’Buke Island A jar of lime powder (kambang); a bean-like green stick called mustard (daka) and green betel nuts (buai) Betel nut chewing is a custom or ritual that dates back thousands of years from Asia to the Pacific, a tradition very much a part of modern life in many [...]
28 - 30 July 2010 M'Buke Island, Anun Island & Champoin Island The traditional sailing canoes of M'Buke Islanders Last year in February, when I was still researching WWF Coral Triangle projects to cover for our expedition, I had heard of the traditional community canoe making project of WWF Western Melanesia Programme in M'Buke [...]
28 - 30 June 2010 S2 22.915 E146 49.513 - M'Buke Island S2 18.697 E146 51.595 - Anun Island At low tide, we navigated our small boat through the incredibly healthy coral reefs of Anun Island, M'Buke. Anun and another beautiful island called Champoin are proposed ecotourism sites by the M'Buke Islands People Association [...]
5 - 24 June 2010 It is now 15 months that we have been non-stop on the road from Asia to the Pacific. The diving has been spectacular but its the people we have met along the way that made our journey so much richer. The honest and open faces of people in the deep [...]
