Gizo - Solomon Islands Dec 2007

The anchorage in Gizo was beautiful, it had a large protected bay within site of a volcano and the sunsets were glorious, However, Gizo is like a shanty town now especially since the Tsunami (April 2006) but despite this we spent 7 weeks there. Unfortunately, our pal Dr Jim had to leave us here and return to Australia.

We met lots of locals and expats, had fun at the Gizo Yacht Club and PT109 Bar and enjoyed Christmas and New Year with other boaties. The diving was very disappointing because of the depletion of the reef (over fishing) and the devastation of the Tsunami.

We also visited Kennedy Island. This is the island where Kennedy swam to after his Torpedo Boat PT109 was run down by a Japanese destroyer during WWII. We met an ancient local man who claimed to have been there at the time. His story is probably true as he was being interviewed by the BBC for a documentary on WWII.

Besides site seeing  and taking photographs of many boats around the town we also watched the war canoe races and attended the Solomon Island Independence Day Celebrations. We would both love to return to Gizo!

Dr Jim and Tom enjoying farewell drinks

The nearby Volcano 

The beautiful Gizo Anchorage.


Hamamas and Keturah  in the distance with local boat  in the foreground.


The Shanty Town

Francesco, Miki and Tom 

Christmas Celebrations.

Racing War Canoes

There were lots of motor boats

Traditional Boat

Our friends from Keturah paddling over for a visit

While there we hired a 4 wheel drive taxi to show us around and to take us up into the hills to see the camps. The coastal people had taken to the hills during the Tsunami and were living in makeshift huts and under tarpaulins. They were squatting on Government land and there was a lot of political nonsense going on about ownership but they refused to go back to their village on the shoreline. It was a most interesting but sobering few hours.

One of the young boys who showed us around had lost most of his family in the Tsunami. He told us that the only reason many of the villagers had survived was because some Australian surfers who were staying in the village as they were surfing the "big surf break" at that time, yelled to everyone" to run to the hills' as soon as they felt the quake.

Apparently the quake was very strong as one of the expat told us his story. He and his family lived on a hill overlooking Gizo and he  was outside with his grandson when the quake hit and immediately they tried to run back to the house where the rest of the family was. But the quake was so strong they had to sit on the ground and wait til it was over.

Meanwhile, his wife and other family members ran outside but they also had to lie on the ground, each group were within metres of each other while the quake lasted. When the Tsunami hit all they could do from their safe high vantage point was to watch as the shoreline villages and Gizo itself were destroyed and the terrified villagers ran for the hills. He said it was an horrific experience.

Our 4x4 on the muddy road to the hills.

These lads are living in temporary accommodation in the hills.

Temporary Village in the Hills