Ghizo Island, Solomon Islands and my health situation is still uncertain

By Glen Bruels
This is part of a series called Oceania 2025
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Today, we made it to the Solomon Islands. Deb and I have really wanted to visit this area because both of our fathers were stationed here during World War II (WW II). But it’s not yet clear what my health situation is. For the past few days, I’ve been getting multiple IVs of various and sundry things  a day to try to flush my kidney stone. It’s not hurting right now, but there’s still blood in my urine and the doctor is concerned. Anyway, we are here to visit Ghizo Island. It’s the capital of the Western Province and. is the second largest town in the Solomon Islands (after Honiara where we are going next). They are known for two things here: (1) their carved wood products which are generally made out of rosewood and ebony, and (2) their scuba diving and snorkeling. This area of the Solomon’s was occupied by the Japanese during WW II and there are lots of battles (and subsequent wrecks) in the area. In fact, nearby Kennedy (former Plum) Island is where John Kennedy had led his men after his patrol boat (PT-109) was sunk by a Japanese destroyer and they had to swim 3 miles to get to shore.  Rather than go and tour Ghizo, I chose to go to nearby Njari Island to snorkel in an extremely bio-diverse reef area, affectionately known as “Grand Central Station” because of all of the species that seem to be constantly on the move there. In many respects, the story of Njari Island is a love story — the story of a divemaster (Danny Kennedy (interesting coincidence)) who fell in love with this area and worked with the traditional landowner for years until he bought the island to preserve it. After bringing in numerous scientists to study and catalog the area, the figures showed that there were 494 coral species and a staggering 1019 fish species in the immediate environs. There was a temporary bump in the road when an 8.1 magnitude earthquake hit just over 20 miles away and 75% of the reef system was destroyed. During the next decade, the reef and island were not only restored, but also transformed to become a global conservation icon. Today a caretaker family live on the island full time to ensure that poachers don’t try to steal from this abundant site. Most of the dive area is a shallow reef that ends in a wall that drops off severely. I saw an incredible number of fish, but nowhere close to the record of 279 that were recorded in a single dive. Anyway, this was an incredible stop.

Approaching Njari Island.
It’s only a short walk across the wooded island…
… to get to the reef where we will be snorkeling.
The water was crystal clear and there was coral everywhere, including this stag horn.
Magnificent sea anemone with and orangefin anenomefish.
A Palette Tang and Yellow-barred Parrotfish swimming together.
As I approached the cliff, it seemed like the density of fish increased.
Parrotfish of all sizes, shapes, and colors.
Giant clams everywhere in a variety of colors.
Even these Indo-Paciric Christmas Tree Worms.
Even a little post-snorkel libation! I was just drinking water — a lot of water — at this point.
This entry was posted in Cruising, Solomon Islands, Travel
Glen Bruels

I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.

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