Oct 5th
Jericho
S8º 07.398 E157º 19.989
The winds have died overnight but there was nothing more satisfying than lifting up anchor without starting the engine and slowly exiting Mbaeni harbour at 2 knots of speed! Creeping along to round the NW coast of New Georgia, a few surprisingly large buildings appeared: the churches built by the CFC (Christian Fellowship Church). Tacking in light winds in the Kula Gulf, a nice flat body of water that lays between Kolombangara and New Georgia, KUNA took 6 hours to cover less than 20 miles.
Cloud formation over Kolombangara
The valley into the crater of the Kolombangara is clearly visible
Didn’t get to go to Paradise (another very populated CFC village) this time as a huge squall helped creeping another few miles:
The clouds accumulated over New Georgia generated just enough wind for KUNA to make way at first, then suddenly picked up to 15 knots, getting KUNA to 7 knots of speed in zero visibility due to bucketing rain!! Far too fast near the harbour entrance of Jericho. Though there are no boats around, the unsurveyed reef areas are always a daunting prospect but the entrance was wide and straight.
The soundings in the middle of the channel on Dirk’s Sieling guide are accurate but the mud bank comes up very quickly just beyond the village so slow down and drop the pick in about 7-10 m to keep some swinging room! Very few yachts visit this village so the excitement of the kids on the shore was huge.
Arriving in Jericho...
There is no privacy to be had as this anchorage, which is just 100 m off the village. Just a good stopover and fruit and veg can be traded but watch that the kids don’t try to sell the golden papaw for 30 or 40$sols!!! Soon enough the KUNA was surrounded by a cohort of young men in canoe. The turkey brain age, they call it here: 12 to 25 years old, these just didn’t have much conversation so everyone sat quietly looking at eachother in the eyes, but all were good and didn’t ask for anything, they were just happy to be near the yacht. I’ve got used to that uncomfortable silence from shy visitors by now, and later a few educated women came to have a chat. There is a local canoe builder there too, who was very curious of the plastic kayak.
In the morning, the women depart for Noro market, with a cargo load of vegetables
