Day 3: Navigation and arrival at Gomai
After two days of navigation Northwest up the New Georgia Sound we hit the Shortland Islands, the last Solomon province before Bougainville (PNG). These are very little navigated seas and no other boat was ever in sight. On the days we sailed I discovered the ship with its routines and many nuances of noises and sounds new to me, listened to the latest undersea recordings with Yaiza, the biologist on board, and prepared for composition. We passed the Kolombangara vulcano at sunset (upper picture), and the full moon made our nights very clear.

We found a bay on the map which looked like it could be interesting to explore, just North of Ghaomai (Gomai) Island. As we entered the bay many from the village headed towards the ship in their pirogues; we left Fleur de Passion anchored to go look for the village’s chief Silverio and ask if they would let us stay in the bay for the night or more. After two sets of friendly tractations Silverio accepted our staying for a few days against a compensation of food products (rice, salt, sugar and choucroute) as we had no Solomon dollars left. We agreed to present the expedition to the people of the village, if a generator could be used to run the projector – there is no electricity or data network anywhere around these provinces.