After a rather rocky day at sea on the 10th, we awoke to rain that cleared off in time for us to have a short service on the upper deck to mark the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month while sailing across Iron Bottom Sound in the Solomon Islands. It is called this because of the dozens of ships and planes that sank there during the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942-43. How appropriate that we be in this spot to honor those that served. We have veterans on board from the American, Australian and New Zealand forces who fought in this area in WWII, and each gave a short talk about his experience here. We then had a moment of silence while Taps was played and one of the veterans tossed a wreath overboard. It was all quite moving and amazing that the veterans were able to do the cruise. I wondered what it must like for them to relive that period of their lives.
We docked at Honiara, the capital city of the Solomon Islands on the northwestern coast of Guadalcanal Island. We had the option to tour the Guadalcanal Memorial and historic WWII sites around Honiara, including Henderson Field and Bloody Ridge, or to drive up into the hill country outside the city to see if we could find some native birds. We chose to go birding and I’m glad we did because we saw some really interesting and colorful species. Richard, the naturalist with the eyes of an eagle, was great at spotting them, as were our two local guides. They could stop and listen to the calls and then know exactly what birds were making the calls and where to look for them in the trees around us. The guides did this all with the bare eye, no binoculars needed. I would have included some bird pictures but I stupidly didn’t take my big lens with me and you would need binoculars to see the birds in my photos!
The scenery was beautiful too, with the clouds hanging in the valleys and on the mountain ridges. Our guides took us to a couple of spots where we had incredible views over a good part of the island.
A few people have asked to see my new short hairdo and a few others have asked to see my freckles. So here you go.
Wait a minute, that’s not me! Here is a self portrait. A selfie made my face look a mile wide, so I took a picture of myself in the mirror. I sure hope all these freckles fade over winter. Either that or I sit around and play Connect the Dots!
