Off The Beaten Track
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
It was Dec 2019 and we decided to squeeze in one more trip for the year. Little did we know that this would be our last trip for a few years while the planet fell into the grip of a global pandemic. Destination - the Solomon Islands. If you google travel in the Solomon Islands there's very little information on how to get around the actual islands. And when I say islands plural, the country consists of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands. We always like to go somewhere different, somewhere not many people go to but as it turns out, travel between the islands if you fly is very expensive - $700 one way for one person. There is the freight ferry, but we weren't there long enough to make this worth while. So I took a punt and just flew us to one of the main islands and figured I'd work it out once we were there.
That's when our adventures really began. The main flight into Gizo lands on an island dedicated to just the airport...and there's pretty much nothing else to this island but the air strip! From there the only way to travel is by boat. After 7 days in a very rustic resort built on a very small sandy Island we hopped on a small motorised canoe to head over to Munda, which headed us out to sea during a thunder storm - with just tarpaulins to keep us dry for 2 hours!
The Solomon Islands are an ocean of beautiful sea life, coral wonders, and WWII relics all great for diving or snorkeling. We stayed at Imagination Island in Ghizo which was completely surrounded by a huge coral reef that we snorkled in every day. The stunningly colourful coral and sea life here is relatively untouched, and we ate lobster for dinner practically every night. In Munda we stayed at the local lodge, well known for its dive trips around the WWII relics. Accommodation in this area is pretty scarce.