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In the January edition we leftMARK B HATTER heading onwardafter the first leg of hisSolomon Islandsadventures but feeling

distinctly unwell. Had the curse ofSkull Island claimed a victim?

allowing us to step off the boat. I gotmy images, and brushed off Barbara’scontinued apprehension that“something bad was going to happen”.Later that day my right ear began to

ache, going quickly off the charts. I managed the one-hour flight toHoniara that afternoon without myhead imploding, but was in dire need ofmedical help, even after self-medicatingthe ear with a concoction of crushed-up antibiotics in a solution of alcoholand vinegar for most of the night.And I might have written this off to

coincidence had it not been for thecompounding of additional problems,including the death of my mobilephone (for no apparent reason)coupled with a case of fever, chills andintestinal distress. Did I somehow insult the spirits on

Skull Island? I’m not particularlysuperstitious but I figured it couldn’t

hurt to make my apologies tothe deceased chieftains for anyperceived faux pas, and thankthem for the privilege ofcapturing their images in theirshrines. Which I did with gusto.

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stronghold before the Battle ofGuadalcanal, with land-based garrisonsand a seaplane port between Gavutu andTanambogo Islands leaving historicwreckage everywhere within a stone’sthrow of diving operations at Raider’sHotel & Dive. This centre was named afterthe US Marines 1st Raider Battalion,commanded by Lt-Col Merritt A Edsonand known as Edson’s Raiders, on Tulagi. It’s this history, the tropical climate and

the spectacular diving on the edge of theCoral Triangle, the epicentre of marinebiodiversity, that brings divers like me tothe Florida Islands.

MY WATER-TAXI for the one-hourtrip to Tulagi turned out to be the

large, comfortable, fast boat from Raider’sHotel & Dive from which I had beendiving. As we cast off from the dock in Honiara

I explained my medical problem toRaider’s owner-operator Bob Norton,who suggested a test dive after checking into see if I could manage. I survived that dive, at a site called

Twin Tunnels, and was easily able to clearmy ears without issue. I even got to shootsome images with my macro kit. I was now looking forward to exploring

those WW2 aircraft wrecks and reefs,mostly minutes from Raider’s dock, forthe balance of the week.And with regard to that check-out dive

(it was slow to occur to me thanks to mypreoccupation with ear-clearing), TwinTunnels was phenomenal! Only 10 minutes from Raider’s dock,

the reef is a large, flat-top volcanicpinnacle, rising from the deeper soundwith a pair of ancient lava-tubes roughlyin the centre of the reef-top at 15m. Thetubes drop nearly vertically, exiting

NATION OF RICHES MOREVALUABLE THAN GOLD (Pt 2)

ADIVER’S WORST NIGHTMAREwhile on a diving holiday issuccumbing to some malady that

inherently puts a stop to diving for therest of the trip. This was exactly mypredicament midstream on a recent visitto the Solomon Islands.I was halfway through an incredible

experience, having completed a week ofreef-, wreck- and wall-diving in thecrystalline, pristine waters of Munda inthe Western Province, and on my way toa week’s worth of diving out of Tulagi inthe Eastern Province Florida Islands,when I hit a health speed bump. A big one, and one that might have

been the result of my own unwittingirreverence to ancestral spirits at thesacred burial ground on Skull Island.The tribes of the Solomon Islands,

particularly in the Western Province,were fond of taking the heads of enemiesto ensure that tamu garata (good juju)would prevail over them. They also believed that keeping

the heads of their deceasedtribal leaders enabled theireternal afterlife. Thepractice of head-huntingcontinued until the early20th century, whenmissionaries arrived toimpose Western “influence”on what they called “theseprimitive cultures”.Fearing that the

Westerners woulddestroy their revered,centuries-old traditionof skull-keeping, thepeople moved theirleaders’ skulls from localvillages to Skull Island, a remote, sacred locationwhere the chieftains could reign inperpetuity in the afterlife. Which,possibly, is where my medical calamitybegan.On my no-dive air-travel day from

