Matiu Island, Marovo Lagoon

We spent the weekend anchored in front of Matiu Island, an uninhabited part of Marovo lagoon with pristine turquoise water for the kids to play in and some gorgeous corals for us to snorkel around. It was fun to catch up with our buddy boats Fieldtrip and Perry and the kids crammed as many play-overs in as possible. A few canoes still came out to see us on Friday afternoon and tried to sell carvings and ask for this and that. The old ‘wantok’ system is present everywhere in the Solomons and locals aren’t afraid to ask for anything (some petrol, batteries, sugar, yeast, fishhooks, etc.). We had hoped to avoid canoes out here; it can get quite disturbing when you are trying to do school with the kids or when you are in the middle of a boat maintenance job. On Saturday however, all was quiet. Most people in this area are extremely religious and part of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, which prohibits any activity or work on Saturdays. So no canoes that day, phew.