Anchoring
We were warned not to go to Honiara by sailboat as the anchorage has a bad reputation for bad holding, bouncy conditions and crime.
Well, I suppose we got lucky: we found a good anchor spot off the breakwater cafe (a big thank you to Fred, the owner, who let us use their dock and helped with advice) and with a few days of calm weather it was quite comfy there most of the time.
Smurfy found our anchorage in the harbour stressful, but exciting!
View from the breakwater
The harbour area is generally nicely made up with carvings from all over the Solomons–we particularly liked this god of the sea 
Our first impression was that it’s horribly dirty: the floodings just before we arrived flushed most of the plastic trash from the gutters into the sea and we were horrified about the amount of floating plastic. The Breakwater Cafe and some hotels started a clean-up of their area while we were there, but the problem’s the trash that keeps piling up in the streets.
Honiara after the flood swept the garbage out to sea
Major awareness raising is needed
Shopping and transport
The expat community was wonderfully friendly, helped us find all the stuff we were looking for at the different supermarkets and hardware stores (The range of goods in the isn’t quite like Fiji and it’s more expensive than PNG, but we still stocked up on goodies, even on gluten-free stuff for Christian and high-quality catfood for Smurfy) and we even made it to one of their Friday evening drinks’n'dinner events!
It’s easy and cheap to get around in Honiara with the buses that constantly run up and down the only “highway”–a four lane road without pedestrian crossings or traffic lights. Apparently there are many accidents, suprise, suprise 
Taking a taxi back with cartloads of shopping is also quite affordable. Only the highway is paved and walking the incredibly dusty roads we ate considerable amounts of dirt and grit…
Medical services
We went to BS Medical to see the dentist there. The young dentist (studied in Suva) maybe didn’t do the most thorough check-up ever (no fancy equipment), but certainly the most entertaining one. Me (curious): “Do you often do root canals?” Lina (confident): “Yes, almost every day. And the patients don’t come back.” Me (being my naughty self):”Because they all died??” Lina (laughing out loud): “No, they do come back eventually, just not right after to complain…”
Apparently the prices are quite stiff for Solomon standards, but we thought that 2 consultations plus 1 x-ray for 80 USD was quite cheap.
I also went to the “Regional Eye Clinic” to have my retina and eye pressure checked, all was done quickly and professionally and when I asked where to pay the woman at the reception just shrugged. The clinic’s free for everybody
Unfortunately, air conditioning has become a status symbol here, and the icy air on my sweaty body, combined with coughing and sneezing people everywhere, naturally led to me catching a virus. Fever, but also a runny nose and cough – unpleasant and very debilitating, but at least we know it’s not malaria.