Munda back to Honiara I had taken awater-taxi with an Australian journalistand Barbara, a representative from theSolomon Islands Tourism Bureau, tovisit the sacred shrines on Skull Island.Barbara had told us that ancient lorebarred women from visiting the shrines,leaving her uneasy about our trip.But we did it, assured by our panga-

driver that we had spiritual permissionafter his requisite incantation before

VEC

T EEZY.C

OM

Coincidence again? The severe ear pain,fever, chills and stomach issues abatedquickly after breakfast and my act ofcontrition, leaving me only with a deadphone and near-deafness in my right ear. Regardless of my improved condition,

I had time before my 10am boat-trip toTulagi in the Florida Islands for a pit-stopat a Honiara clinic, where the medicalattendant confirmed my ear infection. He prescribed internal and external

antibiotics, then issued me a strictwarning: “No diving for at least a week.”As I walked out of the clinic, meds in

hand, pain-free but unable to hear fromone ear and more than worried, I heardmyself say: “Yeah, like that’s gonnahappen.” A week sitting in a hotel room inthe beautiful and historically storiedFlorida Islands? No way…The Florida Islands archipelago lies

north of Guadalcanal Island on theopposite side of Iron Bottom Sound (SavoSound before WW2) – so named by Alliedsailors for the stretch of water betweenGuadalcanal, Savo Island and the FloridaIslands in which dozens of ships andplanes sank during the Battle ofGuadalcanal in 1942–43.

The mountainous archipelago includestwo main isles, Nggela Sule (FloridaIsland) and Nggela Pile (to the south),plus several smaller ones, the largest ofwhich are named Tulagi, Gavutu andTanambogo.While dive-sites around Munda in the

Western Province are largely defined bythe inner and outer reef structuressurrounding the massive Roviana lagoon,sites around the Florida islands arecharacterised more by offshore bommiesand fringe reefs surrounding the islands,often with plunging walls. There is also aplethora of Allied and Japanese WW2plane wrecks all around the islands. Tulagi was a significant Japanese

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Left: Anemonefish onNanjalakaulau Wall.

Top: ‘Bulb-tip’ anemoneforest at Twin Tunnels.

Above: A pair ofnudibranchs at Twin Tunnels.

Below: Dwarf gobies inbubble coral.

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house-reef below. I had counted 11 giantclams when Bob ambled up, announcing:“Dinner is served!” Then he added:“Tomorrow we’ll dive two plane wrecks –an American Catalina between 24 and31m and a pair of Japanese KawanashiMavis 1 seaplanes off Gavutu Island,

between 25 and 32m.”If you’re a wreck buff, particularly if

you’re into aviation wrecks, the planerelics around Tulagi should be added toyour diving bucket-list. We dived theCatalina before breakfast. The historical record suggests that it

was heavy with cargo at take-off andexperienced problems during climb-out.Unable to maintain lift, it crash-landedshortly after take-off, killing onepassenger though the crew survived. The seaplane rests upright with its

fuselage, wings and engines intact; greatfor wide-angle imagery. Medium-calibremunitions can be found on the left wing,below the gunner’s cupola, a reminderthat this aircraft and the others of thetime were armed with deadly force.As the wreck is close to shore, in the

sound between Tulagi and Gavutu, thebottom is silty and care must be taken notto stir it up – all of which adds to theallure of diving historic relics.Until now, all the wrecks I had dived in

Above: The new discovery,the US Grumman F4F-4Wildcat.

Above right: Front view ofthe Wildcat wreck.

FACTFILEGETTING THERE8Brisbane, Australia is

the gateway city to the Solomon Islands.Solomon Airlines flies direct from there to Honiaraand the resort will arrange boat transfers to Tulagi.

DIVING & ACCOMMODATION8Raider’s Hotel &Dive offers three dives a day, raidershotel.com

WHEN TO GO8 Rainy season is November-Januarybut it usually just showers. There is always a lee siteto dive if the wind blows.

HEALTH8A recompression chamber in Honiara ismanned by volunteers but not always available –the next is 1500 miles away in Townsville, Australia.

MONEY8SI dollar, credit cards widely accepted.

PRICES8 Return flights from London around£1200. Three-tank excursion with breakfast, lunchand dinner with a single room at Raiders Hotel &Dive costs £210 a day.

