Melanesia Expedition: Santa Ana, Solomon Islands

The beach landing area for our Zodiacs on the small coral island, Santa Ana, Solomon Islands, where the larger village that we visited is located

The second island that we visited in the Solomon Islands was Santa Ana (also known as Owaraha or Owa Raha). It is a relatively small coral island that was first sighted by Europeans in 1568 in the middle of the archipelago. There are two villages on the island whose inhabitants share the same culture with people in Owariki and claim descent from the refugees of Teonimanu, which was washed away. Our visit included an opportunity to meet with the locals and shop at their open air market, watch a series of traditional ceremonial dances, and walk for several hours across (and back) the island — to the second village — to see the traditional “spirit houses”.

One of the main “streets” in Santa Ana, Solomon Islands, lined with homes built in the traditional Melanesian style, using all natural materials from the island

As we walked around the market area in the village, we were greeted by many boys, girls and adults (particularly the artisans and vendors of local fruits and their families)

One of the men dancers resting before the festivities began

A beautiful headdress on one of the women dancers photographed before the performance

Three of the musicians posing with one of the local “tube” drums (the paddles – two are in the photograph — are played against the tops of the varied-length tubes)

The lead “warrior” dancer photographed before the dancing began

Many of the local children got a special treat when we brought our cooler over with ice and water – “popsicle”-style flavored ice sticks

Note the blond hair on some of the boys which is common in this area (and genetically separate from European and American blondes’ genes/DNA)

Friendship, caring, sharing and welcoming are some of the descriptors for the wonderful islanders we met on Santa Ana, Solomon Islands; on our hike across the island, after the dances, most of us befriended local children who walked with us and held our hands and sang songs (they all learn English in school) with us