Marovo Lagoon,

New Georgia

The largest double barrier

lagoon in the world

Inside the lagoon, the islands are surrounded by spectacular coral formations and white sand beaches. There are many islands throughout the lagoon, some of which are inhabited. The locals speak their own language, an Austronesian language, that is spoken in the New Georgia Group of islands on the Marovo Lagoon and also Vangunu and Nggatokee. The locals in the lagoon live mainly on subsistence agriculture and are skilled fishermen. We visited a village on the Telina Islet, just off Vangunu Island and were greeted by a long boat of locals. We had the welcome demonstrations, song and dance accompanied by a rather verbose chief who didn’t appreciate the downpoar of rain that was to follow, so sadly, we had little time to see the wonderful carvings on offer from the locals and other sellers from neighbouring villages. In the afternoon, we went snorkelling in the outer reefs across amazing coral reefs but there was a very strong current. A few of us went off to drift snorkel along a shelf off the coast and I was fortunate to see 4 white tip reef sharks.