VISITOR INFORMATION8visitsolomons.com.sb

the Solomon Islands (including those inMunda) had been US planes. So I lookedforward to diving the Mavis seaplanes,sunk at anchor during an Allied navalbombardment of the Japanese baseduring the Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu-Tanambogo.The Mavis were impressively large,

multi-engine seaplanes and rested uprighton the silty bottom, very much intact.They were sunk rather ingloriously, ratherthan being shot from the sky, but theirhistory and aluminum “bones” are no less glorious for that.Later in the week, Bob suggested a wall-

dive off Nanjalakaulau Island. With thewind nearly calm, the weather wasexcellent for the hour-long run to thedive-site. We packed a hearty lunch and

along a plunging wall at 36m. They werecool, but I was particularly blown away bythe numbers and density of anemoneswith families of anemonefish atop thereef. Over a bowl-shaped depression near

the tunnels, as I hovered a few metresabove the reef, I counted more than adozen anemone colonies represented byfive species within my circle of vision.This site is special, and we observed theliveaboard Bilikiki spending a day at thesite later in the week.Back at the hotel and finally able to

relax, I ordered a beer and rested elbowson the deck railing, overlooking a small

left early on a smooth sea. About 40minutes into the run north, Bob slowedthe boat and offered a new option.“About three weeks ago, two WW2

relic researchers I’ve been working withapproached me regarding a possible newairplane wreck at Maravagi Passage, closeto the walls we’d planned to dive,” he explained. “As they were fluent in some of the

island languages the researchers talked tolocals about the rumoured wreck andcommissioned me to help find the plane.” “Incredibly, we found the wreck

quickly – a Navy F4F-4 Wildcat, at 37m,right where the villagers said it had gonedown more than 70 years ago,” said Bob.

AN OFFER TO BE the first photographer to catalogue a wreck-site doesn’t come along every day. Ofcourse I’d ditch a wall-dive for thisopportunity to be, literally, the fourthdiver beyond the researchers, Bob and hiswife, to dive this relic! Bob recalled his triangulation points

from memory, and we slipped into the

water butmisjudged thecurrent. Reaching the

bottom, weclawed our wayupcurrent forperhaps 50mbefore the fighter,lying intactupside-down,materialised intoview. Lying in apassage with strongcurrents, visibilitywas excellent, with no silt.Time was short,

and we worked together to capture thebest angle to portray this rare discoverybefore having to work our way back to theshallows along a beautiful fringe reef atthe edge of the passage channel.Back aboard the boat we celebrated

with fist-bumps, ate granola bars andhydrated while idling at a nice, slow off-gassing pace to our wall-dive site alongNanjalakaulau Island.The wall-diving at the northern end of

the archipelago was impressive, as I wouldexpect, with the full cast of charactersfrom reef sharks to giant seafans, yet Icouldn’t stop thinking about spending mylast dive of the trip back at Twin Tunnels.I wanted to go back with my wide-anglekit, knowing the shots I wanted.“Not a problem!” Bob assured me.

“We’ll end the trip with an early-morningdive at Twin Tunnels before we shuttleback to Honiara.”Next morning, again on a smooth sea,

we slipped into the water to find excellentvisibility and a moderate current. Bobworked with me and modelled well at themouth of one of the tunnels while Isilhouetted him from below. Reviewing my images through the

housing, I was pleased with a couple ofshots and swam out to shoot the vastbulb-tip anemone forest I recalled frommy first dive. It was a fitting end to thesecond chapter in my Solomon Islandsholiday.

POSTSCRIPT:My hearing remainedimpaired for four weeks following thetrip. In retrospect, the medical issues weresimply random incidents, not a cursefrom malevolent spirits. No, considering the possible dire

circumstances of diving with an earinfection, I am now more than convincedthat the ability to clear my ears, whilediving, and without pain, was based onthe gracious intervention of thebenevolent spirits of Skull Island; theywanted to share with me their nation ofriches, more valuable than gold!

Top left: Japanese Mavisaircraft wreck.

Top right: Twin Tunnels.

Above: Bicolour coralblenny.

Left: Fringe reef slope atMaravagi Passage.

Below: Medium-calibremunitions on the Catalinawreck.

